Winter Tire Setups

[Sporky McGeuschky]

Someone on the Integra forum just tried 09 TL wheels and they fit. Barely, but they fit.

https://www.integraforums.com/forum/threads/09-tl-wheels-fit-winter-setup.57081/

Man, that 0.5mm caliper clearance with the TL wheel is scary tight. Good thing I already have H & R 15mm spacers, in the event I try out some schmedium size OEM Honda or Acura wheels.

Now I really am interested in how that Honda Pilot HPD wheel fits.

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[Spart]

Someone on the Integra forum just tried 09 TL wheels and they fit. Barely, but they fit.

https://www.integraforums.com/forum/threads/09-tl-wheels-fit-winter-setup.57081/

Nice find.

That fitment against the spokes is exactly what my BBS SR 18x8 +44 wheels looked like, so I bought these 2mm spacers from AU in order to get proper clearance to the caliper and also allow the hub centric ring to still be able to get a good grip on the hub: https://www.ebay.com/itm/325379197935

 

[Sporky McGeuschky]

December 2025.
Got my new "Texas Winter" ( ... !!!) wheel and tire setup installed.
Hey, don't laugh.
We did have The Freeze of '21 in February 2021,
where it got all the way down to 9 degrees Fahrenheit in San Antonio!
Dude, that's Bone Marrow Hibernation for Texans!

Suspension: Stock FL5 .
Wheels: Enkei made Honda Pilot Matte Bronze HPD wheels. 18X8.0 , ET +50 .
Tires: Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3. 255/40 R18 . (Got em for "cheap" on clearance at TireRack).
Spacers: Eibach 20mm spacers .
NOTE: At LEAST 20mm spacers are required for these Honda Pilot wheels to fit around the FL5 front Brembo calipers.
This combination basically makes for a 18X8.0 ET +30 wheel size.
See my build thread for more.

Fitment.

ET +50 Wheel + 20mm spacer to Brembo front caliper clearance.

20mm spacers give me about 5 to 6mm caliper clearance.
If you want tons of clearance and also want a more flush fitment, 25mm spacers are probably good.

Cheers.

Sporky

 

[Spart]

I forgot about this thread.

I posted my setup with the BBS SR 18x8 ET44 wheels here: https://www.integraforums.com/forum/threads/winter-wheels-bbs-sr-18x8-44.58346/

My fitment isn't flush and that's actually what I was going for, the more of your car the tire can see the more salt spray and junk is going to be coating side of the car instead of staying confined to the wheel wheel. Winter setups aren't supposed to look pretty IMO.

The Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5's have been a slam dunk. Very pleased with those tires.

 

[Sporky McGeuschky]

I forgot about this thread.

I posted my setup with the BBS SR 18x8 ET44 wheels here: https://www.integraforums.com/forum/threads/winter-wheels-bbs-sr-18x8-44.58346/

My fitment isn't flush and that's actually what I was going for, the more of your car the tire can see the more salt spray and junk is going to be coating side of the car instead of staying confined to the wheel wheel. Winter setups aren't supposed to look pretty IMO.

The Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5's have been a slam dunk. Very pleased with those tires.

I just read this thread.

Dang, dude. 3mm spacers were too wide, so you bought 2mm spacers instead? Wow.
And I though I was much more OCD than a MoFo. Nope.
You take the cake.

Those BBS wheels and Nokian tires look Awesome!

Sporky

 

[Sporky McGeuschky]

My fitment isn't flush and that's actually what I was going for, the more of your car the tire can see the more salt spray and junk is going to be coating side of the car instead of staying confined to the wheel wheel.

Ahhh...

Perfect Fit... Schmerfect Schmidt.

Don't forget about RokBlokz, the Utah manufacturer of RokBlokz FL5 Rally Mud Flaps.

https://rokblokz.com/collections/honda-rally-mud-flaps/11th-Gen-Civic-Options​

That'll get your fitment better than perfect. RokBlokz will get your fitment ready for MUD!!!

I love my RokBlokz FL5 Rally Mud Flaps. IMO, Honda should have had something similar installed on the FL5 OEM.
I left a 5 Star review on the website.

Maybe RokBlokz FL5 Rally Mud Flaps also work on the Acura Integra DE5 as well ...?

Hmmm...

 

[Spart]

I just read this thread.

Dang, dude. 3mm spacers were too wide, so you bought 2mm spacers instead? Wow.
And I though I was much more OCD than a MoFo. Nope.
You take the cake.

