Hi folks, I am new to this forum and I hope someone will help me with good advice to get my project to the end. I just get my new 2012 Focus SE and I enjoy it .I think this one will get me satisfaction as much as my former 2001Focus. Here in the winter we get snow, on some winter, plenty of that white s**t. In my province, installation of winter tire is mandatory between December and March.
215.55R16 winter tires are expensive and wide tire doesn’t perform well on snowy roads. It is always recommended to use narrower tread but I am limited in the available choice on the market. The choice is much better in 15 inches. So I will invest in that way. Since I want to keep this car for a long time, it is worth to save 2 visits per year to a garage for tires change.
I spend a lot of time on several web sites to find out the best match for my need. The best size would be 195.75R15. This won’t affect the speedometer and the overall size is about the same as the original tire/rim. This tire size is available in my favorite brand of tire. Now I need to find the rims, wheel covers and TPMS sensors.
A lot of people around here are diving in the winter time with extra rim mounted with snow tires for about the same reason or to avoid damage to their mag wheels by road salt and other dirty stuff spread on the road. But I hate driving a brand new car with black rims! I found that Windstar wheels could be the exact fit for my Focus. The 11 spokes aluminium wheels looks great and there’s a lot of good quality on Kijiji or E Bay at reasonable price plus the saving of purchasing 15 in. wheel covers.
Question no 1: My OEM wheels are 16X6.5. Lug 5X108mm. I need to know the offset and the centre hub size (63.4 mm- not sure) I need to know what is the Windstar 11 spokes aluminium wheels specification- offset and centre hub size (very important spec). I know about the 15X6, 5X108.
I also need to buy 4 TPMS sensors. I am not interested to get dash light on and /or buzzers all winter long. I learned that TPMS sensors must be programed to the car spec to be recognised by the car computer
Question no 2; if my new sensors are set correctly by a pro for my winter rims, is it possible for the Focus computer to accept 8 TPMS, the 4 OEM and my winter tire set. I want to change the wheels twice a year without extra intervention? I am not sure.
Azote gas will be my choice to get inflation stability in winter.
All comments and comment will be greatly appreciated, and I hope my written English is OK.