How Get More Stability/Traction on LX
 

My wife has a 2015 LX with a CVT transmission. In general she has always been a little nervous because the car felt light and not especially connected to the ground. Yesterday she was driving on the freeway in very high winds and didn't feel like she was in complete control of the vehicle.

Since it's nearing time for her to go to the mechanic and the tires are nearing replacement time, I was wondering if you guys had any recommebdations. Possibly larger or specifically branded tires/rims? Or possibly some other modification?

Anything you can add would be really helpful as now my wife is scared to drive her car :(

Honestly, there is not much you can do with the wind issue. The car is light and the wind blows it around a bit. Any proportionally high walled vehicle will feel like that in high wind (to varying extent), but the Fit seems to garner more complains than some others when driven in high wind.

Things you could do to make the car feel more planted, with varying degrees of success:

Verify alignment is correct! An alignment that is off can very much affect the feel of the vehicle. Find a really good alignment guy and tell him the issue. He'll do his best to get you a 'planted' feel.

Go to a 205 width tire (or wider on aftermarket wheels) See here: https://blog.tirerack.com/blog/roll-...l-save-the-day

Maybe lower the car and get a rear sway bar?

Tell wife to put on a few hundred pounds? Alternatively fill car with a few hundred pounds of something to weigh it down more. The disadvantage of course will be poorer gas mileage and acceleration. Seriously though, this can be a problem with any car unless you have something which is big , heavy and low to the ground with low overall profile. In this era of lighter cars for better fuel economy nothing even comes to mind.

I think she is hinting for a new car. Those Santa Ana winds can even turn a tractor trailer on its side. I lived in LA for too many years to know.

Do we need to do any other modifications to put on a wider tire? New rims or anything like that?

No. Take a look at this tire size calculator to determine other sizes. Be careful though, you don't want them too tall or too wide or you'll have clearance issues. I'm moving to a 205/50-16 for my EX like a lot of people here (OEM is 185/55-16). The new tire is 0.1 inches taller and 0.8 inches wider.

If I'm understanding correctly. Since you have the EX you can order 205.50-16, but since we have the lx we should order 205/50-15?

i run continental DWS06 on my cars in the cold months. they are all seasons and run very well wet or dry. for the Fit, id get 205/50/16's.. that's if your wheels are 16" wheels...(?)

i think the biggest issue with the GK is that the steering wheel is super light to turn. it makes the car feel unstable even though it might actually not be. maybe someone can find a mod to make the steering wheel heavier to turn..

You'd probably have to go with a 205/55/15, this is to keep the tire size as close to possible with the stock size. Otherwise your speedo/odometer would get way off. Sorry about the formatting, it got screwed up in the c/p:

https://tiresize.com/calculator/

Size 1 (185/60/15) Size 2 (205/55/15)
Diameter
23.7" 23.9"

+0.8%

Width
7.3" 8.1"

+11%

Sidewall
4.4" 4.4"

0%

Circum.
74.5" 75"

+0.8%

Revs/Mile
850 845

-5

Verify the new tire can fit the width of the LX rim though.

I'm running 205/50/16 in my EX and I like it. I also have the Progress rear sway bar. Fit still moves around in the wind. Not much you can do with a light vehicle that's built like a sail. My 4Runner doesn't move around nearly as much, but an extra ton will help with that :)

It's funny you mention that, I think that was her first initial complaint aboit thr car. The steering felt "squirrely" to her, too light and almost out of control.

You really need to check the tire specs to see what the recommended rim width range is for the tire you want to buy. Places like TireRack will have that information readily available under "specs" once you choose the tire. Discount Tire Direct will provide it if you call. Your local tire store should be able to provide that if you trust that they won't say whatever they need to to make a sale. For example I'm looking at a set of Bridgestone RE-760 Sports in a 205/45/16 and the recommended rim width range is 6.5-7.5" which is fine since I'm putting them on 7" wide wheels

We have the stock lx rims from Honda...?

Then those are probably only 6" wide?

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/3rd-...ire-specs.html

Again check the tire you want to buy recommended rim width range. It's not universal from one manufacturer to another and depends on the tires carcass, aspect ration and to make things more confusing, there isn't really a standard to width. One manufacturers 205 wide tire might be wider than another.

On one hand it doesn't really make a difference to me what you buy. Just don't necessarily believe everything one posts on these forums. The link to the TireRack website was referencing the older Sport Model that had wider 6.5" rims if I remember correctly? I have five sets of wheels and currently four with tires since I just picked up a set from the powder coaters. Stock 185/65/15 or whatever it is, 195/60/15 General Altimax Snow tires and a couple sets of 16X7" wheels with 205/50/16 extreme performance tires such as RE-71R and Rival S 1.5 tires. It makes little difference in my opinion on how the car reacts around trucks and crosswinds. The car does handle better cornering wise with the 205, but I'm using extreme performance tires made to basically be race tires that fall under 200TW rating to meet "street" tire categories for SCCA racing. Doesn't bother me, but the cars gas millage drops by 3-5mpg with the 205/50/16 tires Take it for what its worth.

This ^^^

If you need new tires there's no harm going a bit wider as long as the wheel size supports them, but don't expect this to solve the issue of how the car reacts to crosswinds. The increased surface area of wider tires will affect MPG to some extent but I'm guessing that Rob is saying that it is the stickier, high performance, tires that affect MPG the most. A harder, more normal, compound would likely have less effect.

The crosswind issue is just something you have to get used to and, hopefully, not have to deal with often. When I replaced my '98 Accord with my '08 Civic I went on a trip through some very windy conditions and I immediately noticed how much the smaller and lighter car was tossed around. The main thing is to be aware of the issue and stay on top of it. I've never been blown out of my lane but it can feel pretty intense. For what it's worth, I noticed significantly heavier SUVs getting blown around too when I drove through some extremely windy conditions a few weeks ago.

Have you tried the simple, cheap expedient of reducing inflation in the front tires VS the back?

I'm only talking a couple pounds...so if you are presently running 32/32 PSI F/R, try 30/32 or 32/34.

That said, the worn tires could be adding to the 'wanderlust'. When you DO buy new, have the alignment checked, and mention the wandering. A good alignment shop should be able to tweak the adjustments WITHIN SPEC to enhance straight-line tracking.

I could be wrong, but wouldn't less pressure in the front make it feel more squirrely? My understanding is that higher pressure in the rear than front increases oversteer. Which is one of the reasons every manufacturer recommends less pressure in the rear, because they prefer more understeer as it feels more stable.

Less front pressure would decrease steering response, thus twitchi-ness.

Yes, under curvy conditions you would experience earlier rear breakaway. But, I thought we were talking highway driving?

Again, I'm only proposing 2 PSI, to see if that makes the car better for the SWMBO. (She Who Must Be Obeyed)

I added 25mm rear spacers and upgraded to 205/50R16 tires on the stock wheels. Next mod to help with that would be a lightweight 16x7 wheel with an offset in the 35-45 range probably RPF1s or something similar on the cheap but quality end of wheels.
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That should help a good deal with sway, unsteadiness and highway wandering as it did for me.

So the GK is my first Fit, but I've seen it said that the GK is less "go kart" than the previous generations. If that is true, were the previous generations as "twitchy" on the highway and/or high winds?

yep. no improvement in the 3 gens. the thing is best as surface road car.