For My New Energi, 2013, to purchase tire and shock Qs

[QDP]

Love this car, love it, but hate the way the rear Lith/Ion batts load up the rear suspension. I'm thinking they left the stock parts of the Hybrid there, saving money.  Seems squishy soft, bottoms out in road dips. A bit swervvy in hard fast cornering (on off ramp frwy) Thinking a replacement set of new gas KYBs, or Konis in the rear might do the trick? Or replace w/stiffer springs/struts?

 

Second question: Best tires for the 18", five spoke rims ? :  

1. Best (lowest) rolling resistance,

2. lightest weight (sprung) and

3. best value, performance, noise, grip, handling.

 

I'm thinking a +2 wider, lower ratio tire may add cornering ability and more stiffness, def. lower rolling resistance, even with wider tread/track - better mpg! Michs, Goodyear, Kumho, Sumitomo ?  Do 245/45/18s fit without mods, clearance, or does circumference change affect the mechs of the Energi? 

 

Does anyone have experience with this upgrade?  Thanks, Q

[Rexracer]

I have only had my Energi for a couple of days, so no real cornering loads to really experience what your talking about, but I understand the concern. So you know where I am coming from, I currently race road cars in endurance races (up to 24 hours) on tracks like Portland International Raceway, Virginia International Raceway, Laguna Seca (Mazda Raceway), etc.

Just changing Gas shocks/struts are not really going to achieve what you want, you need to go to a matching stiffer spring. I saw that Steeda offers a lowering kit, which would also stiffen up the springs. http://www.steedafusion.com/parts/steeda-ford-fusion-lowering-springs-555-8306/ I would ask them if the stock strust/shocks would be enough dampening to work with the rebound on these springs. Of course this means lowing the car 7/8", maybe that’s not possible for you.

For tires, I really think you don’t want to go wider. With a decent tire you don’t really need the width, and adding width really mess's with the suspension geometry of a car. Also if you did go wider, you have a hard time going lower, as the tires would contact the fender lips.

A fantastic all around tire, that not only allows good traction in dry and wet is the Continental DWS, its ultra-high performance rated, but still has a 540 UTQS rating, meaning it will last a decent while. Most UHP tires are 300 or less.http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Continental&tireModel=ExtremeContact+DWS&partnum=345YR8ECDWSXL&vehicleSearch=true&fromCompare1=yes&autoMake=Ford&autoYear=2013&autoModel=Fusion&autoModClar=Energi

These tires handle really well in all conditions (including being snow rated) as well as being very quiet, all while having a 70k mile tread warranty.

This is NOT an ECO tire, so if that’s what you want, in the 18" size, the Continental PureContact with EcoPlus would be the way to go. http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Continental&tireModel=PureContact+with+EcoPlus+Technology&partnum=345VR8PUREC&vehicleSearch=true&fromCompare1=yes&autoMake=Ford&autoYear=2013&autoModel=Fusion&autoModClar=Energi

Its all a trade off of handling performance vs Eco Performance. Just to put numbers out there though, I would say the DWS would be able to "handle" 30% more then the Eco tire, and the Eco tire would offer 1-3% more fuel performance. These are not base don anything other then me just guessing, just saying that there is a huge handling performance difference in tires and a small fuel economy difference.

Back to the first point, just changing gas struts are not going to solely cure your issues, without matching stiffer springs with higher rebound forces. A cheap quick check to see how much stiffer you need the car would be to buy some spring spacers, and "lock out" a few coils in the back. You effectively make the springs act as if they have less active coils, thus resulting in a stiffer spring. Lock out 20% of the coils, the spring is effectively 20% stiffer.

[meyersnole]

A fantastic all around tire, that not only allows good traction in dry and wet is the Continental DWS, its ultra-high performance rated, but still has a 540 UTQS rating, meaning it will last a decent while. Most UHP tires are 300 or less.http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Continental&tireModel=ExtremeContact+DWS&partnum=345YR8ECDWSXL&vehicleSearch=true&fromCompare1=yes&autoMake=Ford&autoYear=2013&autoModel=Fusion&autoModClar=Energi

 

Lot of great information Rexracer. Maybe I just got a bad set of tires, but I tried the Continental's on my Acura because the got such good reviews, replacing a set of Michelin Pilot A/S and was very disappointed. Yes they lasted longer, but for some reason became very noisy. And yes, I rotated them every 5-6K miles.

 

Also felt more comfortable pushing my car in the Pilots then I did the DWS, but the Pilots did wear much faster so I guess that is the trade off. I really do not drive this way anymore, as mentioned by QDP this car just is not designed for screaming around a corner. Not sure what you can do with the suspension / tires that is going to make up for an 800 lb battery sitting right over the rear wheels.

 

Not super knowledgeable on the tires, but I think it would be a tall task to go from a 17" low rolling resistance tire to a 18" with a wider stance (more contact surface) and improve efficiency. 

[Rexracer]

The Pilot A/S is a great tire, so not surprised you liked them, but you experienced the point, they will wear much faster. Also they start off more expensive. I ran the Continental DWS on an Acura TL and they were extremely quite, neighbor runs the same tire on his Mazda 3 with the same results. And you would feel more comfortable pushing the A/S vs the DWS, its a sportier tire.

 

At the end of the day, your spot on, 800lbs of battery is going to be hard to tame, best to just live with the comfort and mileage, and if you want sporty fun buy a used Miata. ;-)