Thicker Tires

I've been owning my hatch for almost 2 years and I really hate all the bumps, potholes and cracks on the road i encounter. Has anyone put thicker sized tire on the stock 18' rims? I really would love to change it out when it comes time to change the tires.

Ive seen people putting 235/45/18 tires on their car and not complaining about any problem, as well as downsizing to a 17 inch wheel and a 50 series sidewall size.

this may throw off your speedometer by a couple mph, but they will fit no problem. Anything bigger, you may run into some problems.

The stock tire size is 235/40/18 for the Si

Cool! thank you!!!

Mark11 said:

i dont think a thicker tire would help at all, with what your describing

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would there be any advantage to changing it at all?

a taller side wall will certainly smooth the ride. i've got 225 45 18s( 26"). no prob hardly noticeable under acceleration. would not think twice about 235 45's which would be only another 1/4 inch or so to the side wall.
i already had the wheels and tires.

edit you could feel the difference when i had these wheels and tires on my hatch w/mt

More sidewall should help, maybe go a few lbs light on tire pressure, and then you get into springs and shocks, and more money.

The stock tires are crud, the summer tires are even worse, tire upgrade is one of the first things you should do.

Anybody ever try 245 45 18s?

Steer around potholes, you might get some small amount of extra cushion from a taller tire but you are still gonna feel all that crap, best to learn how to avoid potholes wherever possible, but thats coming from someone who spent the better part of a decade driving lowered honda's with low profile tires, If I wanted a ride worth a damn I had to learn the location of every dip in the road on my daily route and how to avoid them, eventually it became second nature and i avoid them no matter what vehicle i'm driving.

LMFK7 said:

I've been owning my hatch for almost 2 years and I really hate all the bumps, potholes and cracks on the road i encounter. Has anyone put thicker sized tire on the stock 18' rims? I really would love to change it out when it comes time to change the tires.

Click to expand...

I changed my sport to 17" wheels for summer and 16" for winter - so both have more sidewall than the stock 18s. Honestly I don't find the differences in ride quality that much different even on the 16s. When I get a Sport sedan as a loaner car, it has the 18s and they seem the same as my 17s.

But it should help in theory.

FYI the 18s are 235/40 and the 17s are 235/45. The 16s are I think 215/55.

Going to a 45 series rubber will improve your ride quality a bit with the diameter difference being reasonable negligible.

I think you would benefit more from focusing on a quality tire vs the factory hoops. Look for a tire that maximizes ride quality and reduced road noise etc. I narrowed the search to “grand touring” and skimmed the comments.

Here are a couple examples. NOTE: I have not tried these, I only conducted a simple search on Tire Rack.