Ecomodding an automatic '04 Civic Sedan

[California98Civic]

Congrats! HX rims are only about 11 pounds, but I bet the OEM wheels were 18 even if alloy. Mine were 16 pound alloys and they were 14 inchers. Anyway, you may have shaved 30 pounds dead weight and a hundred or more rotational mass. I recently had my VX wheels on the car for a few days and even though my MINI rims are only 12 pounds, I felt the differences. For a hypermiler in stop/go traffic light weight wheels are gold because you often lose part of your coasting chances to braking for stops (lights and traffic), yet you always have to use gas to accelerate again.

[Ecky]

HX are nice rims, and it sounds like you found a really lightweight set of tires for them too.

I have a set for my winter tires:




Definitely following this thread with interest.

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Originally Posted by California98Civic

Congrats! HX rims are only about 11 pounds, but I bet the OEM wheels were 18 even if alloy. Mine were 16 pound alloys and they were 14 inchers. Anyway, you may have shaved 30 pounds dead weight and a hundred or more rotational mass. I recently had my VX wheels on the car for a few days and even though my MINI rims are only 12 pounds, I felt the differences. For a hypermiler in stop/go traffic light weight wheels are gold because you often lose part of your coasting chances to braking for stops (lights and traffic), yet you always have to use gas to accelerate again.

Thanks! Still can't believe the deal and how close locally they were. And yes, 18 sounds about right for my EX rims. What I do know is that they're significantly heavier than the HX rims!

Hopefully getting these rims on will help my pizza delivery MPG. Still only averaging upper 30s MPG on deliveries.

Originally Posted by Ecky

HX are nice rims, and it sounds like you found a really lightweight set of tires for them too.

I have a set for my winter tires:

Yup, now I just need to order them.

Non-aero wheels on an insight?!? How much do your OEM Insight rims weigh?

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Took off my mirror boattails. They were coming detached and I was having to use duct tape to hold them in place, which smeared all over my windows and was a pain to clean. Even so, at speeds above 40 MPH they would vibrate too much and probably weren't helping at all. Plus, they were the most aesthetically displeasing mod. So I removed them.

Also going to remove my trunklid extension today. Apparently melting plastic bags over cardboard does not make it waterproof. Going to save it and build a replacement for it out of coroplast. Also going to be getting black coroplast for smooth wheel covers for my HX rims once I get those on. So...no trunklid extension for my trip to VW in 2 days, AND no HX rims on either...grr...but after that I'll get crackin' on it. When I have time though. Been working ~55 hours a week on average; 58 this week and 17 hours just tomorrow lol.

Any tips on painting coroplast? I can get black coroplast, but I can get 32 square feet of white coroplast for the same price as 20 square feet of black coroplast.

[19bonestock88]

Coroplast is a pain to paint, I color matched it on the Malibu but the slightest scratch from foliage would peel off chunks of paint... might have better results with plasti-dip...

[Ecky]

I've been told if you hit the surface of the coroplast with either some heat or acetone, it'll make paint stick better, but I haven't tried it.

My Insight aero rims are a pound lighter than the HX, but good luck finding a set.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by Ecky

...
My Insight aero rims are a pound lighter than the HX, but good luck finding a set.

Yes, I was interested in Gen 1 Insight rims for a while but could not find them. Then I saw how the tire selection on 14" rims had been declining on tirrack.com so I began seriously hunting for 12# 15" MINI seven hole rims. I liked the added gearing benefit but wish it did not have to come with the 9% added weight penalty. 15" Enkei RP-F1 are only 9.5 lb and 15" Kosei K4R are onky 10.7 lb but both much more expensive, especially if you have to buy tires still, and neither can be effectively modded for better aero. The MINIs are almost perfect.

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Originally Posted by 19bonestock88

Coroplast is a pain to paint, I color matched it on the Malibu but the slightest scratch from foliage would peel off chunks of paint... might have better results with plasti-dip...

Originally Posted by Ecky

I've been told if you hit the surface of the coroplast with either some heat or acetone, it'll make paint stick better, but I haven't tried it.

Oh well. I guess I'll buy the black coroplast for the wheel covers and to redo my lower grille block, and then get the larger sheet of white coroplast to redo my tail extension.

