Hello,

Thank you in advance for allowing me to ask a question. I happened to browse upon this forum and have a question for Civic Hybrid owners (2006-2007). I am currently about to purchase a 2007 Civic Hybrid. I'm going to have the accessories I want added over the next day or so, but I was told by three different dealerships (Northern California, Sacramento area) that they absolutely would not change out the wheels on the Civic Hybrid because it would impact the gas mileage by about 15 miles per gallon (one salesman said replacing the wheels and tires brings it down to under 30 MPG).

I saw that there are a few posters with '06/'07 Civic Hybrids here who have changed out their wheels and I was just wondering if they experienced the same drop in MPG after they replaced the stock Honda wheels? And also, if anyone has a good recommendation for wheels and tires that won't reduce the MPG that drastically, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks again for your time.

AJ

I believe they are wrong. Changing the tires and wheels in my view would only reduce your MPG by maybe a couple of miles per gallon. At home we drive 2 Civic Hybrids (2006) and during the winter we switch to steel wheels and winter tires. On the first fill up I check to see how milleage gets affected and it's not even noticeable.

If the hybrid wheels and tires made a difference of 15 MPG, everyone with regular cars (non hybrid) would be buying them .

(Maybe they meant 15 Miles per tank...)

Best Tank = 54.2 mpg (Sep. 9'06)
Best Trip = 61.9 mpg

I agree with a couple miles per gallon. Maybe at higher speeds it might hurt more because of the loss of aerodynamics, but never 15%. Ask tigerhonaker about his wheels. He has aftermarket wheels.

My hydroponics experiment

You ever notice how hard it is to lip read cartoon characters?
"Crazy is what the sane call Delta Flyer"

I have a set of CIVIC HX alloy wheels for my winter tires. They are very light. I see no difference in MPG with these rims and winter tires/ compared to OEM rim and LRR tires (non winter month tires).

We have had posters here in the past that went with a very low profile tire (with large rim) and then questioned why he/she was getting bad mpg. The wheels were like twice the weight of OEM. As long as the weight is close to OEM, you will not see a huge difference.

Thank you for the input so far, it is much appreciated. I will attempt to e-mail the others here who were mentioned. Thanks again!

I doubt the aerodynamics would be as big a deal as weight, rotational mass is important. Adding weight to the wheels is like adding something like 3x the weight in the car. As long as you're not rollin' on dubs, I can't see you loosing 15 mpg.

In two days and about 200 miles on on 17" Honda Si wheels with some Yokohama AVS ES100. Too early to give definitive gas mileage but my impressions so far:

* Getting 8-15% less or about 4-5 mpg "less" with new tires/wheels at high speeds (82-83mph for 60 mile trip)
- went from 32-33 mpg to 28mpg
* Getting about 2-3 mpg "less" at 68-72mph for about 45 mile trip (35-36 vs. 36-39mpg)
* The original wheels/tires were soooo quiet in comparison (Yokohama's AVS are awful)
* Car with new wheels looks like a normal car instead of having flying saucers for wheels which was reason I bought HCH over Prius in the first place. Prius was too Jetson for me.
* The original wheels are actually surprisingly light as I put 2 in trunk and 2 in back seat easily. The 16" originals are actually slightly larger in diameter as I was able to put 3 17" Si wheels in trunk (larger wheels but low profile tires made for slightly smaller diameter). But Si wheels/tires are definitely heavier.

I'll report after more time on wheels as to gas mileage. I've been averaging mid-high 30's on about 95% highway driving for about 15K miles so far on original wheels/tires.

I have read in a couple of car magazines that wheel aerodynamics do make a noticeable difference in highly efficient cars (hybrid). If I have AC on, my fuel economy drops, or if driving faster or up hills or even with bike and bike racks on top. Where as on my gas guzzlers, AC, speed, etc. don't seem to make much of a difference.

When I bought my '07 HCH I replaced the wheels and tires with Civic EX wheels and Goodyear Triple Tread tires. I noticed that the originals weighed about 35 lbs on my bathroom scale, and the new wheels/tires were about 48 lbs. The mileage seemed to drop by about 3-5 mpg(but it looked so much better). A more careful study would be needed to nail it down, but it's not 15mpg.
I sold my HCH and bought a TCH for more room and stability control, but I kept the EX wheels/tires, splash guards, and all-season floor mats. If you're interested in any of these, let me know.

15% I buy.
15 MPG I don't buy.

I suspect 10-15%, depending on the weight and aerodynamics of the replacements.

Steve

STOP terrorism - Drive a HYBRID

Vehicles:
350 miles a week ------------ 2006 HCH II, Magnetic Pearl, w/NAVI (born on May 25, 2006)
350 miles a month ---------- 2003 Mazda Tribute ES-V6
350 miles a year (for now) - 1986 Mercedes 560SL

Since I was only getting mid-30s to start with, less 15mpg would mean same gas mileage as my SUV.