At a minimum you would want to have the speedometer recalibrated. Not sure if thats all it would take to get all the mpg calcs etc. working correctly. Look at this for the actual size difference:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/tirecalc?tires=215-55r16-185-55r16

 

Wheel Hub size

Does anyone know what the wheel hub size is for the Honda Insight. It is not in their specs concerning tires. I have the touring with the 17 inch wheels. I kept 17 inch snow tires from my previous car that were mounted on mag wheels. The size of the tire is suitable for the Insight. My previous car (Kia Optima SX) had a hub size of 67.1mm and the mags were 72.5mm so to ensure a perfect fit I used wheel adaptor rings. I know I can jack my Insight up and remove a wheel to measure the hub but I am hoping someone here already has the answer. Then, I can order the proper wheel adaptor rings.

 

The Civics appear to be 64.1. So that would be a good guess for the Insight.

 

That's what I thought as well but I will need to confirm before ordering adaptor rings.

 

Question about winter tire strategy

We live in eastern Washington where there's a fair amount of snow in the winter. The roads are sanded and salted and perhaps treated with other chemicals. This does cause some corrosion on the aluminum alloy wheels over time, but it takes a few years, according to a knowledge friend of mine, to really notice much wear. We also travel east a lot into Montana over mountain passes that are treated.

For my last two cars, both purchased new (2010 and 2015 Hond Fits), I had the wheels and tires removed in mid November every year and put on metal wheels and good snow tires. I did this to get better traction in the snow and to perserve my good aluminum alloy wheels. The downside of this was having to do this every November and March, very heavy for a 61-year old to take to the tire shop and store the old ones in the shed. Plus there was the cost of the tires and wheels.

My friend who also drives a lot in the snow said that for his new Chevy Silveradom the all-season radials that came with from the factory are fine in the snow and there really isn't that much corrosion involved on the wheels, plus the wheels can be treated after a few years with some treatment solution to restore them to close to original.

So here are my questions. Does the 2019 EX Insight come with good all-season radial tires that would be sufficient for my winter driving situation? My second questions is about preserving the aluminum alloy wheels. If after a few years the corrosion is noticeable, is there a solution for restoring those wheels?

The quote I am getting from my local tire shop for good quality studless snow tires plus metal wheels and hub caps is around $880. I'm wondering now if this is necessary.

Your thoughts?

 

The EX tires are marketed as all-season, but that doesn’t mean much. I’d check Consumer Reports. That said, I live in Minnesota and have never run snow tires on any of my cars. I do ‘wax’ my rims with the same stuff I use on the car and always make sure I’ve had applied a good coat to both before winter.

 

What kind of wax do you use for your wheels?

 

Whatever I use on the body. Lately I’ve been using Meguires Ultimate Liquid. It’s a synthetic polymer and is really slick.

 

Well, over here in Western Washington, we're not as cold as you on the East side of the state, but we've gotten into the habit of putting studless snow tires on the cars in November and off maybe in March. While it's not as cold over here, we're pretty hilly, and if it snows, melts and refreezes, then the ice can be bad. All season tires just don't cut it on the hills with ice, or with thick wet snow. We've had Blizzak's (WS60, WS70, WS80) on mostly alloy wheels (one set is on steel rims), and I just put them on/off myself. I've gotten really good jacking up the cars. I've purchased all of these from Tire Rack - the only problem is finding enough room in the garage to store the tires!

 

Living in Northern Ontario, I swear by winter tires.
Benefits include:
- mandatory insurance discounts of at least 5%
- Never worry about tire rotations, you do them every 6 months
- Minimal extra costs, if you expect to keep your car > 6 years, you just buy the 2nd set up front.
- Much better performance in the winter

I like new winter alloy rims, lighter then steel and they last. The heavy steel rims rust in the salt, and look awful after a few winters.

