Project Civic Si: Fresh Falkens for our Fresh Civic

Update by David S. Wallens to the Honda Civic Si Coupe project car
Jun 27, 2019

Our 2019 Civic Si came from the factory wearing Goodyear Eagle Sport All-Season tires While not billed as a track tire, they’ve done okay for us, providing consistent laps along with very long life. After three track events, including nearly a full day spent giving rides around VIR, we have worn these tires from 10/32nds of an inch to just 9/32nds. Not bad in our book.

But we wanted more–specifically more grip. We also wanted a tire that could be driven to and from the track. That narrowed our search to today’s current crop of 200tw rubber. The fact that Falken Tire supports the SCCA Track Night in America Driven by Tire Rack program helped us hone in on their Azenis RT615K+.

So we ran our idea past Woody Rogers, Product Information Specialist at The Tire Rack. Woody is a Solo champ who also oversees all of Tire Rack’s testing. (In other words, he’s tire-smart.)

He confirmed that the Azenis would be perfect for our needs. But what size? The stock tire size is 235/40R18 91W. The Falken also comes in that size, but Woody noted that going to the 245/40R18 would increase our tread width by six-tenths of an inch while increasing the outer diameter by only a tenth of an inch.

“Going wider to 245 puts a little more meat on the ground, and works well on an 8-inch-wide wheel,” he said.

Quick price check: Tire Rack retails the Falkens for $181.25 each, making it their least expensive Extreme Performance Summer tire in that size.

Sold.

The tires just arrived, and we’ll have them on the car soon. But why do they feel a little heavy? Oh yeah, we ordered wheels, too–more on that later.

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