No narrow wheels for Civic Si. Why?

I was looking at what is available wheelwise for 06/07 Civic Si for the
snowshoeing purposes
and the smallest wheels I could find are 17x7.
Why are there no 17x3.5 or 17x4 wheels? Noone wants very narrow winter
tires on a two wheel
drive car???
Is that because wheel makers assume that most customers are morons and
go for
wider-is-better regardless of whether it snows or not?
Or the customers who want narrow wheel/tire winter package don't buy
civics?
I haven't checked for other compacts but I doubt it's any better for
impreza, etc.

 

I am wondering what sized 15" steel rims and tires would work on the 06 Si.

I think it would provide a better winter ride (in Buffalo) and be much
cheaper to get good snow tires. Then, come spring, switch back to the 17
inch alloys...

So, anyone here able to give the info. As the OP said, tirerack.com only
shows 17 and 18 inchers for this car, but I can't believe that it isn't
possible to downgrade for this purpose...

Joe

 

Probably the same as on other Civics of that model year.

Jack up a wheel on your car and measure the *tire* circumference at the
center of the tread.
Then compare to Tire Rack's charts,or send them an email.

 

Would a 15" steel rim clear the calipers? According to TireRack, 16" is the
minimum: that can be used http://tinyurl.com/jafn4

 

205 55 16 is not bad. But I wonder why something like 145 70 17 is not
available for winter.
Maybe because this will look and feel terrible on dry/wet roads?
Then 145 45 18 wouls work just fine I think.
Are narrow wheels and tires for winter too overrated or there is
any merit to that?
I don't see anything narrower than 145 on tirerack.

Could not think of any reason why this is not available aside from the
possibility
that the sport car customers are retarted. But I'm not sure if I can
jump to that conclusion just yet.

Thoughts?

 

As someone who grew up in a very snowy area, I'd say yes, the idea is
over-rated. I always ran 185/70R13s on my Mazda GLC and it ate up the snow. My
'87 Accords have also all run the same size, with no problems in snow.

Tire width isn't nearly as big a consideration as proper tread pattern. A 205
snowtire is far preferable to a 145 summer tire, or probably even most 145
all-seasons.

 

That must be recently updated. i checked them a few weeks ago and they
didn't show anything smaller than 17...

That change will save me about $500 for my selected tires. And, I think
the 16's will provide a better ride with all of the potholes that creep up
in the ice and snow around here. Thanks a bunch!
--
Joseph M. LaVigne

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