Tyres For Focus

[Andrew Barke]

Yes i know, another "which tyre ..." thread, but still after a bit of advise more so than tyre choice.

Basically, my focus is going to need a pair of new fronts within the next couple of months, and upon looking around some of the online stores there appears to be only around 4 different tyres for my current size (215/55 R16 93H), but, on one of the sites (black circles, i think) it didn't ask for the load index, just the speed rating, so would i be ok the stick some 97H's on the front and leave the 93H's on the back (as currently) of should all four be the same

hope that makes some sense! :)

Thanks!

[Hyrule]

Hi Andrew

Me personally I'd prefer to have all four tyres the same speed rating (between N -Y) and load index (between 62-126).

You have 93's on the back at the moment (650kg load). 97's would give you (730kg load). Thats a difference of 80kg. Could be a negligible difference but down to your preference I guess.

Your focus manual should tell you the recommend tyres for the rim size so ideally if you can afford it, either replace all four, or have the two new front ones match the rear in speed and load ratings.

Have a look on camskill.co.uk as well they generally the cheapest price amongst the major tyres websites.

Hope that helps a bit

[Andrew Barke]

Cheers for the reply Ben, will have a look at camskill as never actually heard of that one! :)

[BOF]

...so would i be ok the stick some 97H's on the front and leave the 93H's on the back (as currently) of should all four be the same

I don't see why 97s would be a problem - having too low a load rating would be a problem, but i don't see a problem with having too high a load rating. Given the the static load at the front of a front wheel drive car is higher than at the rear, I don't see the problem with this suggestion. (Although, if you frequently drive with the car loaded to the gunnels, that might change, biasing the load more to the rear.)

BTW, the easy way to have more of choice of tyres is to allow tyres of a higher speed rating: again, if you go to a lower speed rating, that is potentially problematic (might have to inform the insurance, for example, if the car can exceed the speed rating of the tyres). But there are more 'V' and 'W' rated tyres around in this size than 'H's.

...to be only around 4 different tyres for my current size (215/55 R16 93H), but, on one of the sites (black circles, i think) it didn't ask for the load index, just the speed rating...

I had a quick look on pneus-online, and there, with an open speed rating and any load index, there are 7 pages of about 50 tyres per page (some less than that really, because there a quite a few duplications and a few winter tyres, so say about two hundred distinct tyre types).

Pneus-online usually have one of the widest selections, even if they aren't that often the cheapest. Well, except when some of the others don't have they tyre that you want.

(In passing, there doesn't seem to be a supplier which is always the cheapest - one supplier is cheap for some tyres and another is cheap for others. Camskill, mentioned above by Hyrule, is often one of the cheaper ones, though. Also, some people just deliver tyres, and others have fitting partners, so fitting is in the price - its a matter of which you prefer.)