[Toasty]

Okay so I am a complete noob when it comes to tires and at 42K miles it seems mine are already starting to bald and with all this snow and ice it seems I need a new set. Now I plan on getting a set of winter tires to finish off this winter and then I plan on buying some rims and a new set of summer/spring tires.

I would like to buy the tires from Costco because they are cheap and will do all the maintenance free and will repair the tires if anything ever happens. I 100% am buying the winter tires from them, I may or may not get the other set from them.

Winter Tires:

My selection from costco was a set of bridgestone ecopia 422 tires for 542$, or a set of michelin tires which he did not specify what they were because they were not in stock, but they were about $100 more than the bridgestone tires. He kept telling me the bridgestone set had more traction and were overall better tires. I was a little confused as to why he was trying so hard to sell me the bridgestone tires. Meanwhile, another customer walked in while he was telling me that and said that michelin was way better and had more traction.

tl:dr Michelin or Bridgestone for winter tires? Unless you recommend a completely different set of tires which I will listen to and take that into consideration.

Summer Tires:

I have a lot of time to get these but I would like some tires that are wider than normal tires? Does this make sense? I like the look of wide tires and seriously hate narrow tires but I never did understand how some people got wider tires than others. Do I need specific rims or a specific car? Any input or general advice is welcome.

Thanks guys

 

[Duffman355]

what is your stock wheel size? Use those for the winter, as for summer tires, the stock 18's are a 235-40-18 wheel and tire combo.

Here's the factory 18 inch wheels painted in black chrome


If oyu have 16 inch wheels, that is perfect for winter. You want a skinnier tire to help with snow traction, and enough beef so you don't blow out your low profile tires every time oyu hit a pot hole. I have lost two tires in the last month now. Check out tirerack.com for tires and ratings. You are unfortinately limited in choice with Costco. YOu might want to venture to other places. Locally, my go to place is a mom and pops rim and tire place. Great service and the best prices.

In terms of tire sizs though, stick with either 215-55-16 which is the stock 16 if I recall, 215-50-17 is the stock 17, and 235-40-18 is the stock 18. If you get different sized tires that increase or decrease the overall diameter of your wheel and tire size, you will screw your speedometer up. It was be off one way or another.

 

[Toasty]

what is your stock wheel size? Use those for the winter, as for summer tires, the stock 18's are a 235-40-18 wheel and tire combo.

Here's the factory 18 inch wheels painted in black chrome


If you have 16 inch wheels, that is perfect for winter. You want a skinnier tire to help with snow traction, and enough beef so you don't blow out your low profile tires every time you hit a pot hole. I have lost two tires in the last month now.

I believe my stock wheel is 16". I have the 12' Focus sedan with the sport package. He wrote this number down on the paper he gave me 215/55/16.

So you're saying I can use 18" rims in the summer but I should keep my 16"s for winter?

 

[Duffman355]

definitely. I traded my 16s for 18s with all season tires because I didn't feel like hassling with two sets of rims. I kind of regret that decision. I added more info in my last post if you didn't catch it.

 

[Brindfan]

The Bridgestone Ecopia is not a "Winter tire". It is an "All-season" tire. If you want a Bridgestone All-season, the Turanza is a better choice, and for some reason, usually less expensive than the Ecopia. I've had both Ecopias and Turanzas,(Just bought the Turanzas in November), I like the Turanzas more than I liked the Ecopias, an I really liked the Ecopias.

Also, what size are your wheels?

 

[Duffman355]

If you're curious, I'll break down the 215-55-16 thing. 215 is the width of the tire. The 55 is an aspect ratio which describes the sidewall or thickness of the tire (amount of tire between the road and your rim). So in your case, your side wall is 55% of the width which is 215 mm (or whatever unit of measurement they use to measure the width)in your case. The 16 is the diameter of the rim/tire.

So to put it in perspective for you, the reason I am blowing out my tires on potholes is because my sidewall is only 40% of the 235 mm width of the tire where your tires have a 55%. I have much less tire between the road and my wheel compared to you.

Wider lower profile tires are better for performance, where the narrow, higher profile tires are better for ride quality and winter conditions and the alike

 

[ELCouz]

Just a tire advice... don't use your alloys in the winter ... salt eat them!

Use steelies or cheap alloys only!

 

[Toasty]

The Bridgestone Ecopia is not a "Winter tire". It is an "All-season" tire. If you want a Bridgestone All-season, the Turanza is a better choice, and for some reason, usually less expensive than the Ecopia. I've had both Ecopias and Turanzas,(Just bought the Turanzas in November), I like the Turanzas more than I liked the Ecopias, an I really liked the Ecopias.

Also, what size are your wheels?

Wheels are 16", would you say bridgestone is better than michelin?

@Duffman So would 235-40-18 throw off my spedometer or were you saying that if I didn't get that size then it would? Also thank you for explaining those numbers and wider/narrow profiles. That helped a lot lol.

@ElCouz What do you mean by my alloys? The stock rims that came with the car? I thought they were aluminum lol, regardless they are dipped so I'm not worried about salt.

