Reach

Hello wheels people,

I'm a totaly new to rims and tires, I've never upgraded the wheels on either of my previous rides except to replace balding tires with new identical ones. My 2006 TSX is my first new car and I'd like to do it right. I'm interested in purchasing some new rims and summer tires for my baby.

Before the search flame, let me head it off by saying that since the master wheel list is gone, and the search feature doesn't allow 3 character searches (ie: BBS, company names) I'm soliciting opinions.

I'm looking for some larger 18 or 19 options, that would work well with warm weather tires. I don't really understand the benefit of increasing wheel size except for looks, so if there is some other benefit I'd like to know as well.

I'd like to spend around $800 or less on a set, so as to still have money for nice tires. I imagine money is better spent on more expensive tires rather than more expensive rims, since they're the part that actually hugs the road.

I have seen 2 sets by BBS that I like the appearance of, and they are modestly priced. I've also seen mixed reviews for them in various places but I really don't understand wheels and quality and what to look for or avoid. I guess a link to a good newb guide here would do me some good.

So, if I can get some help here, I'd greatly appreciate it! What should I learn before going deep into this? What should I avoid and why, especially TSX specific cases? Thanks for any help!

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

Reach, don't be fooled. Good tires are going to cost you a whole lot less than a set of good wheels. Put your money in the wheels as you want something that is durable, hopefuly no heavier than the stock ones, and attractive.

As for tires, if you're looking for something solid that is not too pricey, the Avon M500 and M550 have gotten great reviews from fellow members here and are around $100 per tire. Compare that to the stock Michelins at $230+ per tire and you'll see what I meant about putting your money in the wheels.

Reach

I've read the reviews here for the Avons and Yokos and will probably go with one of these. That decision I'll make later, probably once I order rims, because I figure I'll probably need the rims shipped to me but buy the tires locally.

I'm still in the market for information, or anything else helpful in determining what size to get and brands to check out or avoid.

Things that look especially good on a CG TSX are of course preferred! I'm thinking black or gunmetal wheels might be the way to go. Maybe polished edges, dunno. Right now I'm shopping around solely by looks, and that's not how I like to make a decision, so I know I need more info.

xizor

This is a good place to start

http://gallery.bussert.dyndns.org:81/TSXWheels

Reach

I know of your gallery Xixor, and I really wish it was working, but it isn't

Maybe the guy who suggested it was still in your cache was right, but I've been trying intermittently since last night and its still a no-go. I eagerly await its return.

edit: I assume (from the dyndns) you're hosting it locally? Can I suggest you go with a dedicated host? I could help you out if you needed.

xizor

I'm in the process of moving it to a deticated host, but my also getting rid of Gallery, so its a slow manual process

yadfgp

Damnit what happened to this thread!! It seems to have died! I'm desperately looking for the same info as Reech

I might consider new rims at least, but I have no clue as to what the advantages are. I mean other than looks. Is there any performance advantages over the stock ones? Is lighter better? Or does weight even matter? And what about wheel size? Anyone have any advice or suggestions on any of this?

Alin10123

Alin10123

Ok... i might be able to help you out a little bit. Basically... when somebody gets new wheels, they are primarily going for looks. 2nd they are going for performance. Typically when you upgrade your wheel, you go +1 size in your wheels. For example the TSX is 17 inch stock, so 18 inches would be ideal. Of course, there are people here that have gone one step further and gone to 19 inches. Performance will be gained from 2 areas. Typically aftermarket wheels are lighter, thus it takes the engine less HP to physically turn the wheels. Also, since you only change the wheel size, and keep the entire diameter of the outside of the tires, you are decreasing the height of the sidewall. Decreasing the sidewall will definately help reduce bodyroll when you corner, but it also takes away your tires ability to absorb bumps in the road. Remember, your tires absorb most of the road shock first, then the suspension. Also keep in mind, the less to absorb the shock, the more likely you will bend a wheel if you hit a large pothole.
For this reason, i personally prefer 18 inch wheels. Another measurement on the wheel is also the offset. This is very important because the offset is the distance between the center hub of the wheel to the outer part of the wheel. Different cars have different offsets. Our tsx's use an unusually high offset becuase it is front wheel drive. The Ronjons will have a perfect fit everytime since they are made specifically for our cars.