Last advice is to minus-size
https://info.kaltire.com/what-is-minus-sizing/

By minus sizing, you can get a narrower tire, that performs better, while saving you hundreds on the set as both the tire and rim are cheaper.
https://www.tirerack.com/snow/preferredpackages.jsp
205/65R15

And a winter tire like the Michelin X-Ice is low rolling resistance. As it's narrower, can get almost as good of mpg as my summer tires.

 

Living in Northern Ontario, I swear by winter tires.
Benefits include:
- mandatory insurance discounts of at least 5%
- Never worry about tire rotations, you do them every 6 months
- Minimal extra costs, if you expect to keep your car > 6 years, you just buy the 2nd set up front.
- Much better performance in the winter

I like new winter alloy rims, lighter then steel and they last. The heavy steel rims rust in the salt, and look awful after a few winters.

Last advice is to minus-size
https://info.kaltire.com/what-is-minus-sizing/

By minus sizing, you can get a narrower tire, that performs better, while saving you hundreds on the set as both the tire and rim are cheaper.
https://www.tirerack.com/snow/preferredpackages.jsp
205/65R15

And a winter tire like the Michelin X-Ice is low rolling resistance. As it's narrower, can get almost as good of mpg as my summer tires.

How did 205/65R15 work out for you? Do you recommend this over 215/55R16?

 

Snow Tires are Worth It

When I moved to central Maine 30 years ago, I tried keeping the all-season Michelins on my '84 Accord coupe year-round. Big mistake! At one point, I touched the brakes just after cresting a small hill at a slick spot and found the car going backwards down the road before I knew it. Turns out that snow tires are not only for straight-ahead traction, they are also for stopping and for turning. You will miss that a lot if you go through a winter of snowy roads without them. My winter tire of choice is the Michelin X-Ice series.

 

Turns out that snow tires are not only for straight-ahead traction, they are also for stopping and for turning. You will miss that a lot if you go through a winter of snowy roads without them. My winter tire of choice is the Michelin X-Ice series.

I know so many people that buy 4WD cars, and think its great, they don't need to worry about winter tires.

4WD only helps you move forward better then 2WD
Winter tires help start, stop, and turning.
Reminds me of a great video

 

Excellent video. One question, however, is whether the Brits' summer tires are basically the same as our all-season tires, which are what most everyone drives on in North America.

I would say that Consumer Reports Magazine did testing and came to similar -- if not so dramatic -- conclusions.

 

Bit of an old bit of forum dredging on my part but probably something people might be interested in anyway; having grown up in the UK, I have to say the Brits are willfully obtuse about tires -- they would always buy basically what we'd consider summer tires and tend to use them year round and then wonder why they have zero traction in half an inch of snow. And the typical US all-season generally wasn't widely available there...I don't know for sure about now. Nokian does a variation of their WRG tire for the UK market and I hope others are following suit, because really, it's a perfect year-round tire for the UK climate. And indeed that's a summer tire that they're failing up the ski slope with. Quite different from most of central and eastern Europe......see the link below.

https://www.continental-tires.com/transport/knowhow/european-winter-regulations

 

Insight in snow

I am thinking of purchasing an EX insight. How is this car driving in snow?

 

Bought a new ex 3 weeks ago last week I bought 4 snow tires I live in PA. Next day we got 10 inches of snow the Insight handled unreal like an all wheel drive. Could not believe how great this car handled with the 4 snow tires

 

Emphasis on SNOW tires guys. I had a Subaru and it was okay in snow but once I put on winter tires it was phenomenal. If you need to drive in snow make sure you pony up for the snow tires and just change them when winter is over. No comparison with "all season".

 

I really wish I owned a garage, so I had somewhere to put the all-season tires when I'm not using them... I'd buy snow tires in a heartbeat.

 

I'd go the snow tire route except for two things:

1. I can work from home whenever I need to.

2. I'd either need to pony up for a new set of beater rims for winter, or remount tires twice a year.

What would everyone else do with respect to #2?

