I'm scheduled to buy a new 09 Fit Base or Sport in the next two weeks. I would like to get the Sport, but outfitting it with winter tires seems to be a big problem. I live in Maine, and definitely need 4 winter tires.

If I buy the Sport I want to put the 16" wheels away for the winter and buy a set of 15" steel wheels and preferably stock size 175/65R15 winter tires. I could also go with an alternative size 15" tire if close.

The big stumbling block seems to be that the only 15" steel wheels I can find are the Honda stock steel rims, and the dealer is asking about $140 each!

Any recommendations would be most appreciated.

 

try local junk yards. and all types of 4 lug rims.
from toyotas to fords and vw's
just make sure you know your offsets though.
you'll find something really cheap.

 

I paid $60 CDN for each of my steelies a couple weeks ago. They are from Honda, so look around. I bought a tire and wheel package from a small local tire dealer. An old school, first name basis type of place, not unlike something from local tire shops years ago.

Call around your area, local import Honda performance shops know who to send their customers to for tires, etc. I assume you tried TireRack and other like online tire shops. They ship the tires to a local installer if you wish, there they are installed or you can do the install yourself. Easy in any case.

TireRack has nothing, I just checked, no steelies, no alloy wheels for winter.Bugger that, gotta keep looking.



Call the local Honda club in your area, ask what they do for winter tires. I am willing to bet it has nothing to do with the local Honda dealer who is taking advantage of the local market. I imagine many from Quebec are buying tire packages in Maine and driving up the demand/price, all vehicles in Quebec MUST have winter tires, unlike say Ontario or any other province as far as I know.

As you do not actually have your location as anything other than a state, I cannot direct you to anyone really beyond the above.

 

I ended up buying 4 steel wheels from Discount Tires (a physical location not the internet store, although they most likely sell the same rims) for my 09 FIT SPORT for around $45 each. They have 41mm offset, which I thought could be a problem from reading a few posts since the Honda steel rims have 53mm offset, but I asked Discount Tires to try them on for me and there were no caliper clearance issues. Currently I have them installed on my car with 175/65-15 tires I bought from tirerack.com and everything works great. This is the first time I bought separate winter tires+rims for my car and I will never go back to driving on all-season tires during the winter. The only thing I had to buy that I did not expect were lug nuts, since the Honda ones did not work with the steel wheels (something about them being rounded instead of cone-like), which was around $42 for 16 of them.

 

new yaris has 15" wheels. also, the previous gen xb and xa had 15" steelies. all 4x100

 

Arnenewfit,

Did you manage to get some steel wheels for your Fit sport? I recently relocated to Portland, Maine and I have been looking to get a set of winter tires as well. Where did you get your set from?

Thanks!

 

... and those cars come with TPMS sensors so you know yours should work in them.