I'd just pop off one rim/tire and see how the rim fits. Probably take u 15 minutes.
L.

 

I bought 15" steel Accord rims for my snowtires in 2004 and have used them for two winters and they work fine.

 

Yeah, I think they will bolt on the E fine... I'm more concerned about the performance aspect and the mysterious "offset" difference and if that matters or not.

Hey Quicksilver, what type rim and vehicle are your lugs from? I don't suppose that you are using center caps from an E steel rim are you?
Thanks.

 

I bought standard 15" Accord rims from the Honda dealer and used the same nuts that I took off when I removed my alloy wheels. I can see no difference in performance. I bought the 15" instead of 16" because there were a much greater variety of snow tires to fit the smaller rims. I ran the wheels without covers for the first winter but you can see how the centre rusts in the photo so this last winter, I bought a set of wheel covers to hide the rims.

 

BTW, the side of the rim reads: 16 x 6 1/2 J TOPY 3 3006E2.3 7 8 2 S N A
.

My 03 Element steel rims read:
16x6 1/2 JJ TOPY (an 02 date) OFF 45

So there is a difference in the J v JJ
difference in production date (e.g. yours probably are 3/30/2006)
Mine have a clear offset designation (OFF 45)
I don't see that on yours.

I'd have to double check a tirerack tech note, but I believe the offset is the distance between the mounting surface and the wheel centerline. With a greater offset (for the same wheel width), you will move centerline, and inner wheel edge closer to the car, and risk rubbing.

With less offset, the inner edge moves out, and you can, in theory, use wider tires without rubbing. Hence all the discussion regarding offset with putting larger wheels on the Element.

I don't recall any discussion on this forum of how offset affects handling. I have a vague memory from a 'tuners forum' that offset changes can affect things like torque steer.

When you turn the steering wheel, the front tire pivots about some line. I believe on the Element that this is in line with the strut tower, since one pivot is at the bottom of the tower, and the other is on the arm below the drive shaft. Mentally you could project this pivot axis to the ground. I suspect that ideally this should lie at the center of the contact patch, though in practice it may be inboard a bit. Changing the offset will change the position of this pivot point relative to the tire center.

Most of us may not notice a change in handling for a change in offset of 5mm or so. A web search on 'offset' and 'handling' or related terms may yield more information.

paulj

 

Thanks for the insight, makes sense. I'll put some aggressive tires on for winter and hope they work.