cose25

heres a pic of my rdx, for all of you that think these HUGE "DUBS" will make it ride like -crap-. i cant tell a bit of difference with these on as far as ride, comfort, etc., overall diameter change is ~1-1/4.
i might even drop it with some Eibach springs, the gap bugs me.

GET RID OF THE 20's!!

Tripp11

Tastefully done, IMO. With those rims and setup, I would agree dropping it a few inches would do wonders with the appearance.

cose25

thanks tripp, this thread was in response to the "wuss my ride" thread. apparantly the only people driving the RDX are old farts....
im really not trying to be a smart ass, but it drives me crazy when everyone is saying its the 20 inch rims that make the ride rough. if you do your HOMEWORK, you can come up with a near stock ride with aftermarket wheels...like me.
i have "grown-up" and got rid of my turbo'd-nitrous-civic/del sol/ and crx and now have the RDX, those stock wheels are ok(for the winter) but are not -Baller- enough for me...
i really didnt want to tamper with it TOO much...but i guess i have a problem with customizing. the eibach springs come out in the end of march - FRONT 1.3 & REAR 1.0. Eibach is the only spring i would put on my ride. im young so i can take the added stiffness, i bet it will handle even better!! BTW---avon m550 245/45/20 (tire rack) 20x8.5 TSW Estoril's. PLEASE - if you bite my style...STAY OUT OF N. VA!!!!

Tripp11

Well, I'm mid-30's and I think your RDX looks damn good with those wheels.

I agree with you - the gap would drive me crazy but looks like you're going to address in the near future. Would love to see before and after shots!!

Take care man and keep rolling.

oasis3582

Yeah, I agree that you have done well here. It looks quite classy, unlike most 20s out there.

Chas2

Do you notice any difference in acceleration or braking due to the difference in diameter? I would think that ~1.8% difference between 245/45-20 vs stock 235/55-18 may not be that much.

omgacuralol

I like the color matched centers....and I'm sure it still rides a lot smoother than the 40 series tires on my GTI

any more pics from different angles maybe?

99AcuraTL

Does the Tire Pressure Montioring system work with your 20's? Other threads said only OEM and Ron Jon Wheels will work with it.

Fishbulb

What kind of homework can make 20's tire profile ride like 18's? Not flaming, just curious on how you accomplished this.

c_hunter

So the speedo reads about 2mph low at 75mph, correct? That is not too bad.

How much more do the 20" wheels weigh? That would be my only concern (but if you spent enough $$, the 20s should be on par with the stock 18s).

Do you notice the gearing change or wheel weight at all on performance or braking?

sasair

he kept his tires about the same profile as the stock tires. Only drawback is that the speedo will be off. Have you had it checked to see how much it affects your speedo?

edit: well maybe not the ONLY drawback...

DNPhotography

nice. very nice

flar

According to the specs on the tirerack web site the tires are very close in overall diameter to the stock 18" tires (28.4" vs. 28.6") so the speedometer error at 75MPH is less than 1MPH.

Since the overall diameter is very close, but the wheels are 2" larger in diameter, there must be 1" less rubber between the hard wheel and the road (.8" actually since the overall diameter mismatch is in the favor of this combo).

chyllintsx

dude thats super hot.. i like them alot... matches ur car color nicely... btw wat is ur color lol... and wat kinda rims r they? and any more pics? close up and angles? thanks man

sasair

Yeah that ride has to be pretty stiff. Maybe only slightly stiffer than the Acura 19s setup. Bet it would be a huge difference between a stock 18 setup and a 20 setup with lowering springs....

