Fat tires

[hornplayer]

Just got a 97 LX w/ 93,000 mi and want to do some upgrades in the ride department. I've read the strut improvements posted and may pursue those but need to replace tires first. Nice soft ride would be great with handling like my '90 Accord. How wide of tires can I go with on the stock alloys?

Great forum and you'll see me around!

[2RedV's]

Welcome!

Before you do your upgrades, determine if you need to do some preventative maintenance.

1. Adjust valves - should be done every 30k miles and will help avoid getting a replacement head due to burnt exhaust valves!

2. Drain and fill the rear differential fluid - every 30k miles is a suggested number and it is easy to DIY.

3. Do a 3x drain and fill on the auto tranny fluid - again, every 30k miles is a good idea.

Use only Honda Dual-Pump fluid for the rear diff and honda ZL-1 for the tranny. Anything else is bad news.

Hondas will take an extraordinary amount of neglect before they break, but it costs big bucks to fix the neglect. Hondas like a steady diet of clean, fresh, Honda fluids.

As to the tires, many people simply go up one size from stock to the 215 width. Check tirerack.com for their cool fitment tools which includes pictures of what your V will look like with upgraded tires/wheels.

[Chris_98_LX]

Welcome to the site Hornplayer.

The widest I would even attempt would be a 205/75 or a 215/70. I have ran both and found better results with the 215/70. Wider tires doesn't really make the ride smoother it helps with extra traction on dry surfaces. Tires with more sidewall generally helps with softer ride. I would suggest the Monroe Reflex with the 215/70 for a good ride. Or if you want to invest the money and time to assemble, wire, and leak test air ride suspension (this ooption can get quite expensive).

Chris

[hornplayer]

Silly questionbut will those fit the stock rims on '97 LX?

[Chris_98_LX]

Yeah, look at my links in my signature those are the 215/70 tires the 205/75 tires were crammed in the rims. On the plus side with the 215/70 you will get a little more clearance, I had a 3 inch static drop with springs and sat next to a V with stock tires and a 2 inch drop with springs and I was about an inch higher give or take.

Chris