WhatTheFun
Knows some stuff
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- Dec 9, 2015
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- 2016 Civic Touring
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I have purchased a winter wheel and tire set and wanted to highlight a few things that would be good to know for other potential buyers.
My objective was to get an inexpensive yet still visually appealing set of winter wheels and tires. (sorry steel wheel guys!). I hope you will find some of this information helpful.
I started my search at Tirerack, I have purchased many sets from them and they make life really easy. Mainly because they are mounted and balanced and come with the centering ring installed! That will prove to be very helpful. But with this info, you really can shop around to find the best deals at any tire store. I looked at the 17" winter wheel and tire combo's but after realizing it would cost ~$500+/- more for the look I wanted, I went with the 16" combo.
Tires
There are 2 sizes possible for a 16" wheel that have roughly the circumference required.
As for the exact tire, you can do all the reading on many sites, but essentially I was choosing between the Bridgestone Blizzaks and the Michelin X-ICE.
Chosen Tire: 205/60R16 Michelin Xice Xi3 with Green X low rolling resistance
Wheels
This was a bit trickier, a balance of low cost and good looks is hard to find. I was not ok with the steel wheel look, I understand the reasons why some like it. However, for $40 per wheel more, a nice set of alloy's were an easy value proposition. Mostly, this is a matter of personal style so only you can decide what is best for your car. I wanted to get a set of wheels that closely matched my stock Touring wheels but for this low cost, I couldn't be too picky
As a matter of fitment, pay attention to this, tirerack shows fitment for 38mm, 45mm, and 48mm offsets. Sometimes the same wheel is offered in 2 or more offsets stating it is a "fit" for your vehicle. The good news is that tire rack determines the appropriate range, so you can't go wrong with any of the offsets they offer. I went with the 38mm offset. (stock wheels are 17x7 w/ 45mm offset). EDIT - The reason I went with 38 was mostly styling related, I like the position of the wheels. A 48mm offset would have them tucked under the fenders another 10 mm.
Chosen Wheel: Moda MD18 Machined w/ Black accent, 16"x7.5" 38mm offset
I ordered the set of four with free balancing and centering rings installed. Since we have indirect TPMS (thank goodness!!) I did not need to get the sensors installed. This saves ~$250. Thanks HONDA!! The great part is that the order was placed around noon and I received them on my doorstep at 10:30am the next day. This was amazing.
Installation process
The main piece of information I looked for was the torque specs for the lug nuts. It is not in the paper owners manual, but it is in the online/CD version. I'll save you some time
Lug nuts: 80 lb-ft
There were lots of small thought out details, such as the stickers for showing what side of the vehicle they go on (directional tires) and warning stickers that the centering rings may fall out when you put your summer tires back on.
They also provided a new set of lug nuts... but the peculiar part was that our lug nuts are metric (19mm socket) and they provided a 3/4" socket. It was nice of them to include the socket but not really necessary. A 3/4" socket does work just fine (19.05mm), it was just funny. Also, the lug nuts they provided were slightly longer than stock, but that is a non-issue, the longer ones look great with the new wheels.
The install went quite smoothly, using a floor jack. Just be sure to set the parking brake, that will make your life much easier (and safer).
Front
Rear (you can see the electric parking brake motor). Also note how much different this is than 8th/9th gen suspension geometry.
Centering ring shown installed (it is the part with 73-64 written on it)
Ta Da! (note the Honda center caps fit in these wheels, no need for them to say "Moda")
Finally, it was time to reset the TPMS (Home->settings->vehicle->TPMS->Calibrate) and check the speedometer. Typically cars have the speed readout slightly higher than the actual speed. Since these tires had a little more circumference than my OEM tires it should help put that closer. Unfortunately I did not have a chance to measure my OEM tires prior to the swap, but I did confirm that the new tires are SPOT ON for vehicle speed.
GPS verified using the Speed Box app (free). Don't worry, my wife was the photographer.
Disclaimer, the vehicle speed showed exactly the same as the readout, however, small differences within that single digit cannot be accounted for. Also, I tested this on the wife's Audi and her car was reading 3-4mph high. (82mph speedometer was actaully 78mph GPS).
Thanks for reading, If you would like more details let me know. This truly was the cliffs notes version.
