Winter tires and insurance for your new ST
 

These two aren't exactly related but they are issues that came up for me as I picked up my ST2, so I wanted to put them out here for the board's collective wisdom.

1. I'm with AAA and they were able to manually enter the car, but I've yet to receive any quote or confirmation. They sent a certificate of insurance form to the dealership so I was able to drive it off the lot, but that was it. State Farm was able to quote it for me as it found the ST in its system by VIN unlike the others, but it basically gave me a red-light quote (over $7K/year). Curious to see what the experience was like for the folks here.

2. I've been advised to check out 235/45-17 Dunlop WinterSport 3D ($744/four on Tirerack). Any good (cheaper?) alternatives? Also, what wheels would you recommend if I were to get a set? I like the look of the smaller Fiesta wheels (the five-section snowflake) but the bolt pattern doesn't fit the ST. I would probably want to go as small as possible (WRC reasoning), so 16s?

You have to be careful in fitting wheels, 15" wheels likely won't fit as the brake disks are larger than those of the standard 2012+ Focus for greater stopping power. You'll have to ensure clearance to the rotors before purchasing as set of winter wheels and tires.

Yeah, 15s are too small from what I've heard.

I think 16’ steelies that are offered on the regular focus will fit just fine.

I have a set of General Altimax Arctic on my other car they worked really well for what little show we had in MD last winter.

I had no truble with insurance state farm added on Tuesday and it 900 a year just slightly more then my other car.

I'm not 100% positive I want steelies. I'd be happy with any number of Focus wheels, though. Been looking around on Craigslist for sets but nothing I'd run out and grab yet - plus now I'm beginning to understand that even if it's a five-bolt setup, it may not work with the Focus, so I need to look for specific numbers.

Yeah, so it seems that the only feedback I've gotten so far is from people who have State Farm. That, unfortunately, doesn't work for me since they gave me a prohibitive quote. Will wait until everyone else is up to speed, I suppose.

Its good that you got a better quote. My mouth dropped when I saw OP's quote, since I have State Farm.

I got a quote from State Farm, who I'm currently with, and my premium will be less than what I paid for my SVT, which will be nice.

I'm planning on throwing winter rubber on the stock wheels when the time comes and buy a second set of wheels for summer.

So did mine. Guess living in Dearborn, coupled with one claim (ran into a parking pole with the front left quarter panel of my Subaru - dum-dum-dum-dum-dumb) and a 63 in 45 ticket in the last three years makes me uninsurable per SF.

I'd think about looking into a smaller wheel. Winter tires for those 18s aren't going to be cheap. If the car can fit 16s, you could get wheels and tires for the cost of snows on 18s. Then you can sell the stock 18s to buy the 18s you want.

What are the mount specs (bolt/offset) for the wheels? I know I saw them somewhere but can't seem to find that thread...