2manycars

I guess being in the old fart catagory but a kid at hart looks good to me, as I had 20's on my STI & still have them on my B9.

flar

With regards to the looks - they have a decisively more sporty character without looking overdone. Personally my tastes in wheels run to fewer, wider spokes, but that's a preference thing. And with respect to the wheel wells, while the gaps are pretty large, they are symmetrical right now. If it was lowered then the curve of the wheel well would not follow the curve of the tire as well. It would probably look sportier, but my sense of symmetry would start whining...

rdx4fun

I bet you it feels like riding in a shoping cart. You know that no suspension travel feeling. Looks real nice though.

cose25

THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT ^^^^^^^^this is a jackass statement. if i told you i felt NO difference at all with the exception of some more road noise, you would say i was lying....so i wont sat anything........bunch of haters...

thank you all for the compliments...there are absolutely no pictures of any slightly custom RDX's. So my fellow acuraziners..heres some more


AND BTW: i havent "ridden" in a shopping cart for ~24 years, its been awhile. So keep riding on your nice soft balloons to keep your nagging wife happy...

rdx4fun

Hey Cose I was just playin. Sorry if I affended you I did not mean to. And by the way my wife drives a MDX so it doesnt matter what she thinks about ride quality. Lighten up dude Im in NOVA as well so hope to see you around some time so I can see the rims in person. Like I said it looks real nice.

cose25

i actually tried to come back and edit the "attitude" out of my last response...it was too late. im not trying to be one of those guys on the internet yakkety yakking..

nothing personal to anyone, it just erks me when people talk and comment on things that they have very little info on or personal experience with.

for example: you wanna talk about a stiff ride = my previous car (95 del sol) had Tein Flex coilovers on it with the electronic dampening = ^^shopping cart.

crappy ride: my friend has an Element lowered with 20's on it 235/35/20 tire...that is a crappy ride.

crappy ride/looks good: co-worker has a Denali lowered with 26" wheels. enough said....

so, when i chose this rim/tire combo, i did a lot of research as far as tire size (width,profile height, manufactuer, etc.) i didnt just go with -whatever-.
and i am being totally serious and not just sticking up for myself when i say that i have noticed virtually no change in ride quality.
-----------THAT WAS THE WHOLE POINT OF THIS THREAD------

so sorry to anyone (read: old farts ) that i may have rubbed the wrong way...im really not trying to rub anything/anyone-any-which-way..

THANKS EVERYONE FOR YOUR POSITIVE COMMENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!and just remember were you saw the best looking RDX at first!!!

sasair

Yes let's please watch the personal attacks on other members. And thank you for coming back and at least trying to edit your previous "attitude". Everyone's got their opinions and thoughts, on any subject here and they are all welcome.

Personally, I like the size of your rims, but don't care for the looks of them. But I know that's just a personal preference thing. As long as you like them! Still waiting to see the perfect rims for the RDX..... The ronjons top my list so far!

rdx4fun

Hey Sasair maybe we could start a modified picture gallery for the RDX,s. Where we would post our wheel info drop if any and so on like the other guys do I think.

cose25

thats a great idea. like i said earlier, there are virtually no pics of any custom/modified RDX's nor any real info anywhere...i have a hard time believing that there arent any out there (WWW) yet with SOMETHING done to it besides factory accessories. Even here at acurazine....actually that is how i found this forum.

we can start the picture gallery with mine !

terdonal

Very nice. I think they look great and work well with the colour of your RDX. Still looking to get some new wheels for mine soon as I will be leaving the Blizzaks on the OEM rims. Sensors are here now I need the wheels.

Think I have them picked out but haven't checked the availability yet.

http://www.1010tires.com/wheel.asp?i...ways+%2D+Black

Have to see what they look like with the vehicle though.

cose25

what size? the whole thing is that i wanted to stay ~near~ stock overall but obviously go bigger than the 18". the problem with the 19" is that the tire sizes jump around to where the right profile and section width would actually be a little less overall than that of the og 18"..thats not what i wanted. i opted for the 20" with a correct tire size to maintain the proper overall diameter. i also dont like the truck look of a tire(profile) that overloads the look of the rim and i didnt want a skinny low profile rubberband tire because IT WOULD RIDE LIKE A BRICK.

to my understanding, any rim that has a normal valvestem will accept a TPMS sensor, thats all it is anyway is a valve stem with a sensor on the back of it. i mounted and balanced these myself (road force varainced also) <--ride like butta. i managed to balance out all 4 rims with no more than 1.25 oz on each wheel with one wheel at .50 oz of weight. for 20" thats pretty damn good.

happy to be of any help and good luck!!!!!