Those BBS wheels and Nokian tires look Awesome!

Sporky

Nothing to do with how flush the wheel sits, it's a limitation of the hub centering ring on the BBS wheels and the rather shallow amount of hub poking out from the OEM rotor hat.

Having mounted these wheels with the 2mm spacers, I do think that 3mm would have lost hub centricity completely on the front end of this particular car. The wheels just barely grab the hub. Really, you either want a spacer that doesn't interfere with the hub doing it's thing and centering the wheel, or you want a spacer thick enough to have it's OWN hub integrated.

There is a third option in that with aftermarket wheels, you can sometimes get thin spacers that have a larger, integral hub for the hub bore of the wheel (say 73.1mm) inside of which is a smaller hub bore that's made for the hub of the car (64.1mm in our case.)

But failing that, with the in-between sizes of spacers you set yourself up for vibrations due to the wheel not being centered on the hub. I speak from unfortunate experience and wasted money on this topic.

Not running any spacers at all on the rear, no need!

 

[Sporky McGeuschky]

Nothing to do with how flush the wheel sits, it's a limitation of the hub centering ring on the BBS wheels and the rather shallow amount of hub poking out from the OEM rotor hat.

Having mounted these wheels with the 2mm spacers, I do think that 3mm would have lost hub centricity completely on the front end of this particular car. The wheels just barely grab the hub. Really, you either want a spacer that doesn't interfere with the hub doing it's thing and centering the wheel, or you want a spacer thick enough to have it's OWN hub integrated.

There is a third option in that with aftermarket wheels, you can sometimes get thin spacers that have a larger, integral hub for the hub bore of the wheel (say 73.1mm) inside of which is a smaller hub bore that's made for the hub of the car (64.1mm in our case.)

Ahh, good point.

Copy that.
See, both the 15mm and the 20mm sets I bought are 64.1mm matched center bore.
I never even thought about not having matched center bore.

 

[jcb]

Put Alpin 5 in oem sizing on the oem wheels for winter. Car drives really well for winter tires....fun is maintained.

Got oem forged ones for summer and put the PS4s on those....

My opinion only - the ET60 is key to minimization of torque steer. Very key. So I chose to go OEM. It was not about dollars but about engineering.

 

[Spart]

Ahh, good point.

Copy that.
See, both the 15mm and the 20mm sets I bought are 64.1mm matched center bore.
I never even thought about not having matched center bore.

So on the 15mm and 20mm sets, there's enough meat there that they can do matched inner and outer bores. But not so on thinner spacers, which is why you typically see those machined without any lip at all and you just have to hope the hub on your car protrudes far enough to grab the wheel.

What makes these mismatched hub spacers possible is most aftermarket wheels have a fairly large machined center bore, usually 7x.x mm. Our center bore is 64.1mm and ordinarily, you'd use a hub centric ring snapped into the 7x.x mm wheel bore in order to make it work with 64.1mm. But that difference in size gives you some meat to work with in order to have the car's hub protrude into the area of a hub machined into the spacer. They're harder to find, but definitely worth it if you need a spacer that's in that weird size area and you have aftermarket wheels.

Here's an example in 10mm:

From this site, not an endorsement as I haven't dealt with them specifically: https://wheeladaptersusa.com/produc...c-fix-clearance-issues?variant=49856342393121

Here's another example in 5mm:

From the same place I got my 2mm spacers from, and I would recommend these guys: https://caold.com.au/products/wheel-slip-on-spacer-5mm-5x120-66-9-69-5-mm-73-1-mm-hub-centric-lip

Note that this listing is the wrong hub bore on the inside, but it's the same concept. Caold does custom work, you just have to contact them and explain what you need. But shipping from Oz takes a while, so keep that in mind. Custom + international shipping could be a month or more waiting.

 

[Spart]

My opinion only - the ET60 is key to minimization of torque steer. Very key. So I chose to go OEM. It was not about dollars but about engineering.

My winter tires have less grip in the dry than my summers (obviously) and I can get a ton of wheelspin in the snow whenever I want it.

With what is effectively ET46 on the front, I get no discernible torque steer even in the dry. Perhaps with summer tire levels of grip, I would get some - I do understand your point about ET60.

But I think maximizing this effect on a winter tire might be foolish. You can't put enough torque down for torque steer to be much of a thing.

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