20 Inch Rims On A 15 Inch OEM

[SaBReT00tH]

what's NRMA and RTA?
Damn, I really want 19s, or at least 18s. Only things stopping me are making sure my car is insurance compliant, and making sure my ABS brakes don't ****up by increasing rim size too much.

[SaBReT00tH]

Frost FD --> did your Civic originally come with 15 inch rims when u upgraded to 19s? have u had any braking problems at all? what do u do with ur insurance if they're illegally too big?

[TEGZOTIC]

just remember that the 2" max law is an overall diamiter of the wheel not just the rim it self..

so if u can get extreemly low profile tyres on the 20's it might be with in the 2" range,,, but i doubt it

[SaBReT00tH]

Hey Teg, definitely don't think I'm going to get 20s. I'm kind of feeling deterred enough from the performance reviews of Frosts 19s.

With maintaining the same diameter I believe it's possible by going down to 30 size profile tyres. I'm still contemplating a tossup between 18s and 19s in which I would want to get 35 profile tyres, purely for the look. If I got 18s I'd need to get 235 thickness tyres for 35 profile, and I"m just wondering what the difference is between this and the 8" size of the tyre. For example would a 215 appear like there is less tyre there than a 235? And is 235 going to have less handling/sidewall than a 215?

I'm thinking that if I got a 235/35/18 and then got the Mugen kit installed it'd look a hell of a lot normal than the current 215/45/17 that my car is dwarfed by at the moment. Although comfort would have decreased slightly due to the 35 size tyre, i'd still maintain fuel consumption better than heavy 19s/20s, probably not have any additional significant braking problems as I would with 19s/20s, nor would I lose much horsepower cause i'd have 18s compared to pushing 19/20 inch rims around. I believe the sports exhaust system I got installed a few months ago will help maintain the horsepower input for pushing the 18s and am possibly thinking about an Injen CAI which would also help with them.

I do think 20 inch rims with 30 profile tyre does look over the top, and even 19s can look a bit over the top by appearing over-proportional to the car itself. 18s look ultimate, preferably with 35 profile tyre in my opinion and carefully chosen rim design. The 235 width tyres I've been looking at do seem to give the rims an awesome chunky wide fat tyre look with low profile and would hopefully wear out less quickly than say a 215 width tyre.

[kraiye]

just remember that the 2" max law is an overall diamiter of the wheel not just the rim it self..

so if u can get extreemly low profile tyres on the 20's it might be with in the 2" range,,, but i doubt it

well 15" rims with 65mm tyres is about 20" overall. so you'd need 25mm profile tyres to be safe... do they even make these? you wouldn't want to hit any bumps/potholes!!

[Frost_FD]

Hey Sabretooth, If you going for racing get 18 or 17"

Since your getting a mugen kit or have one install go the racing look!

[Atjo]

This civic is using 20" NKB Elite 8.

[SaBReT00tH]

Hey Sabretooth, If you going for racing get 18 or 17"

Since your getting a mugen kit or have one install go the racing look!

hey Frost,
so you don't think 45 profile tyres look miniature on a standard FD, or especially on an FD with Mugen kit?

I was thinking about doing that 'racing' kinda look, even though my wheels are chrome (pimp) style rather than racing style. Leaving my rims as they are now would help me stay legal, and fix insurance legalities/maintain performance/save petrol too. Maybe I should just concentrate on 6000K HID projector retrofitting/Body Kit installation and possible CAI installation so my car can stop getting left behind at the lights with the masses of Holden Commodores passing me embaressingly in my city!!!

[Frost_FD]

I dont think we can fit 45 profile tyres on our cars with 18" or 19" mine are 35 and i get abit of rub so 45 will rub big time and then you will have to roll your gaurds which cost another 300 bucks...

Im going for the HID and body next when i have abit of money spare

[SaBReT00tH]

sorry, I meant 45s on my existing 17s. If I upgraded to 18s I'd need 40s and 19s would need 35s, preferably with 215width tyres to prevent guard rub.

I've changed my mind again, I want 19s without a doubt, to complete the overall look and reduce dwarsim of rim to body ratio which would be worse if I installed a Mugen replica kit.

My plan is CAI first then 19 inch wheel upgrade. I want to avoid that complete $300 wastage of guard rolling by using 215 width tyres.

My only concern now is the question of braking.

Will upgrading 4 rim sizes past OEM screw ABS braking up? Would I need to upgrade the braking kit and how much will it cost?

By the way, has anyone heard much about nitrogen inflation of tyres? A guy in a tyre store told me this is one way to counteract the harshness of lower profile tyres.

[Frost_FD]

My wheels are 225/35/19 and i lowered it at the front 3cm and at the back 2.5 using king springs. I havent rolled my gaurds yet but i did get some rub when i went over uneven roads but now that the springs have settled in it rarely rubs unless your going really fast around coners and bumps.

Braking wise... i am thinking about getting better brakes but i think our stock ones are fine for now especilly when my types and wheels weigh more then 100 kg.

I will read up the nitrogen inflation that might help the ride confort.

[kraiye]

i've heard about nitrogen inflation but seeing that air is already 78% nitrogen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air) I really cant see there being too much benefit