The wheels and tires are part of many systems of the car as well as being the only link to the ground (hopefully?! 0_0). The ideal wheel is strong, light, hub centric, and has good brake to spoke clearance for future brake upgrades.
You want a wheel that is forged and is the smallest diameter to fit over your final brake setup, and should be wide enough to fit the widest tire that will fit in your fender well with the tire just inside of the fender. Phew. The easiest way to find this out is to find someone with your car and the above setup and just copy it. And don't ever get a wheel only because it looks good, though most well made wheels look good.
The wheel/tire combo is the most important part of the suspension and brake systems. So the best suspension or brakes in the world are useless if you're driving on ass tires and 40lb chrome wheels. The wheels and tires should be as light as possible to reduce unsprung weight -i.e. weight that is not supported by the suspension. The more unsprung weight that you have the slower and less efficiently your suspension is going to be able to react to bumps or dips in the road, thus causing a loss of traction.
Tires:
Choosing a tire is a tricky thing to be sure. The Tire Rack web site reviews and road tests are the best resource but a lot of it, as always is with tires, is subjective. Other places for reviews would be tuner magazines and racing forums (SCCA, NASA, etc). How a tire handles at a given point to a given person has many many variables. Tire size, inflation, wheels used, vehicle weight and condition of its bushings, ball joints, steering rack, and suspension, driver skill, weather conditions, wheel alignment, pavement type, to name a few). So the best way to really tell if you like a tire is to try it out.
The outer diameter of the tires are the final stage in the cars gearing. By getting a larger tire you get taller gearing(taller gearing has a lower numerical value). That makes 1st through 5th gears each last longer meaning higher speeds in each gear. That reduces torque multiplication from the transaxle slowing your acceleration. A smaller tire does the opposite, quickening acceleration by increasing the torque multiplication from the transaxle. Either one will make your speedometer read incorrectly.
Another thing to note is that tire sizing is different from manufacturer to manufacturer. Rolling diameter, width, and Tread diameter.
Tire sizes are totally arbitrary as well aside from the rim mounting diameter. Take a 245 series tire for instance. The 245mm is measured at the widest part of the sidewall and not the tread diameter. The measured 245 will be totally different sizes depending on the wheel you mount it on and thus, the number is useless. The sidewall I.E. the 45 in a 245/45/17 is a percentage. A percentage of the width, a number that is basically bunk. So the whole system is a wash. Tire ratings like treadwear and such are self regulated and therefore totally useless except as reference to another tire by the same manufacturer.
90-93 Accord Tire sizing
The following tire sizes are usually within a third of an inch of the original CB7 tire diameter. You have to check the tire manufacturer or Tire Rack to be sure about a specific tire. The stock size is 185 70 14 (for a DX) or a 24.3" rolling diameter.
- 205 55 15 (too narrow unless for snow/rain)
- 225 50 15 (great size!)
- 205 50 16 (too narrow unless for snow/rain)
- 215 50 16 (my old size, works great, stuck out on 40mm offset wheels)
- 225 45 16 (great size with the right offset!)
- 205 45 17 (too narrow! unless for.. well you get the point)
- 215 45 17 (the second size I used, fits perfect.)
- 225 40 17 (doesn't exist)
- 235 40 17 (requires crazy fender flares to fit an accord)
Don't do 225 45 17, it's too tall and will ruin your acceleration. It may be OK for a high power turbo Accord.
Audi A4 tire sizing
- 205 55 16 (stock sport wheel)
- 225 50 16 (perfect for the stock 16"x7" sport wheel)
- 225 45 17 (great size!)
- 245 40 17 (slightly short)
- 255 40 17 (slightly tall)
- 225 40 18 (18” is too big unless you've got some sweet forged wheels and track brakes)
- 255 35 18 (too wide to fit more than likely)
Miata tire sizing
- 185 60 14 (stock )
- 195 60 14 (.4” too tall)
- 195 55 14 (best bet for the stock wheel .3” too short)
- 205 50 15 (big improvement)
- 215 45 15 (bigger improvement)
- 225 45 15 (yum!)
Wheels:
For wheels there are a lot of things to consider, diameter, offset(the distance of the mounting surface to the wheel centerline), construction, weight, width, bolt pattern, brake clearance, and of course, your budget.
Diameter:
14's, 15's and 16's are good for auto cross, drag, rally, or road racing depending on your brake and tire requirements and if you've got the right wheel. 17's would be a road race only setup for clearing those 13" brakes. On the smaller cars the other kinds of racing are going to be hindered by a wheel this large with the exception of tarmac rally. Good luck rallying a Miata haha! 18's are too large for most cars unless you're running some huge track brakes and lots of horsepower.