COSE

RDX REX

That looks AWESOME!! Great choice on the rims and color matching the center!

c_hunter

Seems like the overall diameter change is more like +0.5" compared to the stock 18" wheel/tire setup, which is almost trivial. On the order of 1 mph lower speedo reading, which is probably within the accuracy of the speedometer. The ride must have changed a little bit since you lost 0.75" of sidewall, but it's probably not noticeable.

So I am still curious about the weight difference -- do you have a feel for that?

sasair

I don't think there are enough pictures of modified RDXs to create a forum for it. It may get a few pictures to begin with, but would like become too stagnant to keep people looking at it. You're welcome to start a "Customized RDX Pictures" thread if you want to. If it takes off we can sticky it and if it justifies its own area then we will take it from there.

2manycars

Cose, now you have to get larger and cross drilled rotors and bigger calipers.

cose25

with the weight question...i never weighed either one. if anything, maybe a difference of a pound or so..not sure. i couldnt find any weight specs on those TSW's.

And so the customizing begins.....damn.

flar

According to the numbers, a 245/45R20 tire like the Avons used here should be 28.68" in overall diameter. Also, according to the numbers, a stock 235/55R18 tire should be 28.17" in overall diameter, which is indeed .5" difference.

But, according to the data at tirerack.com, which I believe is taken from measuring an actual tire rather than simply doing the theoretical math on the numbers, they show an overall diameter increase of only .2" for those Avons. If I recall information on tire sizes, I seem to recall that there are discrepancies for some of the measurements that can make the actual diameter of tires vary from model to model and sometimes from tire size to tire size. For example, how the manufacturer measures the tread width isn't strictly defined. As such, I would trust the tirerack.com numbers over running the numbers.

One thing that occurs to me is that the Avons that Cose used in his 20" application were 245/45 which is the same width and aspect ratio that Curry Acura offers and tirerack recommends for the 19" solutions. That means his setup has the same theoretical amount of rubber as the standard 19" solution, but he has an extra inch of rim. This should mean that the ride should be no worse than the standard 19" setups and probably better since a larger rim and thus larger overall diameter would ride better than a smaller overall diameter - all other things being equal. So, I can definitely see that this setup would be better than the standard 19" setup - as to how it would compare to the stock 18" setup - that's less obvious, but a number of application specific parameters could turn the tide in either direction - sidewall stiffness (mostly affected by the speed rating, but affected by design as well), overall diameter, general tire construction, actual depth of the rubber, for just a few.

737 Jock

Hmmm.

They are attractive wheels though and visually they match the car well.

cose25

i guess not enough for some...? ^^^ geez, some of you are ball busters! PUT THE DAMN CALCULATORS DOWN AND ENJOY THE PICTURES!!!!!!!!!

2manycars

What he said! Enough with the calculations already. The ride is good and should handle even better.

chyllintsx

dude thats real nice.. nice pick... but i bet if i had those in new york... it'd be worse then a shopping cart!! haha

flar

Sorry cose, but I was just trying to help those who were saying "the ride must obviously suck" see why it isn't necessarily so. Hopefully they'll believe your seat-of-the-pants feedback with less skepticism now...

Psychobroker

Bro, that is a SICK RDX...very very nice choice of rims. Not FLASHY at all (I hate chrome!).

Kudos!

PS I don't think you even need to drop it..if so, only 1"-1.2" MAX. Anything more and you'll be rubbing on the fender lining over bumps and on freeways.

c_hunter

Yes, definitely true -- I have heard the same thing. The nominal diameter is OK for guidance, but each tire model is different for any number of reasons. And of course, the tires distort/deflect under load, so the actual effective rolling diameter is different than any estimate!

cose25

Thanks for the comments guys! it seems i was a little too anxious to put these new wheels on and take off the 18" "winter" wheels...as of right now ive got 4 inches of heavy wet snow/soon-to-be-ice covering everything...DOH!