Hey everyone. Just ordered my 05 TSX. MSM, Nav-5AT, with the OEM Body kit. Pick it up in Feb. Got the comptech exhaust on order, and now its time to choose wheels. Looking at the tire rack, I've picked out the ASA ST4, 8x18 42mm Offset, with Bridgestone S-02 A 215/45 as recommended by Tire Rack. Any opinions out there on this setup? I'll be purchasing them within 2 weeks.

Thanks

K

 

 

S-02's. Good tire choice, and expensive.

 

 

those wheels aren't particularly great AFAIK, but if you like the style go for it

 

Xizor, when your say not great, are you meaning looks or quality of wheel?

Sorry about not posting the pic, still a newbie to the board. Here's a link

http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/Displ...2FMachined+Lip

 

maybe "special" would be a better word, I know very little about ASA except Tirerack sells them... and they're made by another wheel company I think

 

I like the looks of those wheels. It's very similar to the wheels Mercedes uses on their AMG models. Quality wise, they're probably not anywhere close to a Volk or Racing Hart wheel, but probably on par with most everything else in its price range.

 

Isn't a 215 width a little narrow for a wheel that is 18x8?
I'm also looking for wheels that size, I would go with a 235 or 225 width at least.

 

235/40/18 is ideal but 225/40/18 isn't bad either.

 

Well, 215/45/18 was the tire recommended by Tire Rack, I just ordered them today, and I pick up the TSX on Friday, will post pics next week.

 

I think 215-45-18 is fine. It matches the diameter of the stock wheel and it's not as heavy as a 225 or 235 tire. Given the fairly low torque of our 4 cylinder engine, the 215 width tire will help preserve acceleration. It will also close the wheel well gap better than a 225-40-18.

 

grip > tire weight

 

the TSX's biggest hurdle to faster 0-60 times is traction.

 

That's only for off the line acceleration. The TSX's relatively weak torque is not going to break the 215 tires loose in most day to day driving situations or if you are taking your car to the track or autocrossing.

 

I guess that depends on how you drive

The tires break loose on a 1-2 shift for me under hard acceleration.

 

One other thing, so the tires get here tommarow, I got a call from Tire Rack, and it was a strange call. First off, the guy from TR said, we have an engineers note to make sure you check the tire that it doesn't rub, if it does rub, and I havn't driven on the tires, then I can send it back, but then he had a second note that said someone had already installed this wheel on an '04 TSX, and it didn't rub. Never the less, when I hung up the phone, I was less sure then I was before, kind of strange, but I'm glad they were up front. I pick up the car friday, and will let you guys know how it turns out.

 

You'll have no problems at all with rubbing.

 

That's why I said you won't break the tires loose under "most" situations.

I understand what you're saying about wanting to put as much tire to the ground as possible. I used to have a 300ZX TT with about 400 wheel hp. I could easily spin the 275 rear tires into 3rd gear. But, in the case of our TSX, we are talking about a 4 banger with less than 200 lb/ft of torque. You can chirp your tires hard on the 1-2 shift, but you aren't going to be peeling out all the way. Beyond 1st gear, the weight of the heavier tires come into play and acceleration will be hampered.

Of course, with a 225-40-18, the smaller overall diameter will effectively shorten the gearing a bit which helps acceleration, so it may all be a wash.

I would still go for either a 215-45-18 or a 235-40-18 for purposes of preserving the stock rolling diameter and keeping the wheel well gap as small as possible. God knows the gap already looks too big. I don't want to add to it even by a small amt by reducing the overall diameter of the tire. Too bad they don't make a 225-42-18. That would be perfect.

 

Here they are, from the tire rack, ASA ST4 18x8 42mm offset, 215/45ZR-18 Bridgestone Potenza S-02 A , I pick up the car friday, will put them on and post more pics, I'm hoping they dont rub, as the guy from tire rack said it MIGHT, but everyone on here says it wont! Let me know what you guys think so far. Also, yes they are the same rim (in terms of look) as the SL65, E55 Mercedes Benz.

http://homepage.mac.com/kelsharif/PhotoAlbum40.html

Karim

 

Congratulation, I also have ordered ASA ST4 18x8 wheels w/ Firelli Nero 235/40/18 tires that sitting in my garage waiting to be installed on my 2004TL 5AT w/ A-Spec bodykit. The wheel looks good in person with high quality construction. ASA wheel is made by a company name "ASA" ( ISO 9001 Certified ) located in Korea and is licensed by BBS( Germany company) and using similar techlogogy.
the weight is 24+ pounds each.

 

great info