TSW

[bigbossin]

Alright im 99% sure I'm going to order these suckers on friday

 

[webby]

size/offset you're getting? Weight?

 

[bigbossin]

17x8 20 offset or 40offset not sure yet

 

[bigbossin]

28 pounds I believe kinda heavier than I would like

 

[Nix]

yeah thats super heavy. You can find reasonably priced 17's that are around 17lbs each. That offset is a huuge difference too.

 

[bigbossin]

Man I'm so lost in the sauce. Any good places to.look for.wheels

 

[webby]

http://www.discounttire.com/
http://www.tirerack.com

both have a pretty big selection of wheels. If you want a specific brand name wheel, you may need to go elsewhere. Depends a lot on your budget

 

[Nix]

What kind of wheels are you looking for? Performance? Looks? Do you want them to be flush? How low do you plan on going if at all? Preferred size? Budget? (Don't forget tires)

The offsets you mentioned are pretty far apart. A +20 will probably be really close to your fender if not rubbing if you go low without camber. The +40 is very safe.

Mach III has good deals also.
http://www.machiii.net/

I got mine from z1auto. They don't list prices on their website which is annoying but usually have an awesome package price for wheels ,lugs, hubrings, and shipping. Just shoot em a message. I think I paid $500 for everything for some middle of the road konigs. Nothing fancy but they looked good and were only 17lbs for 17".

http://www.z1auto.com/

 

[bigbossin]

i would say something more on the style side. yes flush. 17 would be best. drop between 1-2 inches

 

[webby]

I'd also look through this thread and view sizing/offsets for comparisons

http://9thcivic.com/forum/threads/rims-on-your-9th-gen-civic-show-me-some-pics.3815/

 

[Nix]

Definitely check that thread. Lots of good info for fitment. A lot of the flush guys run like a 9" wide wheel with a 205/40 or 215 tire for clearance. A real popular one is the Enkei RPF-1, 17x9 +22 offset. Depends on how much drop and neg camber settings if you don't want to do any fender rolling/pulling.

XXR wheels seem to be very popular as they come in a lot of sizes for that flush look and are pretty reasonable on price.

http://www.wheelsnext.com/ has a lot of the xxr line available. I think you could get out for around $1000 for wheels and tires.

 

[Sivilized]

try www.nlmotoring.com and look at the XXR 522 and 527. They have nice 17x9 or even 17x8.25 in a +25 offset which looks dope with a 2" drop. They also have XXR's cheap on ebay from aspecwheels??? I think.

 

[JAYBLS]

It depends on what you want out of wheels. If you're just looking to upgrade the fitment and style, but are not looking to necessarily get lighter wheels for improved efficiency and performance (which, if you really think about it, efficiency=performance in a lot of cases), then a cheaper "name brand" wheel company like Enkei has some decent wheels at reasonable prices, and some "off brand" like XXR or the like would be a great value as well. However, getting wheels that, to you, may look cooler than the stock wheels, and may possibly even fit better, but are heavier than the stock wheel/tire combo, is not really spending your money wisely.

I see a lot of people just going online or to a tire shop and having one thing made up in their minds about the wheels they want to buy: the diameter. People think, "I want a 17" wheel," and think absolutely nothing else of it. They have this number in their head, for whatever reason, and they just end up getting a compromise between the "coolest looking" wheel and what they believe is the best value. When the most expensive wheel in the line-up they may be looking at is around $800/wheel, and the cheapest is $450 for a set of 4, it's easy to see how people will end up making a decision to buy a terrible product; the lack of information in that equation is the culprit. A person who has only a limited knowledge of what goes into selecting the proper wheel/tire combo may look at that gap in price and think, "why would I pay that much for ONE WHEEL when I could get all four wheels for half the price of one of those expensive ones?" This is logical when you're working with a limited knowledge base. It is logical to preserve your money rather than spend it on something you see as completely useless. However, if you were to know the reason why that one wheel cost $800 and those four wheels are half that price, your logic may change. Or it may not, it depends on what is important to you.

We have to look at more information than wheel diameter, aesthetics, and cost. That 17" wheel that's $800 is probably made by someone like BBS; a company that, in my personal opinion, is entirely too expensive for what they are. But that's just how much those wheels cost, and if you want great quality and a sense of exclusivity then that is what you'll pay. However, if you don't know anything about wheels, you'll probably just assume that getting ANY aftermarket wheel will somehow make you feel fairly exclusive. If that's what you're looking for, then more power to you. However, if you were to be exposed to all the other factors that could go into selecting a wheel that is proper for your particular application, you may end up finding out that spending $500/wheel is really not that bad of a deal for what you're getting where there are $800 wheels that perform exactly the same but have more exclusivity: these wheels can be compared to each other, but should not be compared to the wheels that are $450/set. It's all about perspective and comparing apples to apples. It also helps to see wheels on a car; preferably on your car, but at the very least, a car that would accept/require similar wheel fitment.

