Civic Wheels, Can They Fit?

[Peter2074]

Hello,
I have been looking around on the net to find some 16" wheels for the Insight, So far I have not had any luck. Can I buy wheels that would also fit a Civic? What model year Civic fit the Insight?
Does anyone have any 16" wheels they would like to sell? I saw a picture of a Blue Insight on this forum ages ago with 16"s on and it looked sweet as. I am aware that bigger wheels increase fuel consumption, but I see bigger wheels as a must for Insights.
Also is 16" the biggest you can go on an Insight?
Thanks so much,
Peter!
P.S If anyone knows where I can get some 16"s from ANYWHERE in the world, Please let me know
Thanks Again...

[Rick]

Are you reffering to this?

I know the person who put those on his. He had them on for maybe a total of one week before he couldn't take it anymore. He said it made the car corner like it was on rails, but the additional drag made the car such a dog that driving it was not fun. And the absolute best mileage he could get with them was about 50mpg, but even that was a stretch.

The stock wheels are a 5.5" wide 14" with a +45mm offset. The bolt pattern is 4X100 just like the civic. The only issue you may run in to would be with fittment under the rear wheel skirts. There's only about an inch of extra space on the outside. And if you sent too big you could possibly have a rubbing problem while turning on the front, so keep that in mind.

If you want some different wheels I'd have to suggest the route Cakley took and order some 14" Volk wheels, which are actually lighter than the stock wheels. You loose a lot of aerodynamics there, but you shed wheel weight also. That way you could at least run the stock tire. If you'f convinced you have to have 16's you might look in to some Volk 16's also.

[Guillermo]

The largest rims that might fit on an Insight is likely 16" x6.5"wide 4-bolt civic rim. The tire to fit that rim would have to be 205/40R16, but depending on the tire brand it might rub in the rear...

Because larger rims with low profile tires weight more and have more of their weight on the outside, the rotational inertia increases dramatically. So it takes a lot more energy to accelerate and decelerate a larger wheel even when the tire has the same outside diameter.
For maximum acceleration, using light weight 13" rims is the way to go. To greatly improve the cornering grip/handling of the Insight while minimizing the increase in weight use wider high performance tires on the already lightweight 14" Insight rims.
195/55R14 or 185/60R14 tires have practicaly the same diameter as the 165/65R14 OEM Insight tires. You can even get the awesome Toyo T1S in 195/45R14 so it's much lower profile (and lower diameter) then the 195/55R14.

If you want your Insight to look all riced up (so it looks faster but in reality it's slower) use a phat looking 15" 4-bolt civic rims with mean looking 205/50R15 tires.

16" rims on in the Insight weigh too much and the extremely low profile tires required will cause potholes to damage the rims very easily. 195/45R14 tires risk damaging rims in potholes as well.

[Peter2074]

Hey Rick and Guillermo,
Thanks Heaps!
Yeah Rick, Thats the car! Thats the Insight with the wheels I want. I have been looking a Tirerack.com for Civic wheels. I have found a set of Great 16" and 15" Wheels, Could you please advise me whether they would fit?

The 16"s are the TRMotorsport R2
Size Selected: 16x6.5
Recommended Tire Size: 205/50-16
Wheel Offset: +35mm
** Lightweight: 20.3 lbs. **
Bolt Pattern: 4-100
Construction Type: 1pc. Gravity Cast

And The 15"s are the Borbet Type CA
Size Selected: 15x6.5
Recommended Tire Size: 195/60-15
Wheel Offset: +40mm
Weight: 19.0 lbs.
Bolt Pattern: 4-100
Construction Type: 1pc. LP Cast

Could You please let me know If they would both fit and which is the better choice for the Insight (I much prefer the style of the 16"s) And if that tire size and everything is correct so I can order.
Also, Does anyone know of any other sites that you can order Insight/Civic Wheels From????

Thanks heaps!
Peter!

[Calpod]

Last summer I installed the wheels and tires from my civic SI, they are 17", the tires are 205/40 Nitto NT555's, and they fit fine, I only had them for a week, there was a drop in mileage of about 10 MPG, way too much drop in mileage for me.

[Guillermo]

20 lb 16" rims and 19 lb 15" rims is rediculously heavy

Subaru OEM 16" rims weigh 16 lbs (no they don't fit Hondas, just an example)

Insight OEM 14" rims weigh about 11 lbs.
Civic VX 13" rims weigh 8 lbs
Typical Honda/Acura 14" OEM rims weigh 15 to 16 lbs.
15" rims used by people that race Hondas weigh 10 to 15 lbs.

[Guillermo]

Consider light weight and reasonbly priced rims like the

Konig Helium 15" X 6.5" only 11.25 lbs at $130 each
Motegi Trak Lite 15" x 6.5" only 10 lbs at $200 each

In fact I hightly recommend the 15" wheel and tire package on sale at 1010tires: comes with 15" x 6.5" Konig Helium rims and awesome 195/50R15 Toyo T1-S ultra high performance summer tire for $836.99 U.S.

http://www.1010tires.com/tireandwheelpackages.asp

[livfreely]

I was wondering if the einkei 14" RFP1 will fit on the I2. That wheel only weights 8.3 lbs

[gderian]

Originally Posted by Guillermo

Consider light weight and reasonbly priced rims like the

Konig Helium 15" X 6.5" only 11.25 lbs at $130 each
Motegi Trak Lite 15" x 6.5" only 10 lbs at $200 each

In fact I hightly recommend the 15" wheel and tire package on sale at 1010tires: comes with 15" x 6.5" Konig Helium rims and awesome 195/50R15 Toyo T1-S ultra high performance summer tire for $836.99 U.S.

1010TIRES.COM — Tires and Wheels Absolute Authority.

Other than the stock size, one can choose 185/60R14 on stock wheels or 195/50R15. 16 inch tires make no sense for the Insight. The sidewalls are too short for any reasonable use. Even 15 inch is a stretch.

[Calpod]

But it looks really nice with the big and wide tires, it makes it look like a miniature funny car, I only had them in the back and it made the ABS come on a lot, probably because or the 14" in the front, but we don't use the brakes anyway.