Now, about the wheel itself and what to look for. First and foremost you want to get a wheel that's light. The heavier the wheel, and you will feel the difference in acceleration and braking becuase it takes more force to get the wheel going and getting it to stop. 2ndly, you want a really strong wheel. The stronger the wheel is, the less likely it is to bend. The more expensive and reputable brands are usually lighter and stronger. The cheaper ones are usually bent really easily.

Now... with all of that said. www.tirerack.com is a good place to start. If you order both wheels and tires from them, they will mount and balance your tires for free and all you have to do is put the wheels ony our car when oyu get them. Saves you quite a bit of money.

This thread here will also help you determine which tire size to go with what wheel. For an 18 inch wheel i recommend the 235/40/18 size. However, that size has limited availability becuase of the manufactuers not all producing that size. So most here drop down to a 225/40/18. There's not a noticeable difference in size. Maybe 2% which is negligible. Here's a thread to help you out with that as well.
http://www.acura-tsx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20434

For tires, i personally recommend Yokohama Avid V4's. I have a review of them right here. http://www.acura-tsx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29174

It's a high performance all season tire. If you want high performance pure summer tires (no snow at all, no below freezing temps either) then you cuold go with the Yokohama avs ES100's. The avon tires are good too, i just have no experience with them.

As for wheels, of course you could browse through tirerack.com's website and they usually wont sell wheels that are cheap in quality. I personally think the BBS RGR wheels in the gunmetal finish on the TSX looks sick! It made my jaw drop the first time i saw those. But they may be a little out of your price range @ $600 a wheel. Another popular brand that guarantees 100% fitment is ronjon wheels. They are specifically designed to go with Acura/hondas. I personally think that the ronjon inspyres in the polished finished with a CG look GREAT!

http://www.acura-tsx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29064 for some pics
Their website is www.ronjonwheels.com where you can look at different pics of different wheels on different cars. There's a TSX gallery with only their wheels on them.

Last but not least, if you are going to get wheels. You are going to need a drop. The stock ride height pretty much only looks good with the stock wheel/tire setup. about 95% of members here that have gotten aftermarket wheels think there's too much wheel gap unless you lower the car at least an inch. That's a whole other essay i could write. But this here should at least get you started. GOOD LUCK. The ronjon's in the 18 inch size will run you $250 each plus shipping. Slap on the nice set of the tires i recommended, and you could probably walk away around $1600 including installation and balancing.

I hope all of this helps. You could probably do a search for "wheels" on this board and find lots of pics as well. I'm sure the wheel gallery will be back up in a few days too.

Feel free to post here and ask any questions. Myself and the other members will do our best to answer them.

Alin10123

here'd the updated link to the wheel gallery i was talking about.

http://flickr.com/photos/bussert/sets/72057594075942570

This pic is of the BBS RGR wheels i was talking about.
http://flickr.com/photos/bussert/108...7594075942570/

RMATIC09

http://flickr.com/photos/bussert/108...7594075942570/

What rims are those?

oaksnutz

Looks like Work Meisters

xizor

the names for all the pics are going to be updated over the next week, as said, they're work meisters

RMATIC09

Thanks guys.

yadfgp

Yea really, thanks guys for all the great and very informative info. Pretty much answered all my questions. I think I might go with 18's I guess. Based on what I've learned the last day or so. I definitely would like to get the A-Spec suspension. I've read about how there isn't much drop with this and how careful you might need to be with 18's and this as far as looks. But I did find a thread with others who had this same setup and it looked great to me. Next and maybe the last question I have is in regards to what are some good brand names for rims. The tire rack wheel and tire package looks like a great way to go. I'm thinking of this route right now but not definitely. Oh another thing I was wondering about is weight. I would think the lighter the less stronger the wheel might be. I read that the stock wheels are 24 pounds. So even if you were to go with even 21 pound wheels would this even really be a noticeable difference? At least in terms of performance that you were mentioning earlier? Wheels don't seem to get much lighter than 19 pounds from what I have seen. Anyways, thanks again for all the info, especially you Alin10123