Greetings.

I just got into an 03 Accord LX with manual transaxle as a long term reliable car. My previous car (91 Toyota MR2 turbo) met an unfortunate end when some idiot wasn't paying attention on the highway and ended up going eastbound in a southbound lane right in front of me. I had that car for 4 years and a previous 92 MR2 NA for a year before that, so I'm trying to get used to driving a front engine, front drive car again. My first car was an 86 Honda Prelude which I owned for 6 years.

Overall, I enjoy the new car, though no MR2, it is still fun to drive for a cheap, 4 door family sedan. However, I think some improvements can be made to the wheels, tires, springs and dampers to put it even more into the fun to drive category. With these improvements, that will make it better and hold me over until I can afford another sports car with the intent of keeping both cars.

I just finished school, and when I get a full time job, the first thing I will address is wheels & tires. I can't stand the stock tires on the Accords, and my near base model LX has steel wheels. So there are big performance gains to be had from changing these. I am looking at going with a 225/50 16 performance tire (Yokohama AVS Sport or Bridgestone S02 or S03) on a 16 X 7 SSR Competition with a 42mm offset.

Has anyone put 225 width tires on an 03 Accord and experienced any rubbing problems? I got my ruler out trying to measure approximate changes, and it looks like it will be very close to flush with the outer fender body.

Does Honda sell sport suspension parts (springs, dampers) through their dealer network like Toyota does with TRD? I'd like to get firmer springs and "harder" dampers that won't void the warranty, otherwise I'll have to wait three years to get those.

Thanks for any input if you are still awake through all that.