Fiesta ST Winter Tires, Lets hear what you think

[Walterr]

Your mechanic is just trying to scare you or didn't really want to answer the question. What matters more is what tire is put on that rim. I believe there are people here that use 15's and track their car. I doubt if they wanted their handling to be "sloppy"

I think it was more of a didn't really want to answer thing or a "safe answer."

 

[M-Sport fan]

Your mechanic is just trying to scare you or didn't really want to answer the question. What matters more is what tire is put on that rim. I believe there are people here that use 15's and track their car. I doubt if they wanted their handling to be "sloppy"

Most of those tracking their cars on 15s are not using any higher profile than a 50 (usually a 225/45, or 205/50), mounted on an 8" wide wheel, so that's a reason why their handling/turn-in is not 'sloppy'.

 

[Deanorep]

Any reason why these wouldn't work? http://www.ebay.com/itm/15X6-Pacer-...ash=item4aec06aafd:g:MY4AAOSwLF1X~11U&vxp=mtr

 

[ridinVINTAGE]

Any reason why these wouldn't work? http://www.ebay.com/itm/15X6-Pacer-...ash=item4aec06aafd:g:MY4AAOSwLF1X~11U&vxp=mtr

They're not hub centric.


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[Beans]

Your mechanic is just trying to scare you or didn't really want to answer the question. What matters more is what tire is put on that rim. I believe there are people here that use 15's and track their car. I doubt if they wanted their handling to be "sloppy"

It more Or less boils down to tire choice. A soft sidewalled tire like a winter tire or all season softens up the ride and does make it a bit more pillowy. A track focused tire might have the same impact, to much less effect. Personally, I love what the 16's did to ride quality and will be putting some sticky summer tires on these wheels after winter.

 

[BobMaxed]

They're not hub centric.


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Don't matter. The tapered lug nuts actually center the wheel. That's the way most steel wheels work. And we've been using steel wheels for a long time. Plus this is about snow tires not hi-performance track tires.

 

[MikesFiST]

would putting blizzaks on stock rim be reasonably functional in snow/ice?

 

[ridinVINTAGE]

would putting blizzaks on stock rim be reasonably functional in snow/ice?

Definitely better than Summers or All Seasons.


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[M-Sport fan]

Definitely better than Summers or All Seasons.

Absolutely, but, the short, stiff, 'rubber band' sidewalls do NOT help the tread be flexible enough to clear snow out of the tread when needed, are way too 'responsive' to [perform well on ice at all, and a narrower width is better for winter use (IF you are speaking of the OEM/factory size, 205/40-17 Blizzaks).

 

[BRGT350]

Don't matter. The tapered lug nuts actually center the wheel. That's the way most steel wheels work. And we've been using steel wheels for a long time. Plus this is about snow tires not hi-performance track tires.

hub centric is also about load path, not just centering. The wheel load is transferred to the hub with hub centric and the lug nuts provide clamp load. With non-hub centric wheels, the loads are put thru the studs along with clamp load. Would I be concerned about this for the winter, not really.

 

[ridinVINTAGE]

Absolutely, but, the short, stiff, 'rubber band' sidewalls do NOT help the tread be flexible enough to clear snow out of the tread when needed, are way too 'responsive' to [perform well on ice at all, and a narrower width is better for winter use (IF you are speaking of the OEM/factory size, 205/40-17 Blizzaks).

I was speaking to his question on the stock wheel, they would outperform a summer or all season in that size. I myself run a 15x6 for winter. I don't mean to ruffle any feathers.