My objective was to get an inexpensive yet still visually appealing set of winter wheels and tires. (sorry steel wheel guys!). I hope you will find some of this information helpful.
I started my search at Tirerack, I have purchased many sets from them and they make life really easy. Mainly because they are mounted and balanced and come with the centering ring installed! That will prove to be very helpful. But with this info, you really can shop around to find the best deals at any tire store. I looked at the 17" winter wheel and tire combo's but after realizing it would cost ~$500+/- more for the look I wanted, I went with the 16" combo.
Tires
There are 2 sizes possible for a 16" wheel that have roughly the circumference required.
- 215/55R16 (also happens to be the stock Civic 16" size)
- 205/60R16 - a slightly narrower tire but also close in circumference
As for the exact tire, you can do all the reading on many sites, but essentially I was choosing between the Bridgestone Blizzaks and the Michelin X-ICE.
Chosen Tire: 205/60R16 Michelin Xice Xi3 with Green X low rolling resistance
Wheels
This was a bit trickier, a balance of low cost and good looks is hard to find. I was not ok with the steel wheel look, I understand the reasons why some like it. However, for $40 per wheel more, a nice set of alloy's were an easy value proposition. Mostly, this is a matter of personal style so only you can decide what is best for your car. I wanted to get a set of wheels that closely matched my stock Touring wheels but for this low cost, I couldn't be too picky
As a matter of fitment, pay attention to this, tirerack shows fitment for 38mm, 45mm, and 48mm offsets. Sometimes the same wheel is offered in 2 or more offsets stating it is a "fit" for your vehicle. The good news is that tire rack determines the appropriate range, so you can't go wrong with any of the offsets they offer. I went with the 38mm offset. (stock wheels are 17x7 w/ 45mm offset). EDIT - The reason I went with 38 was mostly styling related, I like the position of the wheels. A 48mm offset would have them tucked under the fenders another 10 mm.
Chosen Wheel: Moda MD18 Machined w/ Black accent, 16"x7.5" 38mm offset
I ordered the set of four with free balancing and centering rings installed. Since we have indirect TPMS (thank goodness!!) I did not need to get the sensors installed. This saves ~$250. Thanks HONDA!! The great part is that the order was placed around noon and I received them on my doorstep at 10:30am the next day. This was amazing.
Installation process
The main piece of information I looked for was the torque specs for the lug nuts. It is not in the paper owners manual, but it is in the online/CD version. I'll save you some time
Lug nuts: 80 lb-ft
There were lots of small thought out details, such as the stickers for showing what side of the vehicle they go on (directional tires) and warning stickers that the centering rings may fall out when you put your summer tires back on.
They also provided a new set of lug nuts... but the peculiar part was that our lug nuts are metric (19mm socket) and they provided a 3/4" socket. It was nice of them to include the socket but not really necessary. A 3/4" socket does work just fine (19.05mm), it was just funny. Also, the lug nuts they provided were slightly longer than stock, but that is a non-issue, the longer ones look great with the new wheels.
The install went quite smoothly, using a floor jack. Just be sure to set the parking brake, that will make your life much easier (and safer).
Front
Rear (you can see the electric parking brake motor). Also note how much different this is than 8th/9th gen suspension geometry.
Centering ring shown installed (it is the part with 73-64 written on it)
Ta Da! (note the Honda center caps fit in these wheels, no need for them to say "Moda")
Finally, it was time to reset the TPMS (Home->settings->vehicle->TPMS->Calibrate) and check the speedometer. Typically cars have the speed readout slightly higher than the actual speed. Since these tires had a little more circumference than my OEM tires it should help put that closer. Unfortunately I did not have a chance to measure my OEM tires prior to the swap, but I did confirm that the new tires are SPOT ON for vehicle speed.
GPS verified using the Speed Box app (free). Don't worry, my wife was the photographer.
Disclaimer, the vehicle speed showed exactly the same as the readout, however, small differences within that single digit cannot be accounted for. Also, I tested this on the wife's Audi and her car was reading 3-4mph high. (82mph speedometer was actaully 78mph GPS).
Thanks for reading, If you would like more details let me know. This truly was the cliffs notes version.
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