Winter Tire and Wheel Recommendations | Page 7 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

  • Register Today It's free!

Winter Tire and Wheel Recommendations

Eh, I get a narrower tire is better for snow but 10mm isn't a huge difference. Especially on something as heavy and powerful as the new explorers. A 255 should be fine
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





Wait, wouldn't a wider tire help with more traction? I mean if you think about tracks, they work by spreading the weight over more surface area for better traction. Wouldn't it be the same for the tires? I would think the only thing would be that it provides more drag on regular streets.
 






No, a wider tire will sit on top of the snow. A narrower tire will break through and find traction on the asphault underneath.

The only time a fat tire helps in snow is when the snow is so deep you can't/don't wanna sink down in it. Same goes for offroading
 






Wait, wouldn't a wider tire help with more traction? I mean if you think about tracks, they work by spreading the weight over more surface area for better traction. Wouldn't it be the same for the tires? I would think the only thing would be that it provides more drag on regular streets.
Check this out;

http://tires.about.com/od/understanding_tires/a/Why-You-Should-Downsize-Your-Winter-Wheels.htm

http://www.ehow.com/facts_7562894_wider-tire-better-worse-snow.html

Peter
 






Winter tires

From what I've read on here so far there are some people who have went from the 20 inch stock down to 17 inch or 18 inch winter tires on their explorer sports. I also read on here that the 20 inch tires have larger brakes thus not allowing for smaller tire size. Can anyone clear up the confusion. What would the recommended tire size be when looking at winter tires for the sport? Do you have to get tire pressure monitors for the new tires or do the sensors stay with the vehicle when swapping rims and tires? Thanks

Pete
 






From what I've read on here so far there are some people who have went from the 20 inch stock down to 17 inch or 18 inch winter tires on their explorer sports. I also read on here that the 20 inch tires have larger brakes thus not allowing for smaller tire size. Can anyone clear up the confusion. What would the recommended tire size be when looking at winter tires for the sport? Do you have to get tire pressure monitors for the new tires or do the sensors stay with the vehicle when swapping rims and tires? Thanks

Pete
The TMPS sensors are part of the valves on the wheels so the sensors are in a sense part of the wheel. It is not required to install TPMS sensors in 'after market' wheels but you will likely have the warning light on if you don't. 17" wheels will not fit the Sport but I believe you can get away with using 18" wheels. Only the Sport has larger brakes, all the other models have the same size.

Peter

NOTE: I HAVE MOVED YOUR POST TO THIS EXISTING THREAD.
 






I have a Sport coming in 2 wks and have already done my winter tire package research and ready to make a purchase.

1. Only the sports have the bigger brakes.
2. 18" wheels will just fit on the Sport over top the bigger brakes.
3. 17" wheels will fit on the other trims,
4. Apples to Apples 18" tires are way cheaper than 20" tires. I believe tire rack has the Michillin X-ICE Latitude Tours (Which I always buy for all my vehicles, great tires) 18"/65 profile around $190, 20"/50 profile almost $300 ea. Big difference.
5. The Sport & Limited OEM tires are 255/50/20, Wheels are 8" wide, 5x114.3 stud pattern, 44mm offset, 70.5 bore.

Snow tire equivalent for the 20" OEM's is:
255/65/18 3% larger circumference...seems to be the cheapest and most popular.
245/65/18 1.7% larger circumference and a little thinner to fit on perhaps a 7 or 7.5" wide wheel.
245/60/18 1.5% smaller circumference.

The Costco winter steel wheels for the Ford Explorer 2011-14.
18" Hub Centric Part#X48367...trust me, get Hub Centric wheels
18" Multifit Part# X48827

Personally I'm going with the 255/65/18 and buying a cheap set of 18" aftermarket sport wheels rather than those crappy steel wheels. Although, the steel wheels are much more durable if you should slide into a curb and such. I just couldn't bare to run those ugly steel wheels on a Sport :)

If I've missed anything or anyone else has some good info on Winters, please post.
 






I thought I read that the Sport had larger brakes at the beginning and then Ford changed it and put the Sport brakes on all models. Am I imagining that?
 






255/60/18

I have a Sport coming in 2 wks and have already done my winter tire package research and ready to make a purchase.

1. Only the sports have the bigger brakes.
2. 18" wheels will just fit on the Sport over top the bigger brakes.
3. 17" wheels will fit on the other trims,
4. Apples to Apples 18" tires are way cheaper than 20" tires. I believe tire rack has the Michillin X-ICE Latitude Tours (Which I always buy for all my vehicles, great tires) 18"/65 profile around $190, 20"/50 profile almost $300 ea. Big difference.
5. The Sport & Limited OEM tires are 255/50/20, Wheels are 8" wide, 5x114.3 stud pattern, 44mm offset, 70.5 bore.