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[BRGT350]

would putting blizzaks on stock rim be reasonably functional in snow/ice?

better than summer tires? Yes! better than all-seasons? Yes! Better than a smaller diameter wheel with skinnier tire? Not so much. I actually ran a 17" Blizzak on stock wheels during the Fiesta Movement and the car didn't have nearly as much traction as my 2011 Fiesta had on 14" wheels with 165 tires. The reason is the contact patch spreads the weight over too much of an area with a wide snow tire. You want a skinny snow tire to concentrate the load for better traction. You get more "bite" out of a skinny tire. With a 17" wheel and low profile winter tire, it only takes a small amount of snow on the ground before you start to pack the inside of the wheel with snow. You get terrible vibration from the snow pack inside the wheels. With a smaller diameter wheel, it takes more snow depth to fill the wheel. You also don't have as much room for the snow to pack up. If you go out and look at WRC cars in snow trim (except for Monte Carlo), they run the smallest wheel and skinniest tire possible.

 

[M-Sport fan]

^^^IF it were an ALL snow/ice stage (like the Col de Turini is sometimes) they would absolutely run a narrow, smaller diameter snow type setup on the Monte, but this rarely happens, and it is usually mixed conditions on most stages.

 

[M-Sport fan]

I was speaking to his question on the stock wheel, they would outperform a summer or all season in that size. I myself run a 15x6 for winter. I don't mean to ruffle any feathers.

No feathers mussed, as I was just reminding MikesFiST that low profile/wide widths do not a winter tire make, that's all.

OF COURSE they would still be MUCH better than an all season, or worse yet, pure summer tire for winter use.

 

[jimdrives]

I just received my set from tirerack and having it installed today. I was going to go with the Altimax in 185/60-15 on 15x6 steelies, but the rack couldn't get those to me in time (driving up to Lake Placid tomorrow, and they've already got 2+ ft of snow up there). So, I went with Blizzaks, but in 195/50-16 on 6.5" wide steelies. Reading through the posts here, I now see that most people with 16" run the 55 series profile, but the size I ordered is what was recommended on the rack's site (even though it's a bigger deviation in diameter from the stock set-up, at -.5" vs +.1" for the 55s). Oh well, will have to live with that. I guess the speedo will read faster now, than I'm actually moving? I wonder by how much?

For what it's worth, I've had both the Altimax and the Blizzaks in the past, and preferred the latter. The Altimax felt "greasy" on cold dry roads, and less than confidence-inspiring even at moderately quick pace, but was willing to put up with that given that they would have been $150 cheaper...

 

[Fistfan]

Nice!

I just ordered my set from Tirerack yesterday. Lol.
I went with 15" steelies with Michelin x ice 195/55-15 tires.
I'm excited to see how they perform!

 

[pinchvalve]

I ran Blizzak tires on Ford Focus SES wheels last year and was really impressed. The first true set of Winter Tires I have ever used, they really made a difference in the white stuff. More importantly, there was no real penalty when the streets were dry. They don't perform like a summer tire, but they are not bad in daily use. I have a short commute, but I never noticed excess noise or vibration.

I got the complete set off Craigslist from a guy sold this Focus and was selling the winter setup separately. $400 for like-new tires and wheels that were a bit scuffed, but perfect for winter beating. I added some Plasti-Dip for the proper rally look.

The white turned grey pretty quickly, so I took it off this year which was IMPOSSIBLE. What a pain, never doing that again! After this winter, they are getting sandblasted and professionally refinished.

 

[DoucheBagGold]

Anyone have any experience with Pirelli Sottozero, I just ordered them to put on some 16s for the winter.

 

[richtor]

205/40 R17 PZero Nero)

The Joy of NorCal winters...

 

[alphanumeric]

I have 205/40/17 Blizzaks on stock wheels. I hate them so much. I was wondering what people inflate their tires to? Mine feel loose and terrible like they're made of Jell-O. They slide all over the place and constantly cause throttle closure due to traction loss.
In their defense the roads froze the first week of November and now they've come back up to nearly 50F so it's definitely not what they're made for. One positive is the hydroplane resistance is about ~100-200x better than stock tires which is great for fall and early spring here as it rains nearly every day.
I just can't wait until spring to put lightweight wheels and sticky summer tires back on. I feel like my car died with these tires.