Any thoughts on swapping out stock HCH wheels and tires to something a little more attractive. I don't want to go crazy, but is there any downside to installing stock Civic EX wheels and maybe tires?

Thanks...
Lansing

 

Just weight I think. But if you can live with that it shouldn't be a problem.

 

lansing - you gonna sell those HCH alloys?

 

Doubt it unless I can find take-offs from an EX. Will mileage and ride differ with EX tires and wheels anyone?

 

Adding to the rotating weight on a car is the worst place to do it, on the order of ten times worse. The HCH comes with very lightweight rims and LRR (Low Rolling Resistance) tires. Adding 10 lbs per wheel has been known to lose 10 mpg overall on the HCH. Loss of the LRR tires will lose about 3 mpg I hear. Don't know how much more the stock EX tires/rims weigh, but it is a safe bet you will lose FE if you switch.

 

The HCH also has wheel covers that are almost solid discs. They are designed to minimize air friction. Replacing them with spoked wheels will greatly increase air resistance.

 

You get a car for its high mileage, then want to customize it in ways that mess up the mileage?? FCOL, if it ain't broke don't fix it! Everything on the HCH is there for a reason. If you consider those Civic EX tires so all-fired attractive, then buy a Civic EX! Besides, do you really think anyone else gives a **** about your tires?

 

I think weight will be the biggest factor. I've done a lot of research on my stock 03 wheel setup, as I'm about to replace both wheel and tire.

Stock 03 HCH wheel is ~ 15lbs. I say "about" because Honda was unable/unwilling to part with the actual number. I found the 15 lb value on an after-market web site about 4 months ago but I cannot find anymore.

Stock Dunlop SP 20 FE 185/70R14 is 17.6 lbs (from Dunlop).

Total whell setup is 32.6 lbs.

I've read that 1 lb of unsprung wheel weight (weight of your wheels) is equal to about 8 lbs in the car. So cut your wheel weight by 4 lbs and you're "carrying" about 32 lbs less in the car. All research I've found said that reduced wheel weight will help FE, but none say by how much. Conversely, none will quantify how a heavier setup will hurt.

You should be able to research what that Civic EX setup weighs. Most web-sites selling tires will include wheel weights, as will most manufacturer web sites as well (however, I had to call Dunlop because the SP20 FE is not generally available on the web, but you can buy it at certain tire stores). Then, you can get a better feel for whether you're going up or down.

I'll mention that finding a 14" or 15" wheel under 15 lbs is not impossible, but the choices are few. I found two 15" wheels I considered - each at 10.3 and 10.7 lbs. The first was the Motegi Track Lite 2 (silver). Was my first choice but Motegi is currently out and they don't know when they'll make more (astounding, but true). I'm going with my second choice of the OZ Superleggera. Also watch out for tires. I'm looking at 195/60R15, and the lowest weight I've found is 18.3 lbs. Some are as high as 21 or 22 in that size.

I know that's a lot of detal - maybe more than you wanted or needed. You may want to make sure of the wieght of yor EX wheel before making a change. The stock setup is pretty light. A 15-16 lb wheel is considered "very light weight", which begs the question, what is "normal". A heavier setup will reduce your FE, but by how much I don't know.

 

My Integra GS-R wheels and 195/55-15 tires are 30 pounds with the wheel and tire together. Sports alloy wheels are usually pretty light. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the EX aluminum wheels are equal or lighter than the hybrid wheels.

 

Let's carry this speculation a bit further.

I think the higher "equivalent weight" of the wheels is because they rotate. When the car accelerates you're giving the wheels rotational momentum, which takes more energy than linear momentum.

Anyhow, the CHC weighs about 2800 lbs. So adding 32 equivalent pounds of momentum increases the car's "weight" by about 1%. For four wheels that's 4%. In the worst case, if all the energy went to acceleration, the change in FE would be 4%. In reality, much of the energy goes to overcoming road friction, air resistance, engine friction, etc. So I find it hard to believe that FE will be affected in this scenario by more than 2%.

One other thing to consider when choosing your wheels/tires. The farther from the wheel's hub, the more rotational momentum. So the effect of the tire's weight is much greater than the effect of the wheel's weight.