My focus active x estate 2023 has 215x50x18 v xl tyres fitted. Can  I replace with normal load tyres rather than XL ?

Yes

No.

 

22 minutes ago, DaveT70 said:

Yes

 

5 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

No.

mmm... bit of a difference in opinion there 🤣

8 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

mmm... bit of a difference in opinion there 🤣

The internet in a nutshell!  

 

Seriously though, the Active Estate is already a heavy car, which is presumably going to be loaded up with more weight (otherwise there's no point buying the estate version), and it has fairly large tyres, and is designed for some gentle off-roading.  I don't think it was fitted with XL tyres by accident at the factory.

If it's only ever used on the road and nothing heavier than a small dog is put in the boot then non-XL tyres may be fine, though I really wouldn't make that choice without careful consideration first.  (There are also potential insurance implications if a crash occurs due to unsuitable tyres.)

The online manual just shows 215/50R18 for the Active and the image of the door pillar label suggests that applies to estate and hatch. What's on the door pillar label of the actual car ?

 

 

TIRE PRESSURES - ACTIVE



The recommended tire inflation pressures are on the tire information label on the driver side B-pillar.

Check all tire pressures when they are cold, at least once every two weeks.

Note:   You may need to remove the spare wheel from the spare wheel well to check the tire pressure.

ATire size. BVehicle model. CFront tire pressure. DRear tire pressure. EVehicle load. FMeasure unit. GSpare wheel tire pressure. HIntended constant vehicle speed. ISpare wheel tire size.

Up to 160 km/h (100 mph)

 

Tire Size	Normal Load		Full Load
	Front	Rear	Front	Rear
	bar (psi)	bar (psi)	bar (psi)	bar (psi)
215/55R17	2.3 (33)	2.3 (33)	2.4 (35)	2.8 (41)
215/50R18	2.3 (33)	2.3 (33)	2.5 (36)	2.8 (41)

 

The BMW forums are like that.

Can I remove the awful run flats and fit normal tyres?

Yes!

No! It will destroy your X-Drive system🙄

2 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

The online manual just shows 215/50R18 for the Active and the image of the door pillar label suggests that applies to estate and hatch. What's on the door pillar label of the actual car ?

Interesting thought.  I've just checked old pictures of mine. 

Pre-facelift Active hatch - tyres same size but not XL, and the door plate doesn't specify XL either. 

Would be good to know if the OP's sticker says any different.

 

Load index 92 is up to 630kg. I've seen mention that XL means it can carry "greater load at higher tyre pressure" but no definite statement of how much greater/higher!

Have you seen anything specific?

I'm inclined to think if the pillar label on the estate is the same as the hatch, non XL would be fine, as it's not actually specified anywhere.

On 10/18/2024 at 9:47 AM, StephenFord said:

 

 

mmm... bit of a difference in opinion there 🤣

Maybe yes or no.

 

Edited October 19, 20241 yr by Nimrodmk8
Added more

Hi John,

The XL tires have a higher load index. For example on my Focus estate I run winter XL tires with a load index of 96 which is 710 kg. But this is 710 kg at max PSI and max speed as far as I have read at least. 

Therefore, do you usually load your estate with 710 kg per wheel, inflate it to max psi and drive around at max tire speed (190 - 200 km/h? - you have to check the speed index to find the max). If you don't do that, then technically you do not need the XLs. However, if the insurance might have a problem with your tire rating, then do go for XLs, even if they are not really justified.

In my case the summer tires are non XLs. Winter are XLs because they were cheaper than the non XLs.

Cheers!

5 hours ago, RaduF86 said:

The XL tires have a higher load index. For example on my Focus estate I run winter XL tires with a load index of 96 which is 710 kg

You would expect so. The key would seem to be what is on the pillar sticker of the OPs car. Tom's hatch was 92, if the OPs estate sticker is 96 then that's the answer. Without knowing what's actually on there, we can only speculate.

Oh, I think there is a safe way to tackle this if you have the CoC (Certificate of Conformity). That is provided by Ford and it specifies multiple tire sizes. If all sizes are with a load index of at least 96, then do not go under it. If there are with 92, then Ford certifies it is ok and you should have no problems at all. However, the CoC specifies that the other tires size might cause deviation from the specified engine emissions (basically more CO2/km).

My CoC specifies tire sizes with load index of 91 and 92 for my Focus wagon (estate).

 

Since this topic is about tyres.

Uniroyal Rain are efficient on hot, cold and sunny conditions?

Hi Bol,

Since they are part of Continental it means they have at least access to Continental Hanover tyre (rubber) research facility knowledge. So the rubber in the tyre should be good if they used the Conti Premium Contact chemistry. I have used Conti Premium Contact and had no problems with them. I have read there were issues with EcoContact (different rubber in those to optimize fuel consumption)

Since they are supposed to be "rain experts" perhaps they optimize their tyre profile for wet driving conditions, which would also mean they use the Premium Conctac rubber rather than the EcoContact.

However, I have never used these tires to provide a "first hand" impression.

Cheers

 

Nicely.

Because i would like to get more information about them.

24 minutes ago, Bol said:

...i would like to get more information about them.

https://www.continental-tyres.co.uk/b2c/car/tyres/premiumcontact-6/

 

Or did he mean these:

https://www.uniroyal-tyres.com/gb/en/

 

Yes but really user's reviews would be better than what the website claims.

1 hour ago, Bol said:

Yes but really user's reviews would be better than what the website claims.

https://www.tyrereviews.com/Tyre/Continental/Premium-Contact-6.htm

And for Uniroyal RainSport5:

https://www.tyrereviews.com/Tyre/Uniroyal/RainSport-5.htm

Based on these results, the tyres are aiming at wet conditions and seem to sacrifice the dry braking and handling because of that. 

2 hours ago, RaduF86 said:

Uniroyal RainSport5

they do some specials which are good for corners 🤣

2 minutes ago, unofix said:

they do some specials which are good for corners 🤣

These are good for rough roads... 😂