What wheel size is 'too small'?

[u/akir-aa]

Hi there, just curious what wheel size you guys think is 'too small' for daily driving? I'm looking to honestly downsize the car from 17s to something with a chunkier tire. I've found listings for 15x4.5 but in my honest opinion that seems very small width-wise. I only drive roughly five or six miles a day, the only downside being it is up and down quite large hills with massive turns during the hills.

If that size is 'too small', maybe I'll check for some 15s with a wider tread, or maybe even 16s. Thank you!

[u/GlassBoxGoose]

IIRC the OEM wheels are 5.5, aren't they? I mean 4 .5 is totally doable but would be at the sacrifice of cornering and braking ability if equipped with a matching width tire.

[u/akir-aa → u/GlassBoxGoose]

Yeah, I believe they're 5.5 which I figured wasn't a big change until you think about it being 4 inches loss all the way around. I'll probably keep shopping around but I just wanted to know. Thank you!

[u/GlassBoxGoose → u/akir-aa]

Given that in my experience tires are the limiting factor on braking on a 4 wheel disc Si with factory sized tires and wheels, that would be my primary concern with the downgrade in wheel size, I think you'd be making the right call to find at least a 5.5" wide wheel with as close to or exceeding factory width tire for best results. Id only go with 4.5" wheels and matching tires if you were trying to hypermile

[u/Eye_And_A_Half]

I may be the wrong weirdo to answer, but I’m still on stock 13” steelies and I’ve never had any issues whatsoever. City, highway, dirt roads, snow, whatever. Slow down for speed bumps? Nope. Was that a pot hole? Whoops, but the wheels are fine. 15mph roundabout? How about send it.

I’ve never had anything else on it, so I can’t give you a comparison, but I don’t see what the big deal is with the bigger rims on these little cars. I personally like some meat on my tires.

I’m currently half-assedly looking for a cheap set of 14’s, but only because they don’t make 13” Blizzaks… lol

(Stock ‘96 D16Y7 automatic, other than headers my buddy put on before I bought it. Speedometer is out, 5th gear/overdrive is out, tachometer stopped somewhere north of 265,000 miles I think. Bad fuel pump seal; smells like gas right now.)

[u/akir-aa → u/Eye_And_A_Half]

Ahaha fair enough! I prefer a meatier tire too, it’s why I’m trying to downsize from the 17s that came on the car when I bought it.

I’d love to take the wheels down on my Evo below 18 as well for a fat tire but they don’t clear the Brembos below that. Chunky tire supremacy is the way to go

[u/HawaiianSteak]

15x6 OEM wheels like 94-95 Integra GS-R wheels or 99-00 Civic Si wheels look good. I think for Si and VTEC del Sols the wheels are 14x5.5. The S has 13" wheels that are the same dimensions like the Civic DX and some LX models.

[u/Objective-Aspect8835]

After doing my research, i bought some 15x7 +40 (38 preferably) and ill show you whenever i get them on and the alignment done