Good post. A friend of mine, a computer and systems specialist likes cars, but is not well versed in the care and feeding of them.
His wife, a music teacher with no college degree, knows more about cars than any woman I know outside the car business. She was raised on a farm with several brothers and had to look after machinery and trucks. She got to read every manual of everything they own and is determined to have nothing fail before the end of its design life. She also asks numerous questions and I’m always pleased to give answers or point her in the right direction.
These used tires might be OK, but check their asking price against inexpensive tires that are new. Also have them tell you tread depth on the used ones, and compare to new ones. If you have any trouble doing this, post back. Remember that 2/32ds is near bald and wear bars show; 4/32ds is minimum if you have winter weather.
This assumes you may have two tires that are OK. If not, then get four all the same and new.
It is usually better to just replace all four but if the front are still good, you can get by with just two. Don’t go used. First you have no idea of why the tires got there in the first place, and by the time you pay for mounting and balancing, you won’t be saving that much. Just go to a good tire store like Goodyear and do some pricing. If you don’t like the price, they usually carry a third tier brand at very competitive prices. The last set I bought was third tier and they were just as quiet, and performed just as good as Goodyears in snow and rain.
We have a 97 Accord, which is virtually identical to the 96. Compared to the other vehicles we have, it is rough on tires, especially the front tires. The fact that your rear tires are the bald ones indicates that someone has rotated your tires, but it is possible that your rear wheels may need an alignment.
It has been my experience that very few tire stores know how to properly align cars that require 4 wheel alignment, like Honda’s. A “front end alignment” does not include the rear wheels. You have to specify “4 wheel alignment” and you need to find a shop that is trained on how to do these. It would be nice if you could find a shop that has a Honda trained technician. I don’t think Honda’s different than any other car with an adjustable rear suspension, but it wouldn’t hurt. It’s just that three shops in this area couldn’t get it right so I did it myself.
These cars like expensive tires, like the Michelin Primacy MXV4 or Hydroedge. I think the OEM size is too small for this vehicle, every other vehicle this size uses larger tires. I use 205-60 15 instead of the 185-65 15 OEm tires. I prefer to get mine at Costco, but Costco does not do alignments. The Honda responds well to these tires. The Bridgestone Turanza would also be a good choice.
I am also not a fan of frequent tire rotations, it leads to early tire wear, but on a FWD car like the Honda, it is best to do a front to rear swap when the front tires are worn down to about the 6/32" tread depth. The rears will still have most of their original tread. One rotation at this point will have all 4 reach the wear limit at about the same time.
Some tire stores will warn you that not getting frequent rotations will void the tire warrantee, but that is not completely true. It can be used to void the mileage guarantee, but they almost always find a way to wiggle out of that. If you have a road hazard warrantee, it will not void that.
You can buy a tire depth gauge for about $2-3, well worth the money. A good air pressure gauge for about $8-12 will also be a big help. On this car, you will get the best tire wear at around 35 psi. If you monitor the air pressure and tread depth at each oil change, you can maximize your tire life and spot any alignment issues early on. Rotating tires too frequently can mask alignment issues.
Discount tire is affiliated with shops that charge a flat rate of $10 per tire to mount and balance. I have found many shops that charge reasonable prices to mount and balance tires that I have brought in. They don’t care it’s business.