Kumho Ecsta 205/50/R16 and new wheels. Way Better!
 

My new to me 2016 EX needed new shoes badly.
Decided on 205/50/R16 Kumho Ecstas wrapped over 16x7 (ET40) Volk TE37 replicas made by a canadian company Fast Wheels.
Wheels are 14.5 lb each. Including the way more substantial tire, this combo still manages to weigh in at 2 pounds lighter than stock.
The result looks nice and chunky (see the side by side picture below) and yet somehow seems smaller than the OEM setup once on the car. Nice.
Here are some picture from test-fitting session this afternoon (only had time for one... I will install everything on Sunday and post some pictures of the finished product, still need to get some decent lugnuts and centercaps)

Looks good so far!

What are the offset on those wheels?

ET40
With 205/50/R16 rubber these "may" have possible issues when lowered, especially with the fronts but I don't anticipate any problems when at the stock height.
Between the offset and wheel/tire width difference the outer edge gets pushed out by about an inch. Just perfect IMO. It no longer looks like riding on donut spares lol.

I would really like to install the HFP suspension kit next since it only lowers the ride height by ~10mm but offers substantially stiffer spring rates.
I think the combination should sort the car nicely in terms of looks and handling.
Still debating the rear swaybar.
One thing at a time... always worked best for me in the past.

Installed new wheels and tires this morning and since I had to run some errands, this was a great opportunity to scrub the new rubber in and see how the car feels.
These 16x7 ET40 wheels with the 205 tires widen the track by 2 inches. It seems like quite a bit for the car this light and narrow.
The wheel/tire combo is 2.5 lbs lighter on each corner, which doesn't seems like much, but again, the car is so light every bit helps.
Also, I inflated the fronts to 33psi and rears to 35psi (3 psi higher than factory spec) and the combined result is quite surprising.

Car feels flatter, body roll is substantially reduced - it no longer wallows like it did, turn in is just a tiny bit slower initially, but once in the corner - there is So Much More Grip. Wow.
Rear rotates nicely and there is no more squeeling from the fronts as they are no longer pushed beyond their former skinny limit.
I am not sure if I need to do anything to the suspension now... if I can get used to the fender gap.
The ride comfort has actually improved, so perhaps the rear Progress anti-sway bar is all my daily runabout really needs.
Or I can ask my alignment shop if they can do something about that front camber... or lack thereof.
If I can get some negative camber upfront I think i can call it a day.

Once again the importance of proper tires became quite apparent.
And since the OEM Firestones are absolute rubbish IMO, this was neither hard or expensive to accomplish - virtually anything is better than those FR740s...
I am looking forward to some nice hard rain as I am quite curious how these Kumho Ecstas will cope with our world-famous Northwest downpours.

Looking really good. I hate how skinny the stock tires look. Think once the life of them ends for me I will follow your lead. Thank you for the write up.

lookin good! just curious, does the 2 lbs lighter setup result in better mpg?




for those of you on 15s, here are 225/50 kuhmo ecsta's on 15x7 wheels


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fit...06050dbad5.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fit...6543d996f4.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fit...944861bac1.jpg

Any fitment issues with the 205s?

What about gas mileage?