Mixing tyre widths on a Mondeo, and recommendations

death_looms · 23 Dec 2013 at 14:41

When I went from 18" -> 16" wheels a couple of years ago, I was told by ford that the wheels I got could take 205, 215 or 225 widths, and came with 215 fitted. I'm looking to replace the fronts soon and was wondering if there would be any adverse effects of having the fronts at 205 and keeping the rears on 215. My instinct says keeps them the same, but I have no basis for that.

Recommendations for 215/55/16 or 205/55/16 would be great too, currently have Goodyear efficientgrips on all round, and they're quite noisy, and I don't really rate the grip that much.

The Running Man · 23 Dec 2013 at 14:48

I think your username is quite the fit for this thread.

death_looms · 23 Dec 2013 at 14:56

Had that for years, wish I could change it! Locally, there seems to be about £50 difference for replacing 2 @ 215 and 4 @ 205, so I'll probably just get all 4 done.

Iamzod · 23 Dec 2013 at 15:53

death_looms said:
currently have Goodyear efficientgrips on all round, and they're quite noisy, and I don't really rate the grip that much.

This surprises me, I have Efficient Grip Performance on my Mondeo, 205/55R16 and found them surprisingly quiet & they appear to grip pretty well in the current cold, wet weather.

DXP55 · 23 Dec 2013 at 16:21

Check if your tyres are "Extra Load" - I bought 4 Mondeo 16" wheels for my Focus and they had ordinary tyres on so tried them - they were a lot quieter than XL winter tyres on now and my 18" XL normal tyres.

The road noise is only thing I hate on this Focus.

Dave

red eye · 26 Dec 2013 at 15:38

death_looms said:
When I went from 18" -> 16" wheels a couple of years ago, I was told by ford that the wheels I got could take 205, 215 or 225 widths, and came with 215 fitted. I'm looking to replace the fronts soon and was wondering if there would be any adverse effects of having the fronts at 205 and keeping the rears on 215. My instinct says keeps them the same, but I have no basis for that.

Recommendations for 215/55/16 or 205/55/16 would be great too, currently have Goodyear efficientgrips on all round, and they're quite noisy, and I don't really rate the grip that much.

up one size in width or dia-go a size down in profile* To keep the rolling radius and your speedo reading within a few%
So 215/55 16 would be 205/65 16

*not always 100% accurate

Iamzod · 26 Dec 2013 at 16:39

red eye said:
up one size in width or dia-go a size down in profile. To keep the rolling radius and your speedo reading within a few%
So 215/55 16 would be 205/65 16

This does not work, the difference between those two tyres is 4.46% whereas going 215/55R16 to 205/55R16 is only 1.74%.

Besides, if this is a MK3 Mondeo (I'm presuming here) we are talking about then the correct size as fitted by ford is 205/55R16 on a 16" rim.

red eye · 27 Dec 2013 at 21:41

Iamzod said:
This does not work, the difference between those two tyres is 4.46% whereas going 215/55R16 to 205/55R16 is only 1.74%.

Besides, if this is a MK3 Mondeo (I'm presuming here) we are talking about then the correct size as fitted by ford is 205/55R16 on a 16" rim.

Edited for you.

That's the first time that's let me down