Custom Wheels for 2014 ENERGI???

[MinnesotaENERGI]

Hello Fusion Energi Owners!

 

I have recently ordered a 2014 Fusion Energi Titanium using a company discount.   Delivery should be around the middle of July.   

 

Have any of you across the nation switched out the Stock OEM wheels with a custom wheel?   I immediately noticed the the Fusion Energi only offers one option for a wheel.   A 17 X 7.5  5-108 bolt pattern with a 55mm offset.   When looking online at websites like tirerack.com or discount tire.com, I am finding that there are wheels recommended for the car but they require a 235/50R17.    The tire that comes with the Energi is a size 225/50 R17.    I am finding 17" with the same bolt pattern but the "OFFSET" is tough to match....   I cannot find a 55mm.

 

When I asked the dealer about switching out to a size 19" wheel, they discouraged it.    Regular Fusions and Fusion Hybrids come with more options in size, but the dealer told me that the ENERGI is outfitted specifically for optimum MPGe..... Hence only one option.   They replied back to me with the following email:

 

Keep in mind that we also need to find out what is entailed to reprogram the car so that everything syncs with the 19"wheels. When you change wheel size you're actually changing your rear end gear ratio so the speedometer and all the fuel economy calculations will be off. We have an e-mail into Ford thru the engineering department to make sure this can be done. Since there is no factory 19" there may not be a calibration that can be done to make sure all the electronics are accurate. The other thing is that because there is no 19" option it may be that Ford does not want or the car should not have 19"s on it for various reasons. The first that comes to mind is that they change the rear end ration enough to kill the good fuel economy. So if  you do go with larger wheels and tires you can almost be assured it will have an effect on the fuel consumption. Not only are the tires taller but wider as well. And while you might not think it, that little bit of width and height add wind resistance add and a hybrid's biggest enemies are hills and wind. We are looking into all of this as well as making sure that with a wheel size change there is no affect on the cars warranty as well. When you exceed the factories maximum tolerances it is considered "alteration" and in the warranty guide this is noted and certain alterations void warranty aspects. Even if it is only tires and wheels. But we have time to find all this out. As I mentioned we have already began that research because this was a concern as well of the service manager when we spoke.

 

Ford does not take tires and wheels back in exchange. It would be up to us and since wheels are so rarely replaced they are not something that we stock or buy. The tires we would but the wheels we can't. Ford is expensive for wheels when you buy over the counter. My thought is because people rarely walk in and buy wheels they don't expect to sell very many except for replacements due to accident. And all the wheels are made exclusively for each vehicle and therefore are limited in availability because before each model year has begun Ford has already determined how many of each model they are producing so the wheels in effect are special order parts and they take advantage of that. It has nothing at all to do with us. I would highly recommend aftermarket wheels. They will cost one third what the OEMs would but know that 19s are the odd size right now and tires at that size are costly and wheels are limited in choice. Anyone you ask will know if the wheels you want will fit the Fusion. All auto stores will be able to determine that for you with a guide that would be provided by the wheel manufacturer.

 

So some questions I have for those of you that upgraded:

 

1.  What Brand and size wheel did you buy?  Offset? from where?

2.  Did you keep the same tire or change sizes?

3.  What were you charged for moving the TPMS valve sensors to the new wheels and the reprogramming?

4.  PLEASE PLEASE....  Post a picture on this feed.   I don't care for the look of the Stock OEM wheel.

 

Help me please!   Need the info....   I will either tack on the cost of the wheels with the car or purchase separately....  Unless you folks talk me out of it!

 

Thanks!

 

 

[Rexracer]

there is a whole section dedicated to tires/wheels here

http://www.fordfusionenergiforum.com/forum/20-tires-wheels/

 

Not many people change them at, because they are correct, the wheel that comes on the car is suppose to be very "low turbulence" e.g. more aerodynamic.

 

But of course people do change them. The only one on here that has did Niche Targa, but i didn't notice offsets/etc.

My guess is the regular hybrid form has far more information then the Energi forum, since there are just a lot more of them out there.

http://fordfusionhybridforum.com/forum/63-wheels-tires/

 

I do find it funny your dealer said "When you change wheel size you're actually changing your rear end gear ratio so the speedometer and all the fuel economy calculations will be off."

well...this is a front wheel drive car, so there is no "Rear End" to have gears to be thrown off. But lets assume he just means total gear ratio, but then its not the wheel size taht will throw it off, its changing the rolling diameter of the tires that changes the effective gear ratio.

i have used this calculator to check out different size tires in the past.

http://tire-size-conversion.com/tire-size-calculator/

 

Using this calculator you would need to go to a 225/29/R19 (to get 19" rims with the same width). Since there is no 29 aspect ratio tire your going to have to do some playing. I would guess a 235/35/19 would be within a couple % of the factory settings.

