Civic Unslammed. Post Ideas, Photos, and Memes for Lifted, Raised, and Chonked Civics HERE.

[Sporky McGeuschky]

EDIT: Tuesday, July 1, 2025.

FORMERLY:

"Weirdo Type R Noob Want to INCREASE Ground Clearance. He clearly needs help."
​

NEW Thread Name:

Civic Unslammed. Post Ideas, Photos, and Memes for lifted, raised and chonked Civics here.​

I want to invite everyone who is interested to post anything and everything related to the Unslamming of the Civic. ALL generations of lifted, raised, chonky tire, and 4x4 Civics are welcome here. We want to share ideas of what has worked in the past, as well as, perhaps, learning from the mistakes of others. This is not exclusively a Type R thread. Far from it. This is for all generations and models and body styles of Civic.

Also, YES! This thread openly welcomes your memes of Unslammed Civics as well.

Welcome!

Sporky McGeuschky



Original Thread, February 2025.

​

Sporky here.

I'm a Type R Noob, and I need help.

First things first.
All I wanted was a base model 2025 Civic Sport Hatch in Six Speed Manual (6MT) to have a sporty touring hatch for Texas highway driving.
But nooooo... Honda just had to take away the last of the manuals for normies, thus twisting my arm and forcing me to buy a brand new Type R...
so here we are.

I have never been a fan of lowering or dropping cars, and it physically hurts my eyes to see a car "cambered n slambered" with ridiculously tucked 10" wide wheels on pulled out and stretched 7" wide rubber bands. Ouch!

I also don't like the look or the feel of really tall wheels on really skinny tires.

So I am looking to buy a set of forged 18 x 8.5 wheels, and I want to get the optimum highway touring ride that I can, without changing out too many parts on the car.
I want to leave the springs, shocks, dampers, and electronic damper module FL5 OEM stock if possible.

Here's what I'm thinking:

Something akin to the
Rays / Volk ZE40 18 x 8.5 offset +45 wheels ,

OR maybe the insane Road Warrior option:
Rays / Volk ZE40 18 x 8.5 offset +30 wheels .

I'd like to put these wheels on something like a:

265/40 R 18 tire - Probably safe,
or
265/45 R 18 tire - Maybe too tall and could rub the fenders.

I'm almost certain that an
18 x 8.5 offset+45 on a 265/40 R 18
will be perfectly safe, and not cause any issues, other than a speedo adjust.

However, It's the
18 x 8.5 offset+30 on a 265/45 R 18
that I 'd really like to see.

Like I said, I'm THAT guy.
I'm the one who wants maximum ride height, maximum ground clearance, and maximum side wall on maximum chonk tires...

on a Type R.

P.S.:
Hmmm, do I need a suspension LIFT...???

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[svvitch]

Why drop to 8.5"? 18x9.5 is a dime a dozen. 265 40 18 would likely be fine and so would 255 40 18 which are 2.5 to 4% larger diameter. I'd check those sized out ?

 

[TypeRD]

I think you are on your own here, dude. I mean, I don’t know of anyone here who would ever look to intentionally increase ground clearance…and thus make aerodynamics and handling potentially A LOT less good than stock.

Regarding just going to 18’s with chunkier tires, you can do that with a taller sidewall without messing with driving dynamics too crazy…maybe increase ride ht by + 0.25”-0.5”. I think others here have a similar setup. 18’s plus fat tires

 

[Sporky McGeuschky]

Why drop to 8.5"? 18x9.5 is a dime a dozen. 265 40 18 would likely be fine and so would 255 40 18 which are 2.5 to 4% larger diameter. I'd check those sized out ?

Wow, thanks for the quick response!

Well, I would like to increase wheel strength and decrease wheel weight and wheel width while keeping the stock tire width. Whoah, that was a lot of "Ws".

I like for the tires to be significantly wider than the wheels, in case of an accidental drive-thru rub or something like that. This is also why I want concave wheels, maybe even slightly deep dish wheels.

 

[svvitch]

Strength and weight or width aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. You can find plenty of extremely durable 18x9.5 that weigh much less than 18x8.5 and are stronger too. Difference would be cost and construction method. Check out apex wheels for good choices and warranty.

Also lots of the Continental tire lineup have pretty good rim protectors built into the rubber might be what you're looking for ?

 

[Sporky McGeuschky]

I think you are on your own here, dude. I mean, I don’t know of anyone here who would ever look to intentionally increase ground clearance…and thus make aerodynamics and handling potentially A LOT less good than stock.

Regarding just going to 18’s with chunkier tires, you can do that with a taller sidewall without messing with driving dynamics too crazy…maybe increase ride ht by + 0.25”-0.5”. I think others here have a similar setup. 18’s plus fat tires

Hi,
Yeah I have seen that some people on here have installed 18 x9.5 wheels on 265/35 R 18 tires. I just want to push that limit a bit further, albeit on a slightly narrower wheel...