 

[Duffman355]

@Duffman So would 235-40-18 throw off my spedometer or were you saying that if I didn't get that size then it would? Also thank you for explaining those numbers and wider/narrow profiles. That helped a lot lol.

.

No, the three wheel/tire combos that Ford offers on the Focus will have no effect on your spedo, as they are all basically the same sized package and your car is calculated for that.

215-55-16
215-50-17
235-40-18

Any of these three will work flawlessly.

However if you do decide to look at a set of say 17/18 inch non factory rims for summer, you will have to take into account factors such as bolt pattern and wheel offset. You can find help in the wheel and tire section on here for further explanation. It's not complicated really. If you spend twenty minutes studying on here, you'll pick it up pretty quickly. Anything Ford offers stock out of the factory for the Focus or Fusion will fit our car no problem. For the record, our bolt pattern is 5x108. Offset can range safely 10 mm+ either way really. Not trying to scare you.

Take my word for it, go to tirerack.com and read about the tires you are interested in. They have user reviews, ratings, tests etc. That's why you might want to expand your search to tires beyond Costco. I did the Costco thing for awhile, but got tired of paying for BFG and switched to something Costco didn't carry. No regrets even though I did like the performance of my BFG tires at the time.

 

[CFHGARZA]

what is your stock wheel size? Use those for the winter, as for summer tires, the stock 18's are a 235-40-18 wheel and tire combo.

Here's the factory 18 inch wheels painted in black chrome


If oyu have 16 inch wheels, that is perfect for winter. You want a skinnier tire to help with snow traction, and enough beef so you don't blow out your low profile tires every time oyu hit a pot hole. I have lost two tires in the last month now. Check out tirerack.com for tires and ratings. You are unfortinately limited in choice with Costco. YOu might want to venture to other places. Locally, my go to place is a mom and pops rim and tire place. Great service and the best prices.

In terms of tire sizs though, stick with either 215-55-16 which is the stock 16 if I recall, 215-50-17 is the stock 17, and 235-40-18 is the stock 18. If you get different sized tires that increase or decrease the overall diameter of your wheel and tire size, you will screw your speedometer up. It was be off one way or another.

Wow those look great painted up like that!

 

[sailor]

Moved to the Wheels & Tires section.

You can find links, stickies & prev. posts here for more information.

MD in the east isn't as bad for snow (except when it does!) so i can see many going for all-seasons as a single choice for all year as long as they don't travel into snowier areas.

But IF you want top have performance tires for the summer, I see no reason NOT to get snow tires for the Winter season. Maybe something like the General Altimax Arctics, that's not an extreme winter type (super soft/sticky) as a snow tire so it's dry road life is better.

 

[chemistkremer]

Take my word for it, go to tirerack.com and read about the tires you are interested in. They have user reviews, ratings, tests etc. That's why you might want to expand your search to tires beyond Costco. I did the Costco thing for awhile, but got tired of paying for BFG and switched to something Costco didn't carry. No regrets even though I did like the performance of my BFG tires at the time.

If you are going Bridgestone for winter tires, then the Blizzaks are the way to go. Looking at your local Costco's website, those are the best I can find (Better than the Michelin X-Ice). There were 9 options online for the stock 16's so by mot accounts that's a very poor choice.

I won't try too hard to sway you from the Costco choice, but just know that most places which have a dedicated tire installation service (both local and chain) will usually offer a lot of complimentary services to get you to buy from them.

I urge you, though, to use TireRack at least for the reviews and their advicehttp://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Bridgestone&tireModel=Ecopia+EP422&partnum=155HR6EP422&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes

The above link is to the tires that Costco insisted you install on your car for winter use. They have an overall rating of 7.22/10 which is poor when you consider the other options.

An anecdotal story advocating TireRack: I purchased winter tires mounted on steelies for my wife's car last year (they mount and balance them for free). 5 minutes after placing the order online, I was contacted by a TireRack representative to let me know that the tires I had chosen were well suited for her car and to remind me that I needed special lug nuts (included free of charge) to install them. He even put them on a rush order since they were in a different warehouse.

However, even if you don't use them for purchase or to find an installation location (they allow you to comparison shop local installers), you can't go wrong with reading about other people's experiences with the tires you are looking to buy.

 

[jthj007]

IMHO you're limiting your choice to mostly mediocre tires by only going through Costco. I would concur tire rack is a better option as they cary much more variety and provide excellent information to help you get the right tire. I think the guy at Costco was just trying to sell you what he has.

 

[Toasty]

Thank you all for the great info, it really has helped a lot. Im going to do some more reading and take a look at tire rack and see what they have to offer. There are a lot of tire places near me, the most popular being merchant tires and mr. Tire, but im iffy about them because Glen burnie isnt exactly a good place. In fact its a terrible place lol so lots of places here will rip you off or do a terrible job. But i have gotten alignments from merchants and they seem to do a good job. So ill take a look there and tire rack before I make a decision.