Width:
The widest that will fit the widest tire that fits in your fender. To do that you have to have the correct offset, suspension, and you may have to roll your fenders.
Offset:
This is the most important aspect of fitment after bolt pattern. This determines wheel spoke to brake caliper clearance, wheel/tire to suspension clearance, and how close the wheel is to the cars center. And the tire to fender clearance. To determine brake clearance for a big brake kit get a template from your brake company and stick it in the wheel. I even managed to get a wheel manufacturer to send me a template to fit the brake template over! Priceless!
Accord Wheels:
The CB7 will work with a 40mm (flush with the fender) to a 46mm offset (pulled in close to the suspension). But whether that fits also depends on the tire size, suspension setup, and alignment. I had a 215 series tire on a 40mm offset wheel and it stuck out. The perfect offset for this combo would be a 43-45 mm as far as I can tell. It varies from wheel to wheel and tire to tire so this isn't written in stone. Another 215 series sits flush with the fenders in a 42mm offset. The hubs is 64.1mm
Construction:
Wheel construction is either cast or forged. There are many ways to do both but generally a cast wheel is heavier, weaker, and cheaper and a forged wheel is usually stronger, lighter, and uber-expensive. Lighter = better. There are good light weight and strong cast wheels though. If you can afford it get forged.
Cast wheels that are good and fit accords: (as of 9 2005)
- Rota (Circuit 8 16x7 40mm et, Circuit 10, GT-3 16x7 40mm et, Sub zero, torque)
- Team Dynamics Pro Race 1 + Pro Race 2 (templates for brake fitment)
- OZ Superleggera (17x7 40mm et 15.4lbs)
- BBS RK's (17x7 46mm et 17.5lbs)
- Enkei (RP03 17x7 40mm et 16.8lbs, RS+M)
- Rays Gram Lights 57c (16x7)
Forged wheels that fit:
- Volks (CE28N, TE37 tons of sizes)
- Motegi Track Lite (17x7 42mm et 14lbs - the wheels I had. They were sexy.)
- Gram Lights 57f?
There are other lightweight cast wheels as well but they are more likely to bend, check on some forums- with racers, not ricers, before you buy.
Wheels: Audi
The stock wheels on the A4 are 16x7". I will likely keep them on the car unless I find some kind of deal on some 17x8" forged wheels. The wheel wells in the Audi have enough room for that wheel size w/ a 245 series tire. Now you're talking! Until then a 225 will fit on the stock wheels. I went with the Kumho ASX for all season goodness.
Accord wheels: V.2.0
What I ended up with I came across completely by accident on ebay. Motegi Trak Lites. They are forged and weigh in at a whopping 14lbs (17x7). I got them for a song NIB and I miss them now that the car is sold.
Wheels: Miata
The stock wheels are among the lightest to ever come on a passenger car. 12.5lbs. They are a tiny 14”x5.5” though and there are precious few good tires that fit on them. 15”x7” or 15”x6.5” are a perfect choice for a street driven Miata. There are forged wheels available in that size that weigh as little as 8-9lbs! The spec Miata guys tend to run a 15x7 30mm offset as per rules(?) so we know that fits. Stock Miata offsets NA chassis: 45mm NB chassis: 40mm. hub bore: 54.1mm
Hub rings
Don't bother with the nylon hub rings. They're too soft and they don't work too well with big brake kits. When your rotors are glowing red and your pads are on fire they tend to melt. I bought some properly sized aluminum hub rings for the Motegi's from discount tire direct for 15$. If they melt theres a serious problem somewhere. The Crew Chief preferred the plastic (teething) rings but the engineering dept had to veto.
Tires I've bought:
Kumho ASX
I put these on the A4 in 225 50 16. They are a huge improvement over the no-name 205 55 16's that were on there previously. They're everything I need in a tire for this car at this point and I am no longer afraid to drive over 80 mph!
Pirreli P-Zero nero M+S
These in 215 45 17 were the last tires on the Accord. I'm pretty impressed with this tire, it was far superior to the BFG Traction T/A V's that I put on the other wheels. Turn in from the visibly shorter sidewall was surprisingly sharper as well.
| Make | bolt pattern | rolling diameter | Hub bore |
| 90-93 accord | 4x114.3 | 24.3 | 64.1 |
| 96-2001 B5 A4 | 5x112 | 24.9 | |
| 90-97 Miata | 4x100 | 22.8 | 54.1 |
