Happy Saturday!

[Devastate]

Hope your weekend goes better than mine has started off so far! Looking close at the tires, they probably needed to be replaced anyway. I assume those are the ones that came on the car originally.

 

[scotman]

I can’t see the wear bars, but yes. It’s looking like the time to get a fresh set.

 

[Devastate]

I can’t see the wear bars, but yes. It’s looking like the time to get a fresh set.

With this being said. Any tire recommendations? I see they have "Highway" tires now, I don't recall ever seeing those type before.

 

[scotman]

You don’t want a “non” snow rated tire. You live west of Lake Michigan! That means you will have Canadian cold air and everything that brings with it.
if you are still on the original size tires you would benefit from going to a 195 over the 185-15 size. Those seem to work out better on rough, pot hole riddled roads.
can’t recommend any particular brand. But you should be placing a lot of emphasis on wet traction ratings.
Or, if you are planning on keeping the Fiesta for at least three more years, get yourself a set of Michelin X Ice, Bridgestone Blizzaks or General Alti- max arctic. They are snow and ice rated tires. Once you have experienced a set of those, it will change your mind about the value of seasonal tires!
Plus, you then have a good excuse to get a nice set of alloy wheels and performance tires for summer use.

 

[Devastate]

You don’t want a “non” snow rated tire. You live west of Lake Michigan! That means you will have Canadian cold air and everything that brings with it.
if you are still on the original size tires you would benefit from going to a 195 over the 185-15 size. Those seem to work out better on rough, pot hole riddled roads.
can’t recommend any particular brand. But you should be placing a lot of emphasis on wet traction ratings.
Or, if you are planning on keeping the Fiesta for at least three more years, get yourself a set of Michelin X Ice, Bridgestone Blizzaks or General Alti- max arctic. They are snow and ice rated tires. Once you have experienced a set of those, it will change your mind about the value of seasonal tires!
Plus, you then have a good excuse to get a nice set of alloy wheels and performance tires for summer use.

If i got with a 195, is it true my speedo will read slower? That will fit on the same wheel I have now right? the 185/15's?

 

[scotman]

If i got with a 195, is it true my speedo will read slower? That will fit on the same wheel I have now right? the 185/15's?

Very slightly slower. The specifications pages at Tirerack. Com show you the difference in revolutions per mile for each size they sell.

 

[Handy Andy]

The 195/15 set (if you stick with 65) is not too oversized, the Rim width is about 6" and that "bolt" patten is 4 X 108 mm or 4.25" spacing.

The rims for that car - the OEM ones anyway, run a pretty hefty price, so aftermarket will be less but the 4 X 108mm sizing is not common - so they (Ford) kind of soak you for this uniqueness. Aftermarket follows suit.

The Odometer is affected but who's is counting these days - barely puts you over +1MPH error to the positive (speedier) side when you see 55 on the Speedo. Your car covers more distance on those wider tires because of that ratio number the 65 as the sidewall to width ratio is...

It is when you go with 70's series versus 65 - and then you have to think about clearance to the INSIDE of the wheel well (rum-drum rub on sharp turning) because even a 185 series tires using 70 versus 65 it raises the height from the road - hence the rotational distance (your Pi = 3.14159 stuff and radii to distance to circumference) - that number affects your Odometer and speed ratios in calculations.

That extra width and height Affects the amount of room left for the wheel to bounce, turn, boing and bump over roads and obstacles - not just potholes - but curbs and the occasional debris. Gravel roads? Well, yes, they may be more forgiving but that uneven surface affects this too.

The height changes from 185 to 195 and keep the same sidewall number - that change is LESS than to change the tire from a 185x65 to a 185x70 series - simply due to the ratio number.

It's why Rim sizes, when yuo go greater - you get that funky tire thickness - makes the wheel look the way it does, you increase the diameter - the tire size needed changes - the SIDEWALL number is smaller - meaning less sidewall height - so a 15" rim you usually use 65 series, while 16 inch rims change the requirement to 50 to 55 on that Sidewall ratio. This makes the rim to tire - the rubber is less height from the road.

