So, 

 

I picked up a mk3.5 Focus TitX a few weeks back.  Really liking the car.  Apart from one thing.  The hugely expensive standard tyre size.  215/50/17 is a crazily expensive size.

I was wondering what affect it would have to stick a set of 225/45/17 tyres on instead?  Thats a much better priced tyre.  

So, Costco are doing a deal on Michelin tyres just now, so was thinking of going for a set of cross-climates, since winter is coming, and I do live in NE Scotland.  I would usually run winter and summer wheels, where I'd stick winter tyres on the original wheels, and summer tyres on upgraded wheels, but since the standard tyre size is already stupidly expensive, I'm not going that route.

So here is the costs..

Model	Size	Price each	fitted x4
Crossclimate+	215/50/17 W	£125.98	£477.52

Crossclimate+

225/45/17 W

£85.18

£314.32

So, a difference of £163.20 over 4 tyres.  I mean, some people I know wouldn't pay that for the tyres, never mind the difference, between the same tyre, in a slightly different size.

The alternative, is to try and find a set of nicer ST wheels or something in 18", get a nicer 225/40/18 tyre, and stick PS4's on them.  That'll still only be £311.16 in tyres.  Still £184.04 cheaper than PS4's in the standard size.  What The Heck.

As you may have guessed, I'm not really interested in dropping tyre quality to save money at the same size.  I'd rather either stick a slightly different tyre size on, or I'd want to just buy bigger wheels for cheaper tyres.  The problem with that then becomes finding a decent set of wheels, for a decent price, ha ha.

TD:LR

Can I put on 225/45/17 tyres in place of 215/50/17

 

Tyre size 225-45-17 can be used without any problems on the Focus MK3/MK3.5 on the stock 7J x 17 inch alloys.

My Focus MK3 has a set of 7J x 17 Inch alloys in winter with 225-45-17 winter tyres and a set of 8J x 18 Inch alloys in summer with 225-40-18 high performance tyres. Both tyre sizes fit perfectly without any problems.

 

Ford have a weird habit of fitting expensive tyre sizes to the Mk3...back on the Mk2 it had the more common & cheaper sizes for both 16s & 17s, not really sure why the change tbh, probably something to do with lower emissions though.

You could buy a set of Y spoke 18s (part of the appearance pack 2, or standard on the Zetec S) if moving to nicer wheels.  But otherwise, 225/45s will be absolutely fine on the 17s, not even enough of a difference in rolling radius to affect the speedo.

http://www.kouki.co.uk/utilities/visual-tyre-size-calculator

I don't know how to start a topic on this site. But on the offchance that someone might know, does anyone know what my car paint colour is? It's a 2002 ford fiesta 5 door. Colour code 61. It's like it doesn't exist. The VIN number is older than records on a few websites tried and said that couldn't help me. 

1 minute ago, Denbighite said:

I don't know how to start a topic on this site. But on the offchance that someone might know, does anyone know what my car paint colour is? It's a 2002 ford fiesta 5 door. Colour code 61. It's like it doesn't exist. The VIN number is older than records on a few websites tried and said that couldn't help me. 

When in the correct forum (Fiesta for your question) there should be a button top right to 'start new topic'.

Looks like Moondust silver.  But after 16 years the paint will have faded so best to get it paint matched somewhere on a car of that age.

Thanks mate. Though someone only commented the other day how good the paintwork looks and hasn't faded. Just need to rust remove a few areas  and primer them the hopefully find the right colour to finish it. Anyway thanks for your help

5 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Ford have a weird habit of fitting expensive tyre sizes to the Mk3...back on the Mk2 it had the more common & cheaper sizes for both 16s & 17s, not really sure why the change tbh, probably something to do with lower emissions though.

You could buy a set of Y spoke 18s (part of the appearance pack 2, or standard on the Zetec S) if moving to nicer wheels.  But otherwise, 225/45s will be absolutely fine on the 17s, not even enough of a difference in rolling radius to affect the speedo.

See, I'm all up for buying a set of 18's.  If I can find them.  Even ebay doesn't seem to have much about.  Nothing reasonably local on Gumtree, or on FB Marketplace.  For some reason, I can get VAG fitment 5x112 all over the place, but fords 5x108 seems a LOT rarer.  I can, admittedly, get the older style ST wheels easy enough though, but I much prefer the updated style, so not gonna waste my time with the older style.

Do Mondeo wheels fit the mk3.5 Focus?  Is it just an offset question?  Or is the CB differences too?

Might just be the time of year, I saw loads of ZS Y spokes about for sale last year, haven't been looking recently though.  With a fairly 'remote' location that probably doesn't help either.

Mondeo alloys should fit, same PCD and offset range but the tyre size may be too big for the Focus, will depend on which you go for.

2 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Might just be the time of year, I saw loads of ZS Y spokes about for sale last year, haven't been looking recently though.  With a fairly 'remote' location that probably doesn't help either.

Mondeo alloys should fit, same PCD and offset range but the tyre size may be too big for the Focus, will depend on which you go for.

Oh yeah, don't care about tyres.  Almost every set of alloys you see for sale has some sort of ditchfinder on it.  Or even worse, them horrible Rainsport 3's that everyone seems to think are actually good.  So I fully expect to have to put on decent tyres regardless of what I get.  So that's not a problem.  Just finding a set of wheels is the issue.  As you say, my location doesn't help.