[sERKZ]

So I've had my X for over a year now, almost two and I think its time for new wheels. I have the stock 17 inch wheels and I'm looking to upgrade. I wanted to go up to 19 but my friend said 19's aren't good because its not a common size and the tires and wheels are more expensive. He told me to go up to 20". What's the best wheels/tire combo? I know a lot of you like the RDX rims. Anyone else got updated pics? Cause the ones I tried to look at were no longer available. Any other good combos out there? Should I go 18 or 20? Will the 20's lower my MPG? Thanks in advance!

 

[drive//]

So I've had my X for over a year now, almost two and I think its time for new wheels. I have the stock 17 inch wheels and I'm looking to upgrade. I wanted to go up to 19 but my friend said 19's aren't good because its not a common size and the tires and wheels are more expensive. He told me to go up to 20". What's the best wheels/tire combo? I know a lot of you like the RDX rims. Anyone else got updated pics? Cause the ones I tried to look at were no longer available. Any other good combos out there? Should I go 18 or 20? Will the 20's lower my MPG? Thanks in advance!

so i know it sounds strange but I was thinking about getting 16-inch wheels mounted on all-terrain tires. I think the MDX needs everything it can to look more like a utilitarian than a "once wealthy soccer mom" car

 

[Illustro]

Tell me about it haha. I got mine a few months ago with dead worn tires so ran out on black friday for the discount tire $100 off and got new tires but kept the 17 maybe should have thought it through... Oh well, I'll be left to drive it like I stole it and put some stickers on the back window

 

[habbyguy]

The key is that you want the outside diameter of the tires to remain the same no matter what size rims you go with. That means that the sidewalls get shorter as you get taller rims. Shorter sidewalls are a good thing if your goal is to minimize flex on track day (like THAT is ever going to happen with an MDX!) but is a bad thing if your goal is a nice, quiet ride. The shorter the sidewall, the noiser and harsher your vehicle will ride. Some folks don't really notice this much when they replace hard, worn-out 17" tires with soft, new tires with shorter sidewalls mounted on larger rims.

The PO put a set of 18" rims on my MDX, which I think is a good compromise between performance, looks and ride quality. He said they're Enke rims (though I'm not sure they really are). You can also go with wider tires, but you want to pay close attention to the offset of any new rims, to put the wheels where they should be in the wheelwell (it looks ridiculous to have the outside of the tires 3" inside the fender lip, IMHO).

FWIW, here's a photo of my MDX right after I bought it (those tires looked OK but were nasty noisy, hard as rocks).

 

[RetroMDX]

Bought the truck with these wheels from discount tire. I don't think they look too bad.

 

[RallyD]

I have 19" RDX accessory wheels and your friend is correct, the tires choices are limited. Most of the 19" tires are XL load range which causes a rough ride due to the stiff sidewall construction.

I would recommend an 18x8 with around a +40 offset. Higher offset brings wheel closer in and lower offset pushes them out wider. I wouldn't go with an offset less than +38 as it could cause some issues like bump steer. For tires you can go 255mm wide, I'm not sure you would have to check but I think a 55 series aspect ratio would keep the speedometer pretty close.

 

[habbyguy]

RallyD is correct -- the tires on my MDX are 255/55/18, and have the same outside diameter as the stock tires, and fit fine (no rubbing).

 

[Illustro]

RallyD is correct -- the tires on my MDX are 255/55/18, and have the same outside diameter as the stock tires, and fit fine (no rubbing).

Is the speedometer off by a bit?

 

[habbyguy]

Nope - basically spot-on (verified by GPS).

You can work out the actual tire diameter, and use that to compare to your current tires... it just takes a little math (I always put it in an Excel spreadsheet to make it easier/quicker).

On my tires - 255/55/18

The 255 is the width in mm - divide by 25.4 to get inches (pretty much exactly 10" in my case)
The 55 is the height of the sidewall, relative to the width (in my case, 55% of 10", or 5.5")
The 18 is the height of the rim.

So to get the total height of my (easy to calculate) tires, it's 5.5+5.5 (since there are two sidewalls) +18, which comes out to 29". Divide by two to figure out the difference in ride height (or, radius of the tire).

 

[sERKZ]

Can I use any RDX rim on my 05 mdx? Even the 2013-2015? It says 5x114.3 bolt pattern so I am assuming it'll work.

 

[habbyguy]

I looked up the specs, and can't see any reason the RDX wheels won't work. They're 18", so that's good (in terms of getting the look you're after), and the centerbore is the same. The offset looks to be the same as the MDX wheels, so they should line up more or less like the original wheels. Some of the stock RDX wheels are 7.5" wide, and some are 8.5", and I'm guessing that the wider rims will look better, putting the sidewalls of the tires closer to the fender lip (I'm kind of anal about this - tires that live well inside the fender look "wrong" to me).

In the end, wheels and tires that will look good on an RDX should look good on an MDX, too.

But remember - if we don't get photos of the end result, it never happened! ;-)

FYI, here's a better photo of the rims/tires (255/55/18) on my RDX, in profile: