Uh oh, this is starting to remind me of a thread that took place on another forum, where a gentle but naive poster (who happened to be one of the previous posters in this thread) suggested getting some slightly larger rims than our tiny 14-inchers.

And guess what happened? Some folks on the other forum, who clearly do not eat enough fiber, laid into this gentleman with rude, mocking, and derisive tones. Just for considering larger rims (15 inch).

Luckily, our intrepid hero (me) leapt to the defense of the original poster, and the mockers went away. Score one for the good guys.

To anybody who, like tblano and chiegonz, wants to put nicer rims and tires on your hybrid, I say more power to you. If, by having a more attractive car, you attract some folks who say "cool car!" and then "say WHAT?! that's a HYBRID?", it is worth any very small hit to the MPG you might incur. Ten new hybrid owners outweighs a small hit to one owner's MPG, in my mind anyway.

Besides, you can still put a little extra air into those tires as well, to reclaim MPG lost. And your car will handle better with a bit more grip. It's a tradeoff, but I think that for some folks, it is definitely worth it.

 

The good thing about GreenHybrid is that the people on the forums are pretty nice and don't generaly flame to often. Its attitudes like yours that make this one of my favorite sites.

I'm not concerned with the added weight. I've got a bunch of stuff in my trunk that weighs much more than 4 rims would. My last tank was 57.1 according to the car and 53 according to hand calcs. Weight is secondary to actualy driving habits. I'd give a flamer a piece of my mind if they ever complained about me upgrading to bigger rims Then I'd ask them what mileage they get.

 

Agreed, regarding the generally civil and friendly nature of the GreenHybrid folks. It is so nice to have a discussion, especially involving differences of opinion, which remains relatively low-key and respectful. It is also quite rare.

Whoops, I see we have hijacked the "road noise" thread. Sorry about that! Hope I don't get flamed ...

 

ei coyote, that was me who posted the same thing in the other forum. boy o boy did i get blasted. didn't know people over there were ultra-sensitive. thanks again for the "help". anyways, i like it better here. people are a lot nicer compared to the other forum. and just an update, i haven't replaced my wheels yet. darn dunlop's take a long time to wear out.

 

"darn dunlop's take a long time to wear out."

I know what you mean, even though I have the Bridgestones.

I'm anticipating that in a few millenia, archaeologists will be unearthing former civilizations on the Discovery Channel, and somebody in a refined British accent will say "and here we have some petrified tires from the 21st century. Oh wait, they aren't petrified, these are just hybrid tires in their original condition."

 

No problem with the hijacking. This is a much more civil forum than just about any I've been involved with.

I'm very glad some folks find their HCH's quiet. This is, of course, a matter of perspective, roads, tires and such. I've owned and driven many cars. My HCH is noisy. The HAH I test drove was not. I elected to not buy the HAH (I really do like my Civic), but the consolation prize is that I'm going to upgrade what I can on my Civic rather than buy a new car. Noise is at the top of the list.

I may just try the undercoat. I'll report back any improvement, if anyone is interested. I'm only at 39K on the car, so the tires are a ways off from needing replacement. I'm hoping there may be some other choices.

 

I agree that the HCH is a bit noisy, mostly from the rear. I find that most of the noises in mine come from the rear tires (**** Bridgestones go thump thump thump) and wind noise from the rear door window frames.

In fact one of the Bridgestones got such a large flat spot at 35k miles that I put 2 Kelly Springfield Explorers on the front and moved the fronts to the rear. I took about a 1 to 2 mpg hit, partially because the tire dealer sold me the 35psi tires, not the 44psi ones, and partially because they only put 30psi of N2 in them. I added air to 35psi and got back some of the lost mpg. I do know that I;ll never buy Bridgestones to put on it. The other two are getting almost flat enough to go soon, and I may go Goodyear or Michelin. I like the Kelly's tread and ride, but the dealer is a f**k up and I won't go back there again. The tire rating wasn't the only problem that night.

 

They sell some batting material at home improvement centers that helps with sound but I don't remember exactly what its called. All you would probably have to do to reduce the sound a noticeable amount would be to add the batting to the battery and around both sides toward the front of the cabin to prevent the sound from the trunk to reach the passenger compartment.

There is a gap on the right and left of the rear seats in my car from pulling the back seat out and putting it back in a few times and this is where most of the road noise I get comes from.

 

My HCH is a very quiet car - though I do notice a difference if the road is really bad. My 2000 New Beetle had larger wheels and the noise level was louder on the highway and worse on bad roads.

I do see quite a few HCH with larger wheels, once you get them, let us know if it makes a difference.

 

I did some wheel research. Honda "lightweight" wheel alternatives are around 15 lbs for a 15" x 7. I did some other searches and found 15" rims that were around 10 lbs. I was at the dealer yesterday and asked if they knew how much the stock wheels were, but didn't know. So, the obscure question of the day is, does anyone know how much the stock HCH wheels weigh?