Winter wheels and tires for my 04 Marauder ?

[tjg442]

No problem at all with traction control, abs, or speedometer error.
2008 Ford steel police rims (16")....Cooper CTS tires, 215/70/16 front, 235/70/16 rear. Have about 300 interstate miles so far. No road noise, good responce steering with this set up, looks like s*&t, but have no choice, this IS my work car. First time I get to find out have this works in snow, I'll post my opinion. Hope this helps someone.....tjg442

[GetMeMyStogie]

Thanks for the sizing info. Have you noticed any difference in fuel mileage, seeing as how the 235/70/16 is a wee bit taller than stock?

I've been struggling with finding an excellent set of winter 16", and have come up with a number of potential size combos:
For a 215/70/16, I figure the perfect match would be a 240/70/16 - but tires don't come in that size. So, the compromises are 235 or 245, each about 1% smaller or larger.

What I figure:

235/50/18: rotations/km = 460, stock front size
215/70/16: rotations/km = 450, about 2.2% larger

245/55/18: rotations/km = 438, stock rear size
235/70/16: rotations/km = 433, about 1.2% larger
245/70/16: rotations/km = 425, about 3.1% larger

Also,
225/75/16: rotations/km = 428, about 2.4% larger

If the 235 works without traction control issues, it makes me think the 245 should also be okay.
I hope this isn't thread-jacking, but has anyone tried these combinations:


215/70/16 with 245/70/16?
215/70/16 with 225/75/16?



These numbers do not take static loaded radius into account.

[tjg442]

215/70/16
235/70/16 Cooper CTS tires are 1.10 radius difference

Stock tires give 1.18 radius difference, if you run 36 lbs air in the front tires, and 34 lbs air in the rears with the Coopers, you are right on !!!
Now I think even that is as close to stock difference as any NACAR team could ask for ??? Have noticed no difference in fuel milage..

[CRUZTAKER]

As long as you are within about .5 to .70 inches of the stock tire heights of 28" you should not experience any issues.

Yire pressure seems a bit high. You'll have to wait for that first deep snow. I am not familiar with the Cooper tires. I assume they are snow only.

If the tread compound is really soft, you will notice a slight 'wander' at highway speeds. Average stiffer snow only treads do not wander.

In 2003 my original setup utilized an WS50 Blizzack on the fronts. The rears were the Kelly Wintermark with studs. All four were 225-60-16. Wide? Yes, but filled the wheel wells nicely. The Kelly was naturally taller as a result of the aggressive tread. A 1:1.05 front to rear runout heigth was achieved as a result. It is my opinion this ratio will be achieved with the Alpine or similar on the front as well with the Wintermarks on the rear. I do not have traction control, so that was never an issue for me. When I sold the set to a member with an 04 he had to turn the TC off while driving. But then again, he did not need it with such an aggressive setup.

[tjg442]

All there is too it is, 49 miles one way from Concord too Richfield Ohio for work, and get out of that d&@m parking lot at 0300 hrs. with nothing on my mind other then getting HOME. I did not have the time last winter to change tires and rims, and I paid for that around the end of Febuary or early March of this year.........NOT THIS YEAR, rear wheel drive, 5200 lbs, posi on the drive, same type of tire (Cooper) that I had on my 85 Delta with the F-3 package for around ten years, and fifty or soo years of driving in North East Ohio winters......Yeah, I'm ready !! OH, Yeah, heated seats now......:flamer:See you all, drive SAFELY where ever you go,(Have a good ride).......tjg442 P.S. The tire presure was for an example too reach the factory ratio of the tire diameters....I run 34 lbs all around, and the "Coopers" are all season CTS, the tread depth is awsume, and the compound is not as soft as the Blizacks check out the coopertire.net

[Darkside]

I'm hoping to get into December before I throw the snows on.

[CRUZTAKER]

Ditto me as well....just refinished the snow rims on the Focus and still have to get them balanced.

Off to Toledo for the week.