Snow tire equivalent for the 20" OEM's is:
255/65/18 3% larger circumference...seems to be the cheapest and most popular.
245/65/18 1.7% larger circumference and a little thinner to fit on perhaps a 7 or 7.5" wide wheel.
245/60/18 1.5% smaller circumference.

The Costco winter steel wheels for the Ford Explorer 2011-14.
18" Hub Centric Part#X48367...trust me, get Hub Centric wheels
18" Multifit Part# X48827

Personally I'm going with the 255/65/18 and buying a cheap set of 18" aftermarket sport wheels rather than those crappy steel wheels. Although, the steel wheels are much more durable if you should slide into a curb and such. I just couldn't bare to run those ugly steel wheels on a Sport

If I've missed anything or anyone else has some good info on Winters, please post.

Regarding tire sizes when going to 18inch down from the stock 20 inch if i understand correctly the goal is to match the original circumference when down sizing or up sizing. When i compare the size 255/60/18s to the original 20s it comes out to being the same circumference. I used the following site.....

http://tires.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=tires&cdn=autos&tm=16&f=00&su=p284.13.342.ip_&tt=2&bt=6&bts=43&zu=http%3A//www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

Do you think that this tire size would work on the sport? Are there other factors that i need to consider besides just the circumference? Thanks

Pete
 






You want to match the overall circumference as much as possible but being out 3% over or under is not going to make a difference.
The 255/60/18 might be the perfect equivalent but not all tire manufacturers make every single model in every size combination. I believe when I was looking for Michelin X-ice Latitude Tour they didn't have a 255/60 but did have the 255/65 in the 18".
The 255/65/18 will put me over 3% but I will also save me 3% on the odometer mileage during winter months.
 






Regarding tire sizes when going to 18inch down from the stock 20 inch if i understand correctly the goal is to match the original circumference when down sizing or up sizing. When i compare the size 255/60/18s to the original 20s it comes out to being the same circumference. I used the following site.....

http://tires.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=tires&cdn=autos&tm=16&f=00&su=p284.13.342.ip_&tt=2&bt=6&bts=43&zu=http%3A//www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

Do you think that this tire size would work on the sport? Are there other factors that i need to consider besides just the circumference? Thanks

Pete


I have a 2014 explorer with 20 inch wheels...im getting 255/50/20 winter tires -

either

Yokohama IG51V 240$/tire + taxes and free shipping
or
Toyo OBSERVE GSI-5 $270/tire + taxes and free shipping

Note, i live in Quebec -

Im not sure which of the 2 above to pick - do you guys have a preference?
 






I have a 2014 explorer with 20 inch wheels...im getting 255/50/20 winter tires -

either

Yokohama IG51V 240$/tire + taxes and free shipping
or
Toyo OBSERVE GSI-5 $270/tire + taxes and free shipping

Note, i live in Quebec -

Im not sure which of the 2 above to pick - do you guys have a preference?
Are you mounting the Winter tires on the same OEM wheels or are you buying another set? If using the same wheels (rims) that came with the XLT, you have to be very careful that they don't damage the TPMS sensors that on them.
I have a 2011 Limited with OEM 20" wheels and bought a set of the Base model 17" wheels. I bought the 245/65R17 BFG Winter Slaloms tires from the dealer for $169.45 each.
1010tires.com has the Toyo Observe with a customer rating of 4.58 out of 5.
They don't list the Yokohama as it seems to be a new tire available only in the U.S. Tire Rack also does not list it. I would guess that you likely can go with either.
If buying another set of wheels, I would suggest going with the 18".

Peter
 






Are you mounting the Winter tires on the same OEM wheels or are you buying another set? If using the same wheels (rims) that came with the XLT, you have to be very careful that they don't damage the TPMS sensors that on them.
I have a 2011 Limited with OEM 20" wheels and bought a set of the Base model 17" wheels. I bought the 245/65R17 BFG Winter Slaloms tires from the dealer for $169.45 each.
1010tires.com has the Toyo Observe with a customer rating of 4.58 out of 5.
They don't list the Yokohama as it seems to be a new tire available only in the U.S. Tire Rack also does not list it. I would guess that you likely can go with either.
If buying another set of wheels, I would suggest going with the 18".

Peter

Thanks Pete...

I am mounting winter tires on my 20 inch rims that come with the car...so i looked around and the best (Non Chinese engineered) priced winter tires are the Yokohama IG51V 240$ and Toyo OBSERVE GSI-5 270$ for 255/50/20 - they are available in Quebec - all other winter tires for that size appear to be between 300 - 400$ and up per tire...

I cant seem to find many reviews on the Yokohama IG51V because they are fairly new...

I just wanted to know which of the 2 tires handles better on dry pavement...

Yokohama IG51V 240$ or Toyo OBSERVE GSI-5 270$

these are the 2 best priced winter tires i could find for size: 255/50/20 here in quebec...from local dealers

Thanks
 






I picked up a set of 17" OEM Steel Rims - BB5Z-1015-A (since the Costco 17" ones are universal - only the 18" are hubcentric and $72) from my local dealer for $84.95 each since I wanted hubcentric rims.

Now before I left the parts person told me "We've heard the 17" rims might not fit where your vehicle came with 20" rims" - When I asked why that'd be an issue since I have an XLT with the 20" option and that should be the same brake rotors as the base or the limited - she said "well, just check because they may not fit".

So everything I read ahead of time and here seems to state that they will fit, but I'm still going to dry fit them at home before taking them into Costco to get some tires installed.

Costco has 2 options in 17" @ $199 / tire

Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V1
Michelin Latitude X-Ice 2

The Bridgestone are $70/off for a set of 4 till October 2nd, and then starting October 15th the Michelins are $70/off.

And I picked up a set of unused TPMS sensors off Kijiji for $70 for all 4 - so that's great! Dealer was selling them for $50/each which isn't that bad.
 






I have a Sport coming in 2 wks and have already done my winter tire package research and ready to make a purchase.

1. Only the sports have the bigger brakes.
2. 18" wheels will just fit on the Sport over top the bigger brakes.
3. 17" wheels will fit on the other trims,
4. Apples to Apples 18" tires are way cheaper than 20" tires. I believe tire rack has the Michillin X-ICE Latitude Tours (Which I always buy for all my vehicles, great tires) 18"/65 profile around $190, 20"/50 profile almost $300 ea. Big difference.
5. The Sport & Limited OEM tires are 255/50/20, Wheels are 8" wide, 5x114.3 stud pattern, 44mm offset, 70.5 bore.

Snow tire equivalent for the 20" OEM's is:
255/65/18 3% larger circumference...seems to be the cheapest and most popular.
245/65/18 1.7% larger circumference and a little thinner to fit on perhaps a 7 or 7.5" wide wheel.
245/60/18 1.5% smaller circumference.

The Costco winter steel wheels for the Ford Explorer 2011-14.
18" Hub Centric Part#X48367...trust me, get Hub Centric wheels
18" Multifit Part# X48827

Personally I'm going with the 255/65/18 and buying a cheap set of 18" aftermarket sport wheels rather than those crappy steel wheels. Although, the steel wheels are much more durable if you should slide into a curb and such. I just couldn't bare to run those ugly steel wheels on a Sport :)

If I've missed anything or anyone else has some good info on Winters, please post.

I believe the OEM 20" wheels are 8.5J and the 20" Sport wheel are 9J, OEM 18" wheels are 8J and the 17" steel rims are 7.5J.

For anyone looking for winter tyres to mount on their OEM 20" wheels (8.5" or 9" wide) consider the increased risk of rim damage when fitting narrower tyres, especially if you think you might be slipping into curbs or snow/ice debris.
 






Here's the OEM 17" rim on an XLT - fits fine as expected

ueOyNOs.jpg


YFgjoEZ.jpg


EOrQ8gm.jpg
 






Here's the OEM 17" rim on an XLT - fits fine as expected

ueOyNOs.jpg
See my post #5 if you plan on using the Base OEM wheel covers. I would assume that info would apply to the XLT as well.

Peter
 






See my post #5 if you plan on using the Base OEM wheel covers. I would assume that info would apply to the XLT as well.

Peter

That is a good point to re-hash, although I'll just be going with the au-naturale winter look, anyone looking to use covers will need different lug nuts.

I don't really feel like adding another $200-300 to my winter costs by getting wheel covers. :) If I wanted the look I'd have gotten some alloy wheels from TireRack.
 









Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





Thanks for the photos. 99% sure they won't fit over the larger Sport brakes.

I would tend to agree, I think you're into the 18" rims for the Sport. Costco does have hubcentric ones as previously mentioned in 18" for $71.99
 






Back
Top