best tires for a civic VX?
 

I have to buy new tires for my 94 civic hb VX. What tires have the least rolling resistance?

Joe,

You should be aware that there is a tire techology triangle. Treadwear, traction (Especially wet traction), and rolling resistance are tradeoffs. That means the tires with the least rolling resistance will also have poor wear and / or traction characteristics.

Tire Rack lists tires as LRR (Low Rolling Resistance) based on what the tire manufacturers indicate - and their methodology is a comparison to comparable tires - that is tires with similar wear and traction characteristics - which means LRR don't necessarily have LOW RR. They have LOWER RR than comparable tires.

So you have to decide what balance of the 3 characteristics you want, then spend some time researching.

One of the quirks in this is that OE tires - the tires that come new on vehicles from the assembly plant - are generally spec'd by the vehicle manufacturers to have low RR - and that's why you hear many complaints about wear and traction with these tires.

And one last item: All other things being equal, worn tires give better fuel economy than new tires. So you should expect a drop in mpg's when you changeover.

If it was me I would try to get the tires and wheels that fit the early Insight, or at least the tires with some wheels. I know they are not 13 inch wheels but they are probably your best option if mileage is your priority. I think they are the same bolt pattern and offset.

regards
Mech

For me low rolling resistance is most important, followed by wear, and then, in a distant 3rd, traction. I have no idea what tires to get. I don't even know the size that is supposed to fit the original rim. Any recommendations at all?

Original Equipment (OE) tires for the Honda Civic VX are also going to be using nearly 20 year old chemistry and manufacturing, if I remember right the OE tires for the VX had a traction rating of "B" and a wear life of around 240.
The Sumitomo HTR T4 were at one time listed as a LRR tire although that appears to have changed, they are one of the few tires that is in the 165/70R13 size and have a traction rating of "A" and a wear life of 560, I have some of them in the 175/70R13 size on my civic vx and I'm happy with them, I'm of course going to go with the stock size when I replace these, unless of course I can find some Honda Insight rims from 2000-2007, then I'll find a 14" set of tires.
My brother has a set of Insight rims on his civic, they look great, they are light weight and they are an aerodynamic smooth face.

Actually, it looks like these tires are a better value
If you do the math, each dollar spent buys you 11.35 'units of tread wear rating' for the "Sunny" brand tires while the same dollar only buys you 9.82 'units of tread wear rating' for the Sumitomo tires. All other factors are the same.

I'm doing the same thing, Joe... I recently bought VX wheels to put onto my 1998 DX. I am waiting, running down my current tires on the current wheels. But in my searches, I found that only Kumho seems to have a LRR tire for 13" wheels. I have also tried to find taller tires for taller gearing, which is also way-tough. Look at the 13" Kumho on tirerack.com ... do me a favor? PM me about your search and we'll trade more notes maybe as we hunt.

Cheers,
james

There's nothing left to figure out... at least for me anyway. The tires I linked to previously were the best 'value'. As I explained earlier, the sumitomo tires have more tread life but the amount of tread life you gain in that instance doesn't make up for the higher cost.

Well, it's your money. But I don't see your math as all that persuasive yet. You're only considering tread life and price in your cost comparison and that's not enough. For one, no one categorizes these "sunny" tires as LRR. So they may cost more in fuel over their life. And why are they soooo much cheaper than all the other tires? I wonder about their overall quality. Lastly, if you are not mounting your tires yourself, you might want to factor into your cost comparison the labor you'll pay the technician, because you'll be visiting that tire-shop sooner to pay them again for a new set of tires, since these will wear out more quickly. See what I mean?

Oh, and take a quick look at the Kumho LRR tires on tire rack... the tread life is far far longer...

The ones you linked to are the wrong size. It turns out that the Kumho tires were the best (I don't know if I already corrected that or not). I compared about 4 different tires, all of the same size, and all had a rating of ###-A-B. In other words, all other factors are the same except price and tread life. The kumho tires are also LRR.