It's definitely possible to find lighter 15" and even 16" rims than the OEM 15s - what we don't really know is what effect the design of the wheel has.

Another factor to consider is the rolling resistance caused by a wider contact patch of the tire. The OEM 195s have a relatively narrow contact patch compared to some other 195s and probably disproportionately less than a 225 width tire.

 

One option I was looking at were the 15X6.5 Motegi Racing TrakLite as it only weighs in at 10 pounds and I could use the existing tires.

You have to ask yourself a few things.

Looks?
FE?
Performance?

I am more with exbauer on this one. I would give up 5 MPG for style AND performance.

 

by the time you give up 5mpg, you start to get close to the regular Civic gas mileage...

 

I have a 15" setup with a 195/60 LRR tire - The impact on FE is somewhere between zero and maybe -1/-2 mpg, but definitely no more than that (I went from a 185 to a 195 tire). The weather has been so bad lately it's difficult to get a read. I'll post a 8-month result some time in August / September when I get some consistent weather to compare before and after.

I actually wanted the TrackLite 2's (silver) but they had not manufactured them yet. Kosei was my second choice. Just noticed you are in Tacoma - so if I see a silver HCH2 on I-5 with custom wheels I'll know who....

 

well, i am getting close to 45 mpg. i could not get that driving a regular civic...no where close. but, i am fine loosing some fe for the better handling and performance. so that is still better than a regular civic. it jsut depends on my mood of driving that day.

 

Actually you get close to an unmodified Civic mileage, but that's an apples-oranges comparison. Put the same wheel/tire combo on each car, and I bet they get hit the same way. -5 MPG on the hybrid would likely translate to the same for the regular Civic.

 

A Civic EX's wheels are already heavier to start, to going with an aftermarket wheel will not impact it as much. That said, I've found that under normal driving conditions, it's easier to get avg of EPA city/hwy compared to the Hybrids - so, net net I think a HCH II with heavier aftermarket wheels that may provide a net loss of 5mpg from a typical 45 mpg to 40 mpg starts to get it much closer to an EX that typically gets 35 mpg.

 

Given I dropped ~3 lbs per wheel and it didn't touch the FE (if anything, it went down), I'd be more inclined to think the tire width (and type) would actually have more impact to FE than weight (so long as we're not talking about huge chrome wheels).

To say that a custom HCH suffering from a X MPG drop begins to approach EX mileage is true, but it's still comparing two different setups (if anything, a 17" wheel has to run around a 225 width tire, as opposed to the 195's on the EX). An EX with 225's on it would likely suffer the same X MPG hit.

Bottom line: if you're into mods and are inclined to mod whatever you own, you're still better off modifying a hybrid.

 

Weight of the wheel is actually not going to be as much of an issue as weight on the tires, as far as mileage is concerned. Even weight on the actual treads of the tires, the most significant spot, is only worth about 2:1 for weight in the regular car though, so even adding 5 pounds a tire would only be like carrying 40 extra pounds in the car -- not terribly significant. Adding that much unsprung weight though will have a noticable negative effect on ride/handling though.

By far the most significant aspect though will be the wider tire that is (probably) not low-rolling-resistance compound, as that will be be a perpetual drag under steady cruising, even at slow speeds. However, it will radically improve the handling of the car -- that's the tradeoff. Going with the same width tire on the stock wheel would probably be almost as much of a mileage impact. I would suggest going with the narrowest width tire available that will safely fit on the wheel. I suspect if OEM tires were avaialble in the same width, but lower-profile so that they woudl fit these wheels, the mileage difference would be minimal.

This is a bit of nitpick, but there won't be the same X MPG hit between the two cars. The added rolling resistance will be proportional to the weight of the cars, so the extra fuel cost will be the same X Gallons hit, which will be disportionately higher MPGs on the hybrid, so actual $ cost should be comparable, but MPG hit will look more severe on the hybrid.

 

It is getting that time again and I put on my stock wheels and tires back on my car. I don’t have snow tires on there since it doesn’t get too bad in Chicago and if it does the plows are at work...fingers crossed. So, I have been use to getting 42 mpg or a tad bit if I am lucky with my 17X8 OZ Superleggera wheels and Kumho ASX 225/45/17 tires. I am going to get the Continental tires when I need new tires since they are low rolling resistance tires hoping that will help with the mpg since the Kumho’s are not...they were really cheap when I got the rims.

Anyway, on my way to work this morning I was able to get 52.X mph and it was pretty chilly this morning. I haven’t seen those numbers in a long time and miss that feeling of getting 50+ mpg. But, it shows what kind of hit you get with the aftermarket wheels and tires.