2011 Ford Focus needs tires

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Looking for opinions on new tires for my father-in-law's fusion. They bought it used with some Mastercraft that are near worn out now 225/50R17. I would like to put Michelin's on this vehicle the premieres a/s are a bit pricey but I do like them Otherwise if I went to the defender t+h I would have to go down a speed rating to an H. How important do you think it is to stay with V rated tire for this car that it was specked with? Otherwise was considering BFGoodrich advantage ta sport in a v rating or uniroyal tiger paw touring in a v rating. Would like to stay with Michelin family of brands because I like them
Best and I get free road hazard included. He leaning toward all season and not snow tires but the uniroyal ice and snow 3 look interesting and I like x-ice 3 but may be to much $.
 
Posting the obligatory General RT43 and cooper CS5. For general purpose allseason tires these two are good value.

Great ride, traction and wear with a lower than average price.
 
I also like the RT 43 but don't have any road hazard coverage which I feel is a big factor not as big a fan of the Cooper CS5 I liked the CS4 better and have seen a lot of bead leaks from corrosion with Cooper's on aluminum rims
 
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I am not sure what type of tire you would want to get, Summer, All Season, whatever, but I can tell you this. Stay away from the Michelin Defender Tires. the ones on my van are peeling and cracking after 18 months. Look them up online LOTS of gripes about these tires.

I have Michelin Premier Tires (replaced MXV4's I believe in their product line) on another one of our cars and so far they are holding up very well. I purchased the Premier's through COSTCO during their Michelin Sale.

COSTCO switches monthly from Michelin to Bridgestone Tire sale every other month. Usually $70-80 off. So look for that.


Jeff
 
I'd delete the Uniroyal Tiger Paw out of the equation. Not saying they're bad just better options out there imo. I'd go with an all season that has good winter traction ratings like the General RT43. The Premieres have good winter traction ratings as well. It seems the lower speed ratings have better winter traction ratings. On a 2011 Focus I would think a T rated tire would be fine.

Here's a top ten list of All-Season tires for Winter driving:

https://tirereviewsandmore.com/top-10-passenger-car-all-season-tires-for-winter-driving/

^ Kind of what the doctor ordered, eh?
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I believe that 'H' rated tires are spec'd for 130 MPH so unless your f-i-l plans on going faster than that the 'H' tires should be fine, IMO.
When I looked at your size it seems most are 'V' or 'W' rated so it's not a big deal if you decide to stay with that speed rating.
I personally think Michelin's are overpriced and that you can get a lot of decent tires for much less....The Cooper Ultra Touring are 'V' rated and a lot less money while getting very good reviews.
 
Originally Posted By: FordFocus
Looking for opinions on new tires for my father-in-law's fusion. They bought it used with some Mastercraft that are near worn out now 225/50R17. I would like to put Michelin's on this vehicle the premieres a/s are a bit pricey but I do like them Otherwise if I went to the defender t+h I would have to go down a speed rating to an H. How important do you think it is to stay with V rated tire for this car that it was specked with? Otherwise was considering BFGoodrich advantage ta sport in a v rating or uniroyal tiger paw touring in a v rating. Would like to stay with Michelin family of brands because I like them
Best and I get free road hazard included. He leaning toward all season and not snow tires but the uniroyal ice and snow 3 look interesting and I like x-ice 3 but may be to much $.

fusion or focus? mom has a 10 fusion with the same size tires and the small car lot where we bought it put cheap primewells on it. then the front ball joints went out on it and have cupped the tires bad. i hear the loud tires and im suprised she dont. next set of tires will be a T or S rated tire. car rides to rough on the H or V tires.
 
The Premier is way too expensive and only has 8.5/32 tread, no good for heavy rain and snow. Also, keep in mind that even though BFG and Uniroyal are owned by Michelin, they're nothing like actual Michelin tires. (This does not apply to other tire companies because Michelin makes their tires differently than other companies, and BFG/Uniroyal are simply "other companies" that just happened to bought out by Michelin). Michelin tires aren;t made in BFG plants, and the Uniroyal and BFG's aren't made alongside the Premier, for example.

If you must stick with Michelin, get the Defender T+H or Pilot Sport AