Some Wheel/tire questions

Brandon SR

Active Member
14
5
Lancaster, PA
Vehicle Model
Civic SI
Body Style
Sedan
So I've been over the forums for months now. Can't wrap my head around rim width and offset perfectly. I just ordered Eibach pro kit springs, and I'm looking at getting Privat Akzent wheels in 18's. Not quite sure if I should go with 8" or 8.5" wide and which offset. Also what tire size would be best for each with my drop?
On a side note regarding TPMS, which I have also read through the pages lol, should I just have the dealership switch my sensors over? I'm not planning on running different wheels, I have a winter truck.
Thanks for any advice!!!
 

liljusepy

Well-Known Member
301
209
Seattle
Vehicle Model
Si sedan
Body Style
sedan
Switch the sensors over, but just have your tire shop do it. They won't need to be reprogrammed. 8.5" will fit, you may fit 235's with eibach but it will depend on wheel offset. I am using 18x8.5 +30, 225/40/18 with h&r, and a custom alignment. I do not rub at all, and my camber in the rear is not that aggressive (-2*).
 

Nix

Jötunn Moderator
10,765
8,162
Lew-vul, KY
Body Style
It's A Fast Pig!
liljusepy hit it on the head. Tire size is spot on at 225/40/18. That will fit great on either wheel and will keep your speedometer and mileage very accurate. The eibachs are a great drop spring. I ran them for a while.

Just have the tire place swap the sensors over and they should work just fine. No need to reprogram or anything.

People will tell you to run narrower at 215 or even 205 and just stretch the tires. Im not a fan of that at all but it is certainly up to you. They do that to gain more room for fitting larger wheels with lower offsets so they don't rub.
 

Brandon SR

Active Member
14
5
Lancaster, PA
Vehicle Model
Civic SI
Body Style
Sedan
Awesome, thanks guys! I was looking and using 1010tires offset calculator and 30 is what I came up with as well. So I'll be ordering the wheels in a few weeks. I'll post some pictures up in the new members section. Thanks again!
 

Brandon SR

Active Member
14
5
Lancaster, PA
Vehicle Model
Civic SI
Body Style
Sedan
So I'm double thinking the 8.5" wide wheels and going with 18x8 +40 to be flush and have no poke. Should I still stick with the 225/40/18 tire size? Shouldn't have to worry about rubbing or fender rolling at 8" with 40 offset right? Again that's with the Eibach pro kit drop. Thanks in advance!

EDIT - they don't make 18x8 with 40 offset in that wheel. Would I need to roll fenders or have any camber with 8.5" at 30 offset?
 
Last edited:

Brandon SR

Active Member
14
5
Lancaster, PA
Vehicle Model
Civic SI
Body Style
Sedan
Sorry, you never said if you rolled your fenders or not. And using the search on here and 9thgencivic forums makes it worse since some of them have conflicting posts. Some say you need a camber kit and some don't. As well as some saying 8.5" with a 1.5" drop will need rolled fenders. Just wanna be sure before putting up money on rims! Thanks again
 

Nix

Jötunn Moderator
10,765
8,162
Lew-vul, KY
Body Style
It's A Fast Pig!
The offset and tire size will matter more if you're going to rub or not. I'm willing to bet most of the people running an 8.5" wheel with +30 are also using a narrower tire to avoid rub issues. @liljusepy did say he was able to run a 225/40 tire without rubbing and a bit of negative camber. I don't believe he had his fenders rolled as his answer was pretty complete.

As far as camber arms go in the rear it's really personal preference if you want to get them or not and the alignment numbers you are comfortable with. When you lower the car it gains negative camber in the rear. So for the people running larger drops they get a lot of camber. The arms are used to change that so you can either run more or less camber and bring the car back to stock specs or wherever you would like it to be. If you lower the car and are satisfied with the numbers then don't get them. Jusepy is running about -2 degrees which im sure helps avoid some rub if there would be any.

Generally I like to recommend people get the camber arms if they are going to lower their car 1.5" or more. The eibach prokit is about a 1" drop so you can probably get away without them. Camber bolts for the front are only $30-ish and it's a nice feature to have. The car should not gain any negative camber in the front from lowering so if it comes out 0 you're set. Running a little neg camber in the front is a great way to improve the handling although if you have slightly higher negative camber in the rear and run 0 up front, rotating the tires will help them last longer as they will get a break occasionally.

Hope that helps.
 
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