• Which gets you into a danger zone of height and absorption from impacts, the tire has only so much room to give, and if not considered, a simple crack in the pavement can even dent and damage the rim from just rolling over it too fast.

Not to overthink - just be ready because larger tires may grip the road better - but you trade torque for that rotational distance covered. What you gain in distance is offset by the loss of energy present in the torque to move the car forward (or direction you want to go) Friction losses to poor alignments cause tire scrub - so keep the alignment in mind and condition of the tires will last a lot longer and you're less likely to notice acceleration losses from the switchover to that new size.

You mentioned a set of sportier rims, just wanted to let you know that I've seen some pretty rims wind up on roads not well maintained (Thanks Gov...) and have turned into disasters - and with undercarriage and suspension damages as the result

 

[gfh77665]

Hope your weekend goes better than mine has started off so far! Looking close at the tires, they probably needed to be replaced anyway. I assume those are the ones that came on the car originally.
View attachment 7168
View attachment 7169

I'll make you feel better:

My 2017 Fiesta was about 1.5 years old, maybe 15K miles. I have taken excellent care of it since day 1. Wife and I were driving it on I-10 east between Houston and Beaumont TX on perfectly smooth, newly poured interstate 10 pavement. The road was perfect, and we were driving about 70mph. There was nothing in the road, not a bit of debris. The LR tire suddenly blew out, and that's usually not so bad but unfortunately most of the tread completely came loose, except for one spot where it still adhered to the tire carcass.

This created a whip action in the rear wheel well at speed. By the time I got he car stopped and pulled over, the tread had lashed the wheel well so much that the rear bumper was broke loose and only hanging on by the right side and the thin LR quarter panel was totally destroyed. Insane amount of damage, thanks to paper thin sheet metal.

On the side of the highway I used up literally almost a whole role of duct tape to secure the body panels roughly back in place (otherwise they would have fell off) and changed the spare tire. I drove on and brought it to a body shop the next day... Are you sitting down? Total was over $3400 in damage, all because of a tire. The body shop promised repairs in 7 working days max, but they took 21+ days. I did have a rental covered by insurance, but my deductible was $1000, all over a bad tire.

 

[scotman]

Wow! That’s the most catastrophic tire failure I’ve seen recently. It doesn’t pay to run on old tires anymore than it does to run on bald tires.
My favorite old tire failure story happened in 2012. I was driving home from work on the freeway in my 97 Mercury Sable wagon and could feel the ride get mushy. The drivers side rear tire went flat by the time I got onto an off-ramp. I put the mini donut on it and drove the last eight miles home. Got home, did a few things and jumped back in it to go get a new full sized tire, got about 300 yards down the street and the mini donut just disintegrated! It looked like it had been run through a grinder.
So, I turned around and limped back home to drag out a mounted winter tire to allow me to get to the tire shop.
It’s a good lesson for everyone to not trust your ten year old or more spare tires! Mine had been used maybe twice. Yet it was really just an overcooked, dried out piece of shit that looked like a good spare tire.
The spare tire in my 11 hatchback was new in April 2010. I think that it is going out with the rest of the junk during spring cleaning.
I’m not surprised that it took so long to get your Fiesta back together. Parts availability for sheet metal has been sketchy for over two years.

 

[gfh77665]

Wow! That’s the most catastrophic tire failure I’ve seen recently. It doesn’t pay to run on old tires anymore than it does to run on bald tires.

I’m not surprised that it took so long to get your Fiesta back together. Parts availability for sheet metal has been sketchy for over two years.

Thats the thing, the tires looked perfect. The 15,000 miles I had on them was almost all highway, almost no wear at that point. The inflation was always correct too. It had to be a manufacturing defect in the tire.

As far as the repairs taking so long, I don't know why. Supply chain issues was not a real problem at that point. Bottom line in all of this we are thankful we walked away safe. God protected us no doubt.