Originally Posted by Ecky

My Insight aero rims are a pound lighter than the HX, but good luck finding a set.

Yeah, there was no one selling Insight rims. And no one locally parting out a Honda Insight, Gen 1 or not.

Besides, I remember reading somewhere on the site that the inset or something on the Gen 1 Insight rims makes them incompatible with Civics?

Originally Posted by California98Civic

Yes, I was interested in Gen 1 Insight rims for a while but could not find them. Then I saw how the tire selection on 14" rims had been declining on tirrack.com so I began seriously hunting for 12# 15" MINI seven hole rims. I liked the added gearing benefit but wish it did not have to come with the 9% added weight penalty. 15" Enkei RP-F1 are only 9.5 lb and 15" Kosei K4R are onky 10.7 lb but both much more expensive, especially if you have to buy tires still, and neither can be effectively modded for better aero. The MINIs are almost perfect.

But Ebay and Amazon always seem to have a surplus!

How long did it take for you to find a reasonably priced set?

The HX rims are also perfect for modding. Can't wait for the tires to come so I can have them mounted and balanced.

This started with someone advertising a set of 7th gen Civic hybrid rims for $125 obo. Those are 14" and 14lbs (I think?) so it would be a 4lb weight savings per wheel, but if I swapped wheels, I wanted to go all out. My options were: 13" VX rims, 14" HX rims, Gen 1 Insight rims, and the 10.5lb 14" Miata rims from 92 or 94-97. However there aren't any tires in production that would fit the VX rims without negatively affecting the RPMs in my car, and the only set of those Miata rims cost $450. Gen 1 Insight rims don't fit to my knowledge and are impossible to find, so I began searching for HX rims. They were all either too expensive or too far away until these ones.

I leave tomorrow on my trip to Virginia for my college orientation. This will be the first time my car has seen the highway since I started hypermiling. Hoping to beat 45 MPG on the highway. My last two tanks have been 42.6 MPG with ~95 miles on the bad O2 sensor still, ~130 miles of personal driving, and ~200 miles of pizza delivery. I filled up again today with two thirds of my miles being pizza deliveries, and got 44.5 MPG even with more miles being deliveries.

[California98Civic]

Ah, the search for the MINI seven hole rims was at least two years (I am patient). I had a craigs list alert on and did semi-regular eBay searches. Much of the time they were too expensive. I really lucked out with these.

BTW, Virginia is a beautiful state. Which part of the state will you be in? I used to live down in the Tidewater.

[Ecky]

Insight rims fit just fine on Civics.

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Originally Posted by California98Civic

Ah, the search for the MINI seven hole rims was at least two years (I am patient). I had a craigs list alert on and did semi-regular eBay searches. Much of the time they were too expensive. I really lucked out with these.

That's a LONG time. I wouldn't have the patience for that!

Originally Posted by California98Civic

BTW, Virginia is a beautiful state. Which part of the state will you be in? I used to live down in the Tidewater.

Lynchburg.

Originally Posted by Ecky

Insight rims fit just fine on Civics.

Oooohhh. [insert love bug eyes emoji] lol I want! But like you sad, they're impossible to find without major $$.

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Well I made it almost 400 miles on my way to Virginia before my brakes started overheating (maybe due to smooth wheel covers??) despite hardly using my brakes at all due to eco-driving. So I'm stuck here at a rest stop for now. However, I averaged 49.1 MPG on the trip, 90% highway miles. No pizza deliveries on this tank, and although 49.1 is lower than my city driving MPG, it constitutes a tank record for me!

However, smooth wheel covers are going to be gone for good. When I get my HX rims mounted on the narrower tires I'll build my 4th attempt at wheel skirts using coroplast for better durability. I'll also attempt something up front (not full front wheel skirts; I'm not that ambitious). Will also be rebuilding my tail extension and redoing my lower grille block, using coroplast as well. Have another highway trip in a couple of weeks to New York; should hopefully to break over 50 MPG on that trip.

I now have an official highway MPG number for my car to complete my new summer "EPA" rating:

54/49/52

compared to the official EPA of:

26/35/29

Not bad, if I do say so myself. Now if I can get my pizza delivery MPG to come close to those numbers. Not easy since I have to drive the speed limit.