Replacing Alloy wheels with steel wheels - 2010 Ford Focus Mk2

[old timer]

Hi, I am the proud owner of my 2010 Ford Focus Titanium, presently running on 18" alloy wheels but have had enough of hitting pot holes, can anyone please advise if I can replace with steel wheels possibly 17"  can anyone help please.

 

[StephenFord]

28 minutes ago, old timer said:

Hi, I am the proud owner of my 2010 Ford Focus Titanium, presently running on 18" alloy wheels but have had enough of hitting pot holes, can anyone please advise if I can replace with steel wheels possibly 17"  can anyone help please.

 

I can't give you 'technical' advice, but I admire your spirit. After decades of riding on alloys, repairing them, refurbishing, doing weekly air checks on them, being scared to park near a kerb etc etc, my current car has steel wheels which initially I was going to 'upgrade'. However, I have discovered that I have no need to weekly air check them, they don't lose a pound of pressure from one month to the next, and if I do get a bit careless, I ca buy a full set of brand new trims (x4) for about £15. Best mod you'll ever do to your car!

[unofix]

Hi John (old timer), welcome to the Ford Owners Club.

Yes you can change to steel wheels with no real problem. You might need different wheel nuts to those used with the alloys. Also depending on what size tyres you fit your speedo might read a little high since the 17" wheels have to rotate faster to cover the same distance as the 18".

Fit 17" steel wheels with a high side wall size like 60 or 70 and the error on the speedo will be almost zero.

[Wobbla]

Hi. I'm doing the same on my daughters Mk6.5 Fiesta. 

Sick of the 16" sport alloys on 195/45/16 tyres which keep buckling and having to fork out for repairs to get a smooth ride.

I got a set of used 15" Ford steel rims with really good tyres. 

However, when i got them home and looked at them closely, i realised, although they are all 15", two of them have ET49.5 offset and the other two have ET52.5.

The correct size from the car manual for the offset is ET52.5 but i only have two of these after checking.

I have not put them on yet as not sure if i can get away with putting two of the same on the same axle. I put a question out on here somewhere but no reply yet. I am new to this site.

Like Unofix stated, you need to get matching wheel nuts.

Also if you are getting any used steel wheels, check they have the right centre bore size and PCD. 

 

[unofix]

Hi Wobbla, there is no problem in putting ET49.5 on one axel and the ET52.5 on the other. Just check with steering turned to full lock that the tyres clear the inner wheel arch.

 might cause you a problem as regarding a spare wheel - which size do you carry? but I wouldn't worry about it.

[JW1982]

13 hours ago, old timer said:

Hi, I am the proud owner of my 2010 Ford Focus Titanium, presently running on 18" alloy wheels but have had enough of hitting pot holes, can anyone please advise if I can replace with steel wheels possibly 17"  can anyone help please.

 

17 Inch steel wheels were never available for the Focus MK2/MK2.5. The S-max/Galaxy did have 17 Inch steel wheels but because of the larger M14 studs/wheelnuts these wheels have larger mounting holes and are not suitable for the other Ford models with M12 studs/wheelnuts.

The largest steel wheels that were available for the Focus MK2/MK2.5 are 16 Inch. The 16 Inch wheels are combined with 205-55-16 tires. 

[F0CUE]

32 minutes ago, JW1982 said:

17 Inch steel wheels were never available for the Focus MK2/MK2.5. The S-max/Galaxy did have 17 Inch steel wheels but because of the larger M14 studs/wheelnuts these wheels have larger mounting holes and are not suitable for the other Ford models with M12 studs/wheelnuts.

The largest steel wheels that were available for the Focus MK2/MK2.5 are 16 Inch. The 16 Inch wheels are combined with 205-55-16 tires. 

Was going to mention that last night when I seen this. Also to add to it the MK2.5 came with alloy look steel wheels styled they call them so when the wheel trim is in they look like alloys. 

[ScaniaPBman]

In the past I had a new high spec MK2 Mondeo with alloy wheels.

I found out that that basic version had steel wheels.

When the tyres were worn out after 35,000 miles I purchased used steel wheels and fitted the appropriate sized tyres which were lower cost.

Then I contacted the insurance to clear this mod with them and that's where I had a problem. Once they heard that I had modified the car they asked how much I had spent. It was around £400 what with 4 new tyres and 4 steel rims. Not good they said, you have increased the value of your car by £400 then. Rubbish, I claimed I had reduced the value by removing fancy alloys. Stalemate. They then asked me to set out the changes so that they could submit it to the underwriters.

After a month or so they came back saying that they would accept a note on the policy to allow the steel wheels mod with no increase in premium.

I had the car running like that up to 225.000 miles when it went for recycling.

ScaniaPBman.