pby

I was wondering if anyone has replaced the rear wheels with wider ones?

The reason I ask is that I just noticed the rear wheel wells appear a bit large for the stock tires. The front wheels seem to look ok.

Any thoughts?

taewlee

LOL staggered rear wheels on a FWD car.... doesn't make sense to me

kaikai114

sounds like all you care about is cosmetic. for the money you're gonna spend on wider tires in the back, you might as well save that money and lower your car, it'll look a lot nicer than stock height. going staggered (bigger rear tires/rims) isnt going to help performance, it's your car, do what you think will make you proud

pby

Well, I definitely wasn't expecting any improvements in performance. If I wanted a better handling car, I would have gone with a 3-series or a G35.

Nevertheless, I think the receded rear wheels, with respect to the rear body panels, look cheap. And lowering the car may further emphasize this fact.

Perhaps there is a real and logical reason for this, because it seems that every civic I see has this design also.

kaikai114

you mean the rear camber issue, the rear wheels look like / \ from the back? i'd think if the wheels arent slanted in, then they wont look as much receded like you said. i switched to 17x8 rims and wider tires, and from just looking at it, the rear wheels look less slanted and more flush with the fenders giving it a more clean look. u can give that a try as well.

jiggaman

i think marinetsx has staggered wheels but he also modded his body panels.

pby

I didn't know the rear tires looked like that from the back. I was referring to when you look at the side from the front of the car. The front tires are flush, while the rears appear to be a bit small/receded into the fender.

So are your front tires still flush with the front fenders? If so, I may replace my wheels/tires when it comes timr to replace the POS Michelins.

Thanks

Lung Fu Mo Shi

If you really want to go for the look, insteal of wider wheels (which will make you understeer more...in basic terms), why not use say +48mm offset rims in the front and +42mm in the back. Exact same size of rims, just a different offset so they "stick out" more from the car. You'll still pay extra for it.

EDIT: Just thought of something else. If you are really hardcore about it and can do the job RIGHT, you can use the stock rims, but add spacers to the rears. That's your cheapest option.

JTso

iTrader: (2)

The second option about adding spacer to stock rim is not a bad idea. It will actually allow F/R tire rotation. Just make sure the wheel studs are long enough to fit the spacers and lug nuts.

pby

So in plain English, a spacer material could be added to the inner side of the tire such that the tire/wheel would become aligned with the fender? Hope I translated correctly.

Is this safe?

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

Safe, for the most part...but not recommended since spacers tend to put undue stress on the studs since the nuts don't screw down quite as tight. Instead of spacers, you would be better off doing aftermarket wheels with varying offsets.

Lung Fu Mo Shi

More or less. A spacer would go between the inner wheel (rim) and the hub that the lugs are on.

This would push the wheel OUT from the car and make it flush with the fender.

Note that you may run into vibration problems with this setup, although maybe not. I've never used a spacer. And as JTso said, the amount that you space out the wheel, the shorter your lugs become. You have to be careful that you have enough lug to support the wheel.

It's not as safe as directly bolting it to the hub, but people do it. I imagine in the Evo and Subaru forums you'll find more info (no one uses spaces for Acuras and Hondas due to wheel configs).