The first step in figuring out what wheels you want to put on your car is figuring out what you want in your wheel/tire combination and how that relates to what you want out of your car. I'll give what I want out of my car as an example; I want a fun daily driver that handles better than stock, is more efficient than stock, and looks better than stock without doing any major body modifications (actually, for this car I don't want to do ANY body modifications at all). I actually have a name for this styling/modifying theme...I call it OEM+ (totally irrelevant to this rant, but hey, it is a rant). That being said, what I want out of my wheel/tire combo is a light weight, high performance, attractive, flush fitment setup. I ended up choosing WedsSport TC105N in 17x8.5 +32. Notice I am not just telling you I'm getting 17" TC105N's. The width and offset are just as (if not more) important as the diameter. Figuring out your budget for this will be the LAST STEP in the process. The easiest thing to figure out first is how you want it to look. That being said, the second step is to figure out the fitment of the wheels you're looking for.

Finding a wheel that fits properly takes a lot of time and research. The easiest way to shop for wheels would be to just look at a few pictures, get a general idea of what you wanted, and just buy wheels and tires in various offsets and sizes, and put them on your car until you found the right setup. Unfortunately, for most of us, this isn't an option as we are not millionaires. If we were, we'd probably be driving something nicer than a Civic (regardless of what Civic fanboys may say to the contrary). So, using online forums and other resources, such as www.rimtuck.comand www.tyrestretch.com etc. we can get a pretty good picture of how a wheel will fit and what it will take to make wheels fit that wouldn't without some modification.

Once your fitment is decided upon, you should then start looking for wheels that closely match the diameter, width, and offset that you have found looks the best for what you have in mind; whether that look be just a little cooler than stock, or as close to a track car as you can look on the street, or a super stanced out Canibeat feature car, or maybe some compromise of everything. The look you're going for may be limited by the overall picture you're looking to achieve, so keep that in mind. You may not want to roll your fenders, so this will affect how much width and what offset your wheel can have, how wide of a tire you can use, and how much negative camber you'll have to run in order to make everything fit without rubbing and/or damaging components.

After you have decided what style of wheel you want, you will then need to figure out what tire to use. This is just as important as you are putting together a package. One does not work properly without the other. The size of the tire and how it relates to the look, fitment and ride height (stance) of your wheel/tire/drop combo may be the most important thing to you, or maybe it's the handling performance, or you could be like me and you want the best possible compromise between comfort, road noise, tire life, stance and handling. As you look into what you want out of the overall setup, your decision may change in tire size and wheel width/offset while you compromise with yourself trying to figure out what is the best all-around option for everything.

Now that you've decided on what you want out of the look and performance of your wheel/tire combination, it's time to look at cost. For me, I found that $1500-$2000 (the wheels I ordered are ~$1780) is pretty reasonable for the wheels I want (if buying brand new. Used, knock a couple or three hundred dollars off), and decent tires cost anywhere between $500 and $700 for a set for the size I want (I'm getting Michelin Pilot Super Sports because they are AWESOME tires and they're worth every penny of their $700 price tag). I could spend a lot more or a lot less on stuff that may look a little cooler, may be a little more exclusive, or perform better in some areas and worse in others, but for what I want that is how much I would have to pay. That amount isn't too much, it's just how much it costs. I realize that, to some people, especially younger folks, that seems like an inordinate amount of money, especially I'm not saying, necessarily, that $2k is not a lot of money, but it's all about perspective. If what you want costs that much, don't settle for what you don't want for $500 just because you got to have it now rather than waiting a year and saving your money for what you really want. The feeling of having exactly what you want in a year is a million times more rewarding than having what you don't want right now.

Got a little carried away on that one.

There are a lot more things to consider than just diameter when selecting wheels. Getting wheels that are heavier than what came from the factory is not in the slightest bit advantageous in any possible way. Wheels that are heavier than stock generally don't even look any better than steel wheels with hub caps, in my opinion. I will say this: if budget is your first priority in buy wheels, then do not take any of my advice. If you're willing to compromise quality, function, and aesthetics for a break on cost, you are going to convince yourself you're happy with whatever you end up buying no matter what anyone tells you, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

 

[bigbossin]

here's a set that looks almost the same as the tsw just 9 pounds lighter

 

[JAYBLS]

It looks like those are a +40 offset in either 7 or 8 inch width in the 17" diameter. That offset won't look that great with the 7" width, but the 8" wouldn't be terrible. I can't seem to find the weight of them, though. The stock Si wheels weight = 23lbs. If those Privat Netz weigh 19lbs. in 17x8, I think they'd be worth getting.

 

[Nix]

Nice find. Style you want and a bit less weight. Did you end up getting anything yet?

 

[bigbossin]

Still no purchase yet trying to find a place closer to work so saving as much as I can for that. Never really been a fan of mesh wheels but I plan on slamming my si so I can be hellaflush and these would just make.it pop

 

[JLister]

i want volk (te37s) reps. any good brands to look for that arent looked down upon?

 

[Nix]

not really, if it's a knock-off/rep. they all get knocked on by wheel snobs. However, rota makes a decent wheel and so does xxr.

I run konig feathers which are ce28n reps. I don't try and play them off as volks though.

 

[webby]

what ^ said. I think people get more upset over people putting volk stickers on their wheels when they're not volks.
look up "rota grid"