RT4WD 16' Wheel, tire size?

91civicZC

According to Tire Rack, the RT4WD wagon in 89 came with a 175/70-14. I have 16 inch wheels running a 205/40-16 right now, these have always seemed like the tire was too small to me.

If Tire rack is correct, I should really be able to get away with running a 50 series tire without issue, but thats seems too big when compaired to other civics.

Is anyone here running a 16 inch wheel, and what tire size are you running? If you are not running a 16’ list your wheel and tire size, and any issue (rubbing, Speedo way off etc).

Did a search on tire size, but didn’t actually find much specific……

Side note, this is on Stock Suspension.

Jaker

I'd consider 205/45-16 or 215/40-16. I can see where the 205/40 looks too small as the wheel well openings on the Wagon seem a lot bigger than the hatches and CRXs. I think the 50 series will be too big.

ragenasian

In this pic I was running a 215/40/16. It fit in the wheel well rather nice and flush.

91civicZC

ragenasian wrote:

In this pic I was running a 215/40/16. It fit in the wheel well rather nice and flush.

Yeah being at stock height, the wheel wells are big enough for my head! That looks nice though.

I just want a bit more meat, and the options are really seem to be limited on tire racks site for 205/45-16 for an all season good wet traction tire.....

Jaker, I may check out the 215s not a bad thought, hevent done it yet.....

Doh!

Haydz

205/45/16 is pretty much the closest you will get to factory OD.

91civicZC

May give the Kumho ASTs a shot. They have them in a 205/45. Not that well rated, but I find that alot of internet reviews seem to be looking for a slick tire perfomance with a walmart tire price.

I did hate my last set of Kuhos though. Might be setting myself up for fail!

NZ-DB8R

I have Kuhmo AST (KU25) in 205/40/R17 on my ITR and they have thus far proven to be a pretty damn good tyre. I had Goodyear Eagle F1 (GSD3) and have Yokohama S-Drive on my other set of wheels.

I havnt pushed to hard on the tyres yet but after the first 1000kms they seem sweet

The_Head

I always go here to check tire sizes against stock to see the difference.

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

91civicZC

Great link Head!

According to this Jakers got the right idea, closest I can get to Factory Overall Diamiter would be the 215/45-16.

The tires they list in that size are all Summer only, not all seasons. Ill have to get on the phone and do some calling, but at least I know what I should be at. Thanks!

The_Head

I've been running tires that are 3-5% shorter than stock for awhile now. I run 195/60 R14's on my RT4WD rims and 195/55 R15 winter tires. They both look okay to me. You just have to to remember to correct for speedo error.

I am thinking about going 195/60 R15 on my 15" RT4WD rims, which would be identical height to stock, but I am afraid it would look funky. I might just again go with a 195/15 R15 tire.

Jaker

The nice thing about tires that are undersized diameter wise is that your speedo will always read higher than you're actually going. Much better than the alternative for avoiding speeding tickets.

absolutetinting

try to go with proper diameter. plus 1 ,plus 2, plus 3 its better for the car.
find any tire on tirerack go to specs. it will give you the overall diameter of the tire. efs should be around 23.7.
most honda automatics are 4 speed w/out OD, so i try to got more than half an inch taller just for freeway driving.
my cents

LowFlyin'

My favorite web-based tire calculator: http://www.rimsntires.com/rt_specs.jsp

A 175/70-14 tire has a diameter of ~23.7"

A 205/50-16 tire has a diameter of 24.1"

I would go with the 50 series tire in 16", should fit the wheel well swimmingly.

RiskEverything

I use this to calculate tire size and speedometer error. It's not Java or Flash so it works well with older (slower) computers like mine: http://www.ringpinion.com/Calc_RPM.aspx

My stock-height Wagovan has a set of Fit rims and tires on it. Being FWD it should be lower than an RT...
175/70R13 tires were OEM and measured 22.65" tall
195/55R15 tires are OEM for the Fit. They are 23.44" tall and still leave plenty of room.
195/60R15 tires are 24.21" tall. The tires that came with the Fit rims have low tread, and I may replace them with this size if I don't sell the car first.

The BFG All-Terrain comes in a wide variety of sizes, the smallest of which should fit a stock RT:
195/75R14 is 25.42" tall
These are the smallest sizes offered for 15" & 16" wheels
215/75R15 (27.7" tall)
215/70R16 (27.85" tall)

The wheel opening is 28" at its widest point. In theory, any of the above tires would fit, but theory doesn't account for turning clearances and suspension movement.
A lifted RT might get away with tires almost 30" big, since the widest part of the tire would be below the body of the car. Some fender trimming and playing with rim offset would likely be necessary.

The_Head

I went with 195/60 R15's on my 15 x 7 RT4WD rims. It had more of an effect on the overall gearing than I thought it would. It makes the wider D-series gear spacing even more pronounced. It is liveable, but I need to get my VTEC hooked up. Also, my speedo reads less than the actual speed of the car (only 2.4% less though). The 60 sidewall tires look a little marshmallow-like but they still look ok.

Haydz

Haydz wrote:

205/45/16 is pretty much the closest you will get to factory OD.

I have no idea why I said 205. :roll:

woodi

I run these two sets of tires without issue and my speedo is pretty close running both. Specs are according to my favorite tire calculator for comparing tires http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalcul ... ion=submit

185/70R14 24.19" Diameter 2.3% slow on speedo (compared to stock)
175/65R15 23.95" Diameter 1.3% slow on speedo (compared to stock)

The 185/70R14 are winter tires and I think look quite good on the wagon at that size. Look like they got a little more meat to them. Plus they were a lot cheaper than the "right size"

Tatty90EE4

I run 16's during the summer months which use to have 205/50R16 tires, did not rub at all and doesn't look bad either. On stock RT suspension.
(With the 205/50R16 tires)


I currently have 205/55R16 as my summer tires, but they rub ever so slightly in hard cornering, or turning when hitting a bump, not bad though. I don't have any pics of the wagon with these size tires but it looks better the the 50's.

91civicZC

Some great info here.

I still havent ordered tires (Im running my winters right now), but jumped back on tire rack again today. Realized that its claiming second factory size is actually 175/70/13, but I was pretty sure 14 was the smallest size used on the RTs.

Regardless, I think Im going to give the 205/50/16s a go a see what happens.

BrakeExpert

Also consider that the car will look higher with a bigger wheel/lower profile with the same outer diameter because the tire will have less overall flex, so itll be closer to a circle while sitting on its own weight. With the small wheels and fat tires, they sort of squish on the bottom and bow up on the top.