Will These Wheels/Tires Fit My Aspire?

[JohnGunn]

Just heard of a set of wheels with tires for sale and don't have much time to decide.

I've done a little research but didn't find a simple, direct answer which is what I need now.

The wheels are made by Honda. They are marked with the following numbers and letters: "5-JX13 45". The tires installed on the wheels are marked "P185/70R13".

From what little research I did, I think the bolt pattern is the same as my Aspire and the 45 in the marking on the wheels I think is the offset, which also matches my Aspire.

Can I buy these and just bolt them on? Or, if not, how much work would be necessary before I could use them?

Thanks for any quick help you can give.

[walth]

I would either measure the pattern and make it that simple

or ... you can check http://www.originalwheels.com/ and look in honda and try and figure out what wheels they are and their bolt pattern.

with some searching on google images I think they are 4x100 but I don't even know what the wheels you want to get look like.

[FestYboy]

yeah, John you're right. they will bolt up to your aspire, and that tire size is a little tall but will tuck under without issues (at least in the front). you MAY need a 5mm spacer for the rear, but doubt it.

what i should stress is that you verify which seat the wheel uses (conical or spherical) and then install studs and the proper nut.

[Bert]

The rims should fit fine (I've already tried numerous 4 hole 100mm Honda rims on my Aspire/Festiva swap. But 185/70-13 is going to be wider and taller than what you probably have now. Why fool around with 13s if you're contemplating a switch. There are many compatible Honda/Mazda/Toyota (I have VW 4x100mm) rims in 14 and even 15 inch. Measure the diameter of the hub hole (should be no smaller than 2 1/8 in) on your prospective purchase and lay a board or something flat across the back of the rim in order to measure down to the rim mounting plate. Many or most 6 inch wide 14-15 inch rims have too much backset and if that's not the case sometimes too much offset allows the tires to rub on the fender lips. Just for the hell of it I borrowed a set of lo-profile 15s 2 weeks ago, on Mazda rims, but they were definitely going to cause fender lip rub on bumps.

[JohnGunn]

Thanks to the three of you who came to my assistance in making a decision I wasn't prepared to make. The information you provided has enabled me to see that this deal, 4 Honda wheels with what appears to me brand new tires for $200, is not right for me.

To me the real beauty of the Festiva, and to a lesser extent the Aspire, is that it hits a sweet spot between economy and response that is extremely hard to find, at least in this country. And of those two competing design goals, to me, economy is by far the more important. There are lots of cars that can go fast and get poor mileage. But how many do you know that can get 45 MPG and still be fun to drive?

Since I believe this to be one of the most important attributes of my car, I would never do anything that would serve to diminish that. So the only reason I would buy a set of alloy wheels would be because they were light and, therefore, more economical. For me the weight is much more important than the appearance. I know I can learn to see the beauty in an ugly thing which does its job exceedingly well just as I know an aesthetically pleasing design which can't do the job becomes a constant source of disappointment and regret.

In order to decide which wheels to buy I need to study and know which ones will fit my car and are extremely light. I have no idea how heavy these wheels are but I do know that the steel rim I have weighs between 12.5 and 13 pounds. How much lighter are these early OEM Honda wheels likely to be? I don't know, but the added weight of the larger tires, I would suspect might make the change for me imperceptible.

Add to that the fact that I would have to buy and install studs with specially shaped nuts, worry about whether these bigger tires will rub somewhere, diminish the responsiveness of my Aspire which already is less fun to drive than my stock Festiva was. and serve to make my speedometer even more inaccurate that it already is with oversized 175/70R13 tires, bought by the previous owner. There were just too many problems with this deal for the doubtful improvement it seemed to promise.

Before I saw those new tires on Honda alloy wheels, new wheels were on my list of things to get for my Aspire. But they were pretty far down on that list. For a couple days they were catapulted to the top. Now they are back where they belong.

[walth]

good ole priorities. I've never made a list for my car...that's a good idea. lol

[Bert]

On the other hand escaping from increasingly less choice 13 inch tires to wider/taller rims (many 14s and some 15 in. tires are very similar to 175/70-13in in circumference) on an Aspire is less momentous than jettisoning the Festiva boat trailer 12s to get an instant size boost. Alloy wheels look nicer and shave weight but they are a liability in the winter up this way. Very much prone to rim bead leaks from corrosion and they don't take kindly at all to hits.

[JohnGunn]

On the other hand escaping from increasingly less choice 13 inch tires to wider/taller rims (many 14s and some 15 in. tires are very similar to 175/70-13in in circumference) on an Aspire is less momentous than jettisoning the Festiva boat trailer 12s to get an instant size boost. Alloy wheels look nicer and shave weight but they are a liability in the winter up this way. Very much prone to rim bead leaks from corrosion and they don't take kindly at all to hits.

At this point, I don't know whether there are any alloy wheels in my Aspire's future. I use it for basic transportation around town. It really doesn't matter to me that I can get to the store 5 minutes faster. More important for me is that the car run smoothly and efficiently. I enjoy driving my car, why should I do anything that allows me to spend less time doing it?

Instead of spending $200 on that set of complete wheels, I'm considering spending around $60 (Including a 20% discount.) for the bubble balancing machine at Harbor Freight, so I can balance my own wheels. I've read several posts on this site from people who've tried it. They say it produces good results. I use anti-seize on my lug bolts and torque them all very carefully. I suspect I'd have to do that all over again after having my wheels professionally balanced and rotated. I'd really rather do the whole thing myself; right the first time.

Just the thought of doing that produces a hint of the elated feeling I get every time I work on my car. In my life, few pleasures have been even half so dependable.