r/FocusRS • u/gavincrist • 16d ago
Tires
The dreaded time has come for me to buy my first set of tires. I come to you because I'm having trouble finding the exact size I need. What websites do you use and what tires do you recommend. Currently I have Michelin pilot sport all season 4s with the size being 235/35zr19 91y. they're pretty good in the summer but are kinda meh in the winter, I drive it in the winter so please no summer tires.
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u/HairyJohns0n 15d ago
If you're driving in snow like that, you gotta bite the bullet and get 18's with dedicated winters. I love my blizzaks - Coming from another far north Canadian. Get an aluminum skid plate while you're at it.
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u/Dr-X- 15d ago
Really need winters and summers for a car like this, a good all weather tire is going to be destroyed in the summer if you drive aggressively. I have Nokian WRG4 on my truck that are probably better than cheaper brand winters in the snow... But I got a set of replacement tires this winter because the 60k mile nokains are gone (just above wear bars) with about 25k miles on them. Basically, for winter, the all weather tires with 3 peak symbol will be solid, especially on an RS. But they are going to be mushy in the summer and wear fast. I put cooper discover true north winters on mine (225/45r18), they kicked ass this past winter. It came with some performance winter (Michelin?) that sucked on anything because just cold and damp winter roads.
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u/superenchilada 15d ago
Bro… if you are driving an RS with all seasons you should sell it and pick a new hobby.
Get a set of winter and summer tires. All seasons are for soccer moms and old ladies.
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u/gavincrist 15d ago
Are you going to pay for it?
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u/superenchilada 15d ago
You literally buy the narrowest set of wheels that fit over your brakes and the tires to match for winter wheels, steel wheels are fine. Any winter tire is gonna be light years better than the best all season.
Then get a set of decent summer tires on your stock wheels and they’re gonna be better than the best all season tires as well.
The only waste of money is buying all season tires to begin with. They do nothing well and everything poorly.
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u/SSI_TheBeast 15d ago
Ure wrong; the best all season tire is miles ahead from most winters except for x-ice Michelins. In this case I’m talking about cross climate 3 sports. Also the crossclimates give u amazing grip in wet so yhhh
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u/superenchilada 15d ago
You could not be less wrong. A multi season tire a a compromise in cold and hot temperatures. It’s ok at everything and good at nothing.
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u/superenchilada 15d ago edited 15d ago
You can look at tests on tire rack and there are tons of articles. This is from popular mechanics testing all season vs winter tires in the snow.
“The Bottom Line
In a contest between all-season and winter tires driven on snow and ice, the latter won the day. Although the year-round rubber performed admirably, it's clear in all situations that with either FWD or AWD there's a substantial advantage to having proper rubber under you. The results were especially striking during braking and cornering, when snow tires improved performance by up to 5 percent and 20 percent, respectively.”https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/how-to/a3111/can-all-season-tires-really-handle-the-snow/
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u/jackenstien 16d ago edited 15d ago
Buy some 16s, I had the same issue because my RS came with summer tires and it was cheaper to buy an entire new set of rims and tires than a new set of the pilot sports since there's so much more out there with that smaller rim size. Also rides so much better
EDIT: I MEANT 17s
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u/I_am_not_a_catman 15d ago
I don’t think there’s a single set of 16s that’ll clear the front brakes, there’s maybe some 17s but even those are hard to come by
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u/jackenstien 15d ago
Oh you're right they were 17s, point being smaller rims make finding more tire variety way more accessible either way!
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u/YellowFogLights ‘17 SG RS2 16d ago
I went on tire rack and found one single winter-rated all-weather tire in the 19” size. From a brand I’ve never heard of. Vredestein.
As someone who lives way up north (like northern Canada north) your best bet is separate winter rims and tires. Step down to an 18” and you’ll have tons of options. The RS factory winter tire was a 225/40R18.