Project EF Civic Part 1: Wheels and Tires
It's been a long time coming but I've recently gotten back into the mode of making modifications to my Civic, and with good reason: finally came up on and rediscovered gems. But before I get into the heavy stuff, I'm hitting the basics: wheels and tires. If any of you have been following the buildup on this car since my Super Street days, you're well aware that I've mostly had SSR Super Fins, and for a brief stint, Osaka JDM Loop 5 wheels. For years I've had a set of white powder-coated Mugen RnRs that sat on a storage rack, and I wasn't sure if I'd ever use them, not thinking they would look good with my setup... but I was wrong.
I made the decision to try the RnRs after not having much luck tracking down a set of Mugen CF48s, and wheels in general are either too hard to find or too far out of my budget. RnRs aren't a bad choice, the center caps needed to be reattached and new valve stems installed. I chose a 195/50R15 tire from the NT450 line, mostly because it's the only tire in Nitto's catalog that size and I didn't want to run a 205 series, plus the NT450 is a great street tire with decent performance and tread life.
I brought the RnRs and NT450s to RPM Auto Center to have them mounted and balanced. The shop's owner, Steve Lam, is a good friend of mine and has taken care of several cars in my family over the years, stock and modified.
At the same time, I also had RPM swap out the Neo Gens on my Super Fins for a fresh set. I've used these tires consistently since the mid 2000s because, like the NT450s, the Neo Gen is also a great street performance tire, and happens to have a cool sidewall design.
After eight years of riding on Super Fins, the RnRs are a much needed breath of fresh air, and it changes the look completely from being one type of classic SoCal '90s setup to another.
Get ready for the next update, it's gonna be fire.