 

I'm not familiar with the term " 'beater' rims", but if that refers to new rims which are dedicated to the new snow tires, that is an option worth considering. The advantage that I see, is that one could mount / use the snow tires only as conditions warrant. This way, most of your annual commuting miles will be on the higher mileage all season tires, while the more rarely used snow tires may last for many more winter seasons.

Another factor; reducing the all season tire's pressure down to recommended psi or below, may give better grip of the road during snowy - slushy days.

Money-wise; the cost of remounting twice a year could be considered in association with the cost of new rims minus the cost / pleasure of your labor in mounting / remounting snow / all season tires as needed.

 

If you can find a good deal from a junk yard on old rims for the snow tires then going for additional rims is a great idea. I did this for the Subaru and it saved time, money , and tires can only be changed so many times before the beads won't hold air anymore.

 

Duh! I never considered junkyard rims! I got my spare from a wrecking yard. I should have known this! '16-'18 Civic rims fit the Insight! My wife has an '18 Civic, and the tire size is identical to my Insight. I think I need to make a few calls!

 

good wheel and tire shops are often wiling to give you insight on what options are out there and you would be surprised by how quick aftermarket companies are quick to supply new vehicles

 

I don't know what fitment will be like but you could also try and see what other OEM rims from another Honda model may fit here. Could save yourself a lot of money buying a used set privately.

 

We got some snow the last few days, Touring handles just fine, no complaints at all.

 

You can get a set of top-quality snow tires mounted and balanced on black 16" steel wheels, delivered to your home or to a shop where they can be mounted for about $935 at TireRack.com, including tax. That's the price I came up with for Michelin X-Ice tires, which is my preferred type. You can get alloy wheels if you want to spend extra money, but they are more likely to become warped on winter roads. The one thing I don't know about, as I do not yet own an Insight, is whether you will need a special valve stem. My 2012 Civic requires a TPMS stem, but I think that they have (thankfully) been eliminated.

 

No TPMS on the parts list. It has the valve listed for you. Looks pretty standard to me.
2019 Insight Tourin CVT | Tire - Wheel Disk

 

New Insight uses passive TPMS which looks for wheel rotational speed differences. There is no special valve stem required.

 

Just got these put on my Touring at Discount Tire today - 16" X-Ice 3 & cheapo rims.

 

X Ice, I’ve bought 3 sets of these over the years

Not only the top performer on consumer reports, but one of the few low rolling resistance winter tires that are also great on gas !

 

Winter Tires and TPMS

Planning on getting a separate set of rims and winter tires, but concerned about what happens if I don't install TPMS monitors. On other cars it simply means living with a light on the dash. Anyone know if it is the same with the Insight, or have any other suggestions?

 

Just read elsewhere the Insight system is a passive, software one, so should be no problem with snows on separate rims.

Planning on getting a separate set of rims and winter tires, but concerned about what happens if I don't install TPMS monitors. On other cars it simply means living with a light on the dash. Anyone know if it is the same with the Insight, or have any other suggestions?

 

All TPMS systems are good for in the winter is going on the fritz anyways lol. They really don't handle the colder weather all that well and wont be giving accurate readouts in the first place.

 

Wheel Specs

Hi all,

I test drove an Insight Touring last week and totally loved it. I have a 2013 Civic Si but will be moving to a city where driving a stick is miserable and the spread from 87 to 91/93 octane is averaging $1.20/gal. So hybrid life is definitely in my future!

I run HFP 17" wheels for summer with 16" 9th gen EX alloys for my winter set and would love to be able to use these on the Insight with new tires. I can't find ANY info on the 16" LX and EX wheels except that they're 16x7 with 5x114.3". I'd assume similar to the 2018/19 Civic specs with 64.1mm center bore. Anybody know the offset and backspacing?

Any luck installing 16" Civic wheels on the Insight? These are mine attached. Thanks!

Jake