I'm almost certain that an
18 x 8.5 offset+45 on a 265/40 R 18
will be perfectly safe, and not cause any issues, other than a speedo adjust.

However, It's the
18 x 8.5 offset+30 on a 265/45 R 18
that I 'd really like to see.

Like I said, I'm THAT guy.

Pretty sure there won't be an issue with 265/40 R 18 tires, but I just want some positive feedback here from someone with experience, nad hopefully photos with several angles.

 

[Sporky McGeuschky]

Strength and weight or width aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. You can find plenty of extremely durable 18x9.5 that weigh much less than 18x8.5 and are stronger too. Difference would be cost and construction method. Check out apex wheels for good choices and warranty.

Also lots of the Continental tire lineup have pretty good rim protectors built into the rubber might be what you're looking for ?

That's awesome you mentioned Apex. I just completed the Apex Survey a little while ago.
Also been reading good things about Continental All Season Tires. I appreciate your advice. Actually appreciate, with no sarcasm. I know that "sense of humor", or lack thereof, can get confused, and confusing, via written text.

I do understand that these factors are not mutually exclusive, as well. I am not necessarily looking for the lightest or strongest wheel. I am looking for a light enough and strong enough wheel to justify the price. this wheel will obviously need to be stronger and lighter than the OEM FL5 Type R cast wheel.

As far as why a narrower wheel than stock? I would like to keep a similar contact patch, 265, to stock. At the same time I want the wheel to be narrower than the tire, for increased protection.

I'm doing this more for highway performance and ride comfort, and not for track performance.

I'm also doing this for the looks. Once again, I'm that guy who likes the look of kinda chonky tires.

 

[Robo7]

I would just keep your car stock then, get some 265/35 R19s and call it day. I get buying a Type R so you can drive the manual, but if you add too much sidewall the car is not going to feel as responsive which in my opinion defeats the purpose. You would have been better off with an Si, or a used Manual Sport Hatch. ?‍

I actually agree that there is not enough sidewall on the stock tires. I've done light damage already to a wheel from a small pothole. I plan to move up to 35 sidewalls once my tires need to be replaced. I think it's a good compromise. This post shows what that size tire looks like on stock wheels.

 

[Sporky McGeuschky]

I would just keep your car stock then, get some 265/35 R19s and call it day. I get buying a Type R so you can drive the manual, but if you add too much sidewall the car is not going to feel as responsive which in my opinion defeats the purpose. You would have been better off with an Si, or a used Manual Sport Hatch. ?‍

You are right... but Honda "twisted my arm" and "made me" buy a new Type R (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).
I had absoutely no control over the purchase, I promise!

Also, to me the 19" wheels and tires don't look right. To me the wheels look too big and the tires look too small... and they are. I can feel that they are the wrong size when I drive, even in Comfort mode.

 

[Sporky McGeuschky]

I actually agree that there is not enough sidewall on the stock tires. I've done light damage already to a wheel from a small pothole. I plan to move up to 35 sidewalls once my tires need to be replaced. I think it's a good compromise. This post shows what that size tire looks like on stock wheels.

Nooice, I like what FL5HondaGuy did there. The wheels still look a bit too big and the tires still look too skinny, but the 35 sidewall is definitely better than the 30.

Also like that he evened out the rear width with the 25mm spacer.
I gotta say, I do have my reservations about spacers in general, some of which is probably just rumor, but still.

I am OK with paying more in order to get just the right size and "spaced" wheel.
Something like around a +40 in the front and +35 in the rear would look sweet to me. Probably gonna be poking out a bit with a setup like that, but maybe that's what I'm after. Want to see photos of FL5s with a bit of "out poke" to see how much I may or may not want.

 

[jtlctr]

How are your fabrication skills?

 

[Sporky McGeuschky]

How are your fabrication skills?

Mayne, that looks baydd ayss!
Now we're getting close. Gotta admit though, I am preferential to suspension lifts rather than body lifts.
Them tires do got that chonk I'm lookin' for! Maybe a lil' too much chonk.

 

[jtlctr]

There was a local redneck with a huge junkyard in my hometown with something like this.

Sorry I don’t have anything actually helpful to offer ?‍

 

[Sporky McGeuschky]

Hey, you got close. Now if this Camaro was on a suspension lift, might be a different story.

 

[Superhatch]

I feel you about getting more sidewall and liking a smaller tire.

There are a lot of pics of 18" combos in this thread that might give you some ideas about what to run. https://www.civicxi.com/forum/threa...d-for-11th-gen-fl5-civic-type-r.50859/page-16

I'll likely go in the opposite direction as you and lower but end up on an 18" with more sidewall for some wheel protection, possibly less weight, and I like the overall look also.

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