 

Good Luck!

[jeff_h]

I wanted a full size spare to keep at home as 90% of the time I find a nail or screw in a tire it's when the car is sitting in the garage.  So I went to Tirerack.com to look for s spare wheel and spare tire to mount on it, a plain old ugly steel wheel was $96 but this one was $79 on closeout and no charge to mount it on the tire I bought:

[Rexracer]

Thinking about it, I wouldn't get to stuck on the 55mm offset. Going to something like 45mm will just push the tires out, lining the outside of the tires up better with the body, but at the same time possibly creating more "splash" in the rain. The only other downside is the increased scrub radius.

BUT, if you are going to a wider tire/wheel, you will WANT a smaller offset to compensate for the width of the tire, so all the additional width is not going toward the inside of the wheel.

 

i.e. a 225mm up to a 235mm is 10mm wide tire, keeping a a 55mm offset will mean 10mm toward the suspension, but going to a 45mm offset means your no closer to the suspension, and all 10mms are further out.

[MinnesotaENERGI]

Thinking about it, I wouldn't get to stuck on the 55mm offset. Going to something like 45mm will just push the tires out, lining the outside of the tires up better with the body, but at the same time possibly creating more "splash" in the rain. The only other downside is the increased scrub radius.

BUT, if you are going to a wider tire/wheel, you will WANT a smaller offset to compensate for the width of the tire, so all the additional width is not going toward the inside of the wheel.

 

i.e. a 225mm up to a 235mm is 10mm wide tire, keeping a a 55mm offset will mean 10mm toward the suspension, but going to a 45mm offset means your no closer to the suspension, and all 10mms are further out.

 

Thanks Rexracer.  Great advice.  Ultimately, I gave up the idea of the 19's there's just too much risk with all the factors I read about on other threads... plus the added dough I would have to shell out.   My game plan now is to just switch out the 17" rims with an aftermarket and attempt to keep the OEM LRR tires if possible.   I would prefer to save the $$$ and not have to buy new tires.  Now I just have to figure out why all the websites are matching a 235/50R17 to the 2014 FFE?   I read another post that indicated that Tirerack was recommending a 225/50R17 for the 2013 model, but a 235/50R17 for the 2014.  I checked it out and found it to be true...

 

Wondering if the 2014 got an upsize?   I will have to check with my dealer or call Ford directly to see what the deal is.   I don't particularly care for my salesman.   Too much verbal diarrhea! 

[Rexracer]

This sounds like a good plan to me!

[Cairo94507]

I bought a set of Ford 19" Fusion take-offs for my car.  Once it arrives i will install them.   

[Robperri]

I purchased 17 x 7.5 Sparco Assetto Gara wheels from Tire Rack. I should have them by Tuesday. I plan on moving the stock tires and TPMS over to the new wheels. I read somewhere that the stock wheels are 23lbs. The Sparco's are 19lbs. with 45mm offset. The new wheels will stick out 10mm (0.4") farther.

[MinnesotaENERGI]

I purchased 17 x 7.5 Sparco Assetto Gara wheels from Tire Rack. I should have them by Tuesday. I plan on moving the stock tires and TPMS over to the new wheels. I read somewhere that the stock wheels are 23lbs. The Sparco's are 19lbs. with 45mm offset. The new wheels will stick out 10mm (0.4") farther.

 

 

Fantastic!  Please upload a photo to this post once you get them on.  Which color did you order?

[Robperri]

 

[Fat Fusion]

I said I wasn't going to mod this car.  Seeing those on the grey car might change my mind.  

 

Been wanting tint like that too.  Looks great.  :thumbsup:

[MinnesotaENERGI]

 

 

WoW!  Fit looks great...... and Sharp!   How they ride?   Notice any difference?

[Robperri]

WoW!  Fit looks great...... and Sharp!   How they ride?   Notice any difference?

 

No difference whatsoever. Which is what I wanted. I didn't want to alter the functionality of any of the features. I just bought it a week ago and I'm enjoying the stock ride just fine.

[Handy Alamsjah]

Robperri, nice looking wheels there. Do you mind sharing where did you buy and how much was it? Thx

[Rexracer]

I was at the dealer this week, and there was a Fusion on the lot with 18" "gloss black" wheels, they had 235/45R18 tires on them. These are factory wheels, it looked really good. They are 20 spoke (10x sets of 2 spokes each).

[shaggy314]

My plan is to get a set of the new 2015 Fusion Energi wheels. Much prettier than the O-OEM ones. Hmm, maybe with the $850 as a down payment...