16' rims on Energi Titanium

[catalinu]

My canadian Energi Titanium comes with 225/50/R17. Can I put a 16' rim on it? for example:

http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/WheelCloseUpServlet?&autoModel=Fusion&wheelFinish=Silver+Painted&wheelFinish=Silver+Painted&showRear=no&autoMake=Ford&autoYear=2014&wheelMake=Sport+Edition&initialPartNumber=CS1775425108S&i1_Qty=4&autoModClar=Energi&target=runWheelSearch&wheelModel=CS1

 

with this tires:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?&autoModel=Fusion&tireMake=Firestone&autoMake=Ford&autoYear=2014&partnum=255SR7FWF&vehicleSearch=true&i1_Qty=4&i1_Qty=4&autoModClar=Energi&tireModel=Winterforce

TireRacks recommends 235/50R17 (don't know why they are not the same size as my originals, but 235 instead of 225...), but they have no studdable tires for that size, so I wanted to switch to 16'.

 

Thanks

[meyersnole]

So, this is a new question (smaller rims). There is a long discussion here: http://www.fordfusionenergiforum.com/topic/568-upgrading-to-larger-wheeltires/

 

You can use a tire size calculator to compute this yourself, but you are probably better off going to a tire dealer to discuss.  https://www.1010tires.com/Tools/Tire-Size-Calculator

Edited December 2, 2013 at 12:01 AM by meyersnole

[catalinu]

Yes, everybody wants bigger rims? But what if smaller? The dealer said to me that Energi has special rims, and that noname will not work. Probably he wanted to say that the performance will not be the same. I will try them to see.

[meyersnole]

Yes, everybody wants bigger rims? But what if smaller? The dealer said to me that Energi has special rims, and that noname will not work. Probably he wanted to say that the performance will not be the same. I will try them to see.

 

They are special.

 

They are light weight and have a lot of surface area for efficiency. There are also special tires, low rolling resistance tires on the rims. 

 

Depends on what you mean by will not work... there are 2 concerns.

 

1) Efficiency. What kind of change will the tire have on the cars energy consumption. This is a choice of trade offs. Just remember if you are doing it to save a few dollars on a tire, but lose it gas mileage it may not be the right trade off. If you are doing it because you can not get the type of tire you want for some dynamics, it may be worth it.

 

2) Safety and dynamics. And this is most important. The cars brakes, suspension, etc are set up around these tires. Remember that the car is processing about 2 Gig of data every minute. If you change the size of the wheel, it may be a little more important then just your speedometer being off by a mile or two. ABS brake failure is the most often cited concern. There can be stability control concerns as well. If you have self park feature... etc.

 

If you can find a rim that is designed for the car (at the volumes that this car is produced, I do not expect any custom parts for the energi) or you have a mechanic that you trust you can seek advice from them on how to downsize the rim. In the end, it is recommended that you stay with in 3% of size of the original.

[jeff_h]

Here is a picture of a no-name rim that "will not work" (according to that dealer?), shown on my SE hybrid but the 17" wheels are the same as the Energi  This is a full-size spare that I bought from tirerack (plain steel rim was I think $75, this one was $79 closeout - and the OEM tire was I think $99 and they mounted for free before shipping to me) and we don't use it regularly, only when needed to be a spare while we get tire punctures fixed (happened twice in September, both times on her blue Energi). Since this is a spare for 8 wheels (between our two cars) it was worth it to me to shell out the money to have it on hand.  But meyersnole is right above in that the OEM wheels are probably lighter weight and the tires LRR, but otherwise of the bolt patterns match then it will work (worked fine twice on our Energi with 17" wheels). 

 

This spare does not have a TPMS in it, so when it's on there the indicator is lit on the dash, but since it's not intended to be used for more than 1-2 days at a time I didn't care.  We also only keep this at home (which is where I tend to find the nails/screws/bolts in the tires) and have never attempted to store it in the trunk (space pretty limited as is).

 

Edited December 4, 2013 at 02:08 AM by jeff_h

[meyersnole]

Jeff -- I think we are saying the same thing. You mention these are 17s, so if you put the equivalent sized tire on there then you have no variance in the size of the tire. So the only thing you are messing with is the weight... and efficiency (and maybe aerodynamics).  Yours might even be lighter.

 

Changing size, in my opinion, you need to be a lot more careful. Having said that, if you are only going up or down one inch you should be able to make up the difference in the sidewall of the tire. Just have to pick the right one.

 

Oh, and on the dealer comment catalinu. Did you talk to a salesman or mechanic? It annoys me how much stuff salesmen just make up. I had one trying to tell me that larger wheels improved gas mileage. Did not even try and discuss that with him... just nodded and moved on. 

Edited December 4, 2013 at 05:04 AM by meyersnole

[jeff_h]

Oh, and on the dealer comment catalinu. Did you talk to a salesman or mechanic? It annoys me how much stuff salesmen just make up.

 

Agreed on the above.

 

Another thing to note is that when using an offsize spare like that, personally I would make 2 tire changes if the need arose and make sure there were good full-size wheels on the front wheels and use the smaller temp spare only on the rear -- don't know if that's been mentioned and don't know if it makes that much of a difference, but would be my preference anyway.

[Nherring]

After speaking with TireRack and my Ford dealer, I went ahead and bought 16" steel rims with Michelin IS3 snow tires. Had them shipped mounted and when I attempted install them on the car it was immediately clear that the wheel diameter was too small. The garage was able to find 17" tires and later that day they mounted and installed them on my OEM wheels. I'll buy new wheels in the spring.

 

Neither the Ford dealer nor TireRack had a clue. I ended up paying list for the tires ($400 more than Tirerack's price) and covering the shipping costs both ways because TireRack wouldn't admit their error.

 

Happy holidays, everyone.

[Russael]

Ouch.

 

The OEM rims, if you wanted to buy a second set to permanently mount your snow tires, are either 500 or 525 each.  Fordparts showed 2 different 17" styled wheels but it didn't specify much, aside from Style A and Style B.  Still, if you can find a set of rims that fit the OEM tire, they SHOULD work assuming the bolt patterns line up.

 

I've personally never bought snow tires and just stay with the all season.  The city here is pretty good about keeping the main roads plowed.  Side streets are a different story.  Still, I live in MI and not North Dakota, so my situation is significantly different. :)

[JayM]

The 16” rims DO NOT clear the front calipers at least on my 2017 Titanium Energi. (Found out the hard way last winter) when I tried 16 inch 2016 Escape aluminum rims. I got excited because they had the TPMS sensors.

Ok at rear but won’t go on fronts.

Hope this helps.

[JayM]

By the way the rims are 5x108x17 I installed 215 55R17 snows, same load rating, same diameter

speedo dead on, just a little better bite on snow.

[jsamp]

Welcome, Jay.

 

I hope you realize you are responding to a thread that is almost 6 years old... most of these people are not on this site any more.