[Ghawkins]

My 2018 Sport 2.0 10 speed was delivered with the Michelin Primacy’s. Now stored in my garage because I changed to 18” wheels. January build. Your “wheel gap” concern seems not relevant. These comparisons are variable depending on on a number of issues; the parking spot pitch angle, backed or driven into the spot, number and weight of passengers in the last ride, etc. I suspect all the mechanicals are the same, 17”, 18”, or 19” wheels. Only the tire profile changes. The rolling circumference has to be very close to the same to account for equal gear ratios, CAFE fuel consumption numbers, etc Guessing that if you moved all these cars to different parking spots, your gap measurements would all be shuffled. I don’t understand your interest in wheel gap. You can check the Honda,com site where all specs are detailed. I would look at overall vehicle height for the most consistent numbers.

 

[Ghawkins]

I am not that "concerned with the wheel gap". I like that mine doesn't have a lot of it, and 2 of you brought up a good point, but fortunately I am not a "novice" and have raced cars for 20 years (road racing & auto-x) plus I was an instructor for 9 years, so I know a thing or 2. I pay a lot of attention to detail. Both 2018 & 2019 Sport 2.0 I test drove were parked in the same exact spot by the door where I was standing. The salesmen brought both cars to the same exact location, so the surface was the same. Like I said I noticed it with the other 2 2018's and 1 '19 Touring but they had a bit less of a difference. Noone was sitting in the cars and when I pointed it out the salesman agreed. I don't really care and like I said I like that my '19 appears to be lowered a tiny bit more with slightly less wheel well gap.

The only thing I really care about is that my car rides worse than the '18. Today with the window down I heard a constant squealing sound coming from the rear or under the car like bad wheel bearings used to sound in my older cars. It could be as simple as brake/disc flange rubbing, or something is up with the rear suspension because the rear makes a loud "clunk" when I go over small cracks on the road, but the front doesn't.

One additional thought...tracking straight. Currently I have two cars, the other being a ‘15 VW GTI. Also owned several Accords. Consciously or unconsciously I am constantly comparing the two cars. While it’s true that either car has certain preferable features, I have noticed that all my Honda’s have not been so good at tracking on the freeway. They seem to require your full attention to go straight even in perfect alignment. This feature is one the VW does better. No drifting left or right. I have seen various opinions on this. I have seen some ideas about different alignment engineering and specs. One thought is related to toe; in or out. Maybe Honda is sacrificing some tracking ability for gas mileage. Another thought is that European engineered cars generally have more caster for stability purposes. I don’t have the specs for either car or wouldn’t know how to interpret them if I did.