Wheels and tyres and comfort musings/questions.

[Arwen]

Ok, first musing/question. I need to replace my front tyres at some point in the next month or so. Currently they have Michelin Primacy HP on all round. I don't really like this tyre at all to be honest, I feel them prone loosing traction and they are just generally noisy and feel weird at times. This could be the fact they are probably the original tyres that came with the car 4 and a half years ago however...
I am slightly confused as these tyres are marked as 215 55 R16 93V. But when I put my registration into any tyre shopping website, they come back as should be 215 55 R16 97W. 
Anyone know what should actually be on the car? The V's are cheaper in most cases...
I'm thinking of sticking Avon ZV7's or Goodyear Efficient Grip Performance on (both come in 93V and 97W). Anyone any opinions on these? Or recommend something around the same price point? Ideally less that £100 per tyre, but depending on reviews could stretch it. Preference is for good grip in the wet and low noise. 

 

On the back of needing new tyres, I've been thinking about my alloys. And how a complain pain in the ***** they are to clean! Now ford does loads of nice alloys, in many sizes. If I find a set of 16" Ford alloys is it as simple as just switching them? Or do different models/years need different spacers?
on a related note, how much does ride comfort suffer moving from 16" to 17" on the MK3 Focus? Anyone know the sames of alloys that look nice but are easy to clean? I have these annoying ones just now - 

I like these ones but Have no idea what they are called to search for them...
http://parkers.bauercdn.com/PageFiles/160877/Ford_Focus_Longtermer_230215(12).jpg[/img]
and these ones look super easy to clean! 

The ST alloys are nice too, and look reasonably easy to clean. But I'm not sure I could find a set in my budget (Which I haven't really set yet...)

[Tonis_T]

Google "tire speed rating"

Then you'll see that W is rated up to 168 mph - 270 km/h and V is rated up to 149mph - 240 km/h.

Now you have to decide, how fast is you'r focus?

I just ordered H rated tire for my focus (130mph - 210 km/h).

[drsdriver]

I used to have 215/55/16 on my Titanium, but changed all 4 tyres to 205/55/16 91v Goodyear efficentgrip performance. 

The mk3.5 also use 205s so no problem being the wrong size ! 

Much much cheaper per tyre than 215s . About £48 from amazon. 

Does effect the speedo very slightly, makes the speedo over read which is a good thing, less chance of speeding then. 

I also have the annoying 15 spoke something alloys, does my head in trying to clean them. 

[WES180]

The alloy pictured above looks like a 18" C-Max Titanium optional extra. I have 18's on my Zetec S and although its a bumpier ride due to the 40 profile tyres i dont mind because i love the look of the bigger wheels.

If you went up to 18's Ford fit steering rack limiters when they are factory fitted. I put 18's on my old Cmax and bought the limiters for under £20 but never actually fitted them as there was enough clearance. I have them fitted on my Zetec S and it does make parking in the supermarket a tad slower as it usually takes 2  attempts to get into a space due to the limited turning circle. Again though, i dont care because they look better in my opinion.

[chrisroberson99]

I've literally just changed my wheels from 16" to 17" and have found the difference in ride comfort to be marginal. The reason for changing my wheels were similar to yours as I really wasn't keen on the style and they were a bit of a pain to clean (although not although bad as yours by the looks of things!) I decided on 17" over 18" mainly due to me being concerned although about ride comfort, my mum has an Alfa Mito with 18" alloys and whilst they look great the ride is very harsh. I'm sure the Focus has a softer suspension set up but it will be no doubt noticeable going from 16's to 18's. Depends if that's a problem for you I guess.

You can see the pics of my 17's here (page 2)

http://www.fordownersclub.com/forums/topic/82088-my-candy-red-focus-titanium/?page=1

On the subject of tyres, my 16" set had Goodyear Efficientgrips and the 17's have Continentals. I was impresed with the Goodyears as they had plenty of grip and were quiet at speed. On my new (used) alloys the  front tyres are near the limit and I've pretty much chosen to replace them with Goodyears, due tor them being the quietest and most fuel efficient whilst also being £20 cheaper a tyre. I'll just have to put up with Contis on the front and Goodyears on the back for a while!

[Arwen]

4 hours ago, Tonis_T said:

Google "tire speed rating"

Then you'll see that W is rated up to 168 mph - 270 km/h and V is rated up to 149mph - 240 km/h.

Now you have to decide, how fast is you'r focus?

I just ordered H rated tire for my focus (130mph - 210 km/h).

See I tried this, thinking "I never go above 90mph, why should I put more expensive tyres on just for the speed rating" 

And was then greeted by multiple websites claiming your insurance can be invalid if you put a lower speed rating tyre on your car than is meant for it.  This worried me.... 

I'll keep an eye on gumtree and eBay, see what alloys come up 😊

[WES180]

1 hour ago, Arwen said:

 

I'll keep an eye on gumtree and eBay, see what alloys come up 😊

There will be a set of Zetec S 18's on there soon off mine when i get round to taking them off the car. All legal Michelin Pilot Sport 3's. Some usual kerb rash on the wheel rims (NOT FROM ME!!!) and only found out that 1 alloy has a flat spot when the car was up on ramps. Car drives fine which is why i was suprised to see it. With that in mind i think £300 for the set is fair. 

[isetta]

don't rely on websites that tell you the tyre size, they are not always right. For my wife's Mazda2 it even has wrong wheel diameter, says it is 16inch wheras it is really 15inch, and they are the correct wheels on it.

Also, don't forget lower profile tyres means:

a) More chance of wheel damage on potholes as less thickness of rubber to act as buffer

b) More chance of scraping rims on kerbs as the metal rim is less likely to be higher than the kerb

 

 

[isetta]

"And was then greeted by multiple websites claiming your insurance can be invalid if you put a lower speed rating tyre on your car than is meant for it.  This worried me....  "

can anyone actually cite a really life case where this happened?  makers have to put tyres on so that the speed rating exceeds the speed the car could do as they do not know where it will be used or by who - eg. joy riders in UK, or legal use in Germany.

On my previous car it had H rated tyres on it. I replaced them with T rated tyres of same size. If I crashed whilst driving at a speed that exceeded or was around the T rating speed I could understand the insurance company becoming upset. If I drive legally in the UK I don't see the problem

[WES180]

I know what youre saying but insurers will look for any reason not to pay out. If it is documented somewhere that the manufacturer has specified a certain tyre rating and you choose to put a lesser rated tyre on then i bet if it was to be a big claim they would use it to invalidate the policy as the car has been altered (modified) from manufacturers spec. If you were to put a better rated tyre on they could probably do the same again if it was not disclosed.

The fact is one insurer refused a payout because their policy holder had painted his rusty calipers and not declared it. On that basis im sure they would try anything to save paying out thousands or even more depending on the incident.