ZTW Tires (Options?)

[Grug]

Got a few questions for all you folks. First, is there any way I can go to a different tire size on my 2003 ZTW? It has those 16 inch 205 tires and they are sooooooo expensive!

For the coming winter, can I go to a 15 inch 'winter rim'? Someone told me that I may not be able to do it as the ZTW calipers might be bigger than the SE calipers. If I could go to a 15 inch rim, I'm sure the snow tires would be a lot cheaper (but this is only for the winter months, of course).

Finally, I had two new tires put on the back of the ZTW about 6 months ago (BF Goodrich; the 16 inch 205 mega expensive guys). 12 thousand km later and the tire on the driver's side looks like the day it was installed. However, the tire on the passenger's side is bald in the middle of the tire. I checked the inflation and they're BOTH at around 35 psi.

Any thoughts?

[focusyn]

You will have to go down to a 15 inch rim if you want smaller (cheaper) tires. The 205/50/16 tires on the Focus are not easy to find and as you found out, not cheap when you do.


I bought a set (4) of the stock 15 inch alloy wheels ( my ZX3 had the 16 in wheels too) off of Ebay for about $250 including shipping. I mounted snow tires to those wheels and used them for about 2 seasons. The snows still have a season left in them and they are good tires. I live in Pittsburgh, PA if you are interested in the wheels with tires for $350, as I traded in my Focus yesterday and don't need them anymore.

205/55/16 will not look right and might have an issue of rubbing. If you do find other 15 inch wheels, use 195/60/15 as a tire size.

Myself, I mounted summer-only tires ( not all-season) to the 16 inch wheels and used them during the warm months. When you get down to it, the price was nearly the same as buying really good all-season tires. But the Z-speed rating and higher grip and response of the summer tires really made the Focus MORE fun in the corners.

Contact me at [email protected] if you (or anyone else here) are interested in my old 15 inch wheels with snow tires. I will e-mail pics if you wish. I'd rather not ship them, so if you live in Pittsburgh or within an hours drive, perhaps we could work something out.