As far as mileage goes, I did a wheel and tire upgrade a while ago, and am seeing about an 8% drop in mileage, more than the 5-6% I expected going in, though I suspect most all of that comes from the tires, not the rims, as my coasting distances on known downhills have been reduced, suggesting rolling resistance as the primary culprit, not weight or drag. My wheels are a bit heavier than the 16" superleggeras as well, as they are chrome plated, which adds up to a lot of weight since spoked wheels represent a lot of surface area to be covered. That is the reason I like that look so nice though -- lots of shiny reflective surfaces. The tires though are wider (205/50/16"), and not low rolling resistance.

The drop though is not a complete waste by any means, as the handling and ride are substantially improved, though noise is slightly worse, but all in all, it feels and looks like a much higher quality vehicle now. Everyone who has ridden in the car has complemented the handling.

Since getting the tires, I noticed that my friend's Nissan Sentra had some low-rolling resistance 195/55/16"s on it stock. I actually drove the car a while and was satisfied with the handling, so will probably switch to those when my current tires wear out. I'm interested in seeing how much of a difference in mileage the thinner, lighter, lower-resistance tires would make on my current rims.

 

I ended up going with the 17X8. The offset was 45. I did not go with low rolling resistance tires since I like the performance of the ones I got. I did get a hit in MPG. But, not exactly sure of how much since the temp just dropped 20 degrees and it is raining. I will report back with my findings.

 

I've really liked my Continentals (ContiTouringContact CV95 - LRR according to them), and they come in a 205/55/16. I have the 195/60/15 - so much better than the Dunlops. Noise is a tad better, handling is profoundly better. No noticeable change in FE either. In fact, I've been getting EPA (45-46) last couple tanks - better than my Apr/May values for the past couple years on the Dunlops...

 

I looked at those, but decided against them because they would have been about 3/4 inch taller than my current tires, which are nominally the same as stock, and I wasn't sure what sort of performacne effect I'd get from taller tires. I figure with a CVT the gear ratio range was selected for a good reason so it's prboably not best to mess with it.

Thanks for the advice, I'll keep that in mind when it comes time to replace my current Kumhos.

 

I hear you - I had the exact same concern going from the 185/70/14 to 195/60/15. My threshold was to limit it to a 1/4" difference in diameter, figuring that's about how much diameter a tire would loose as it wears anyway. Good luck!

 

Here is the pic of my car with 17X8 OZ Superleggera with 225/45/17 tires.

 

Very Cool! Would be very curious what your FE is like with that setup. It looks great - nice choice!

 

They look really nice and the Honda is not bad either.

 

thanks for the comments.

well, just did a 24 mile run and it was about 50 outside. i was able to get 46 mpg. it was 90% highway and 10% city. i was going 55-62 mph with frugal acceleration. The traffic was pretty light. i feel i would have gotten a lot more if i had my stock wheels and tires on. i think the loss is due to the non low rolling resistance tires.

 

Very nice look! Keep us posted on your MPG-hit feelings.
Some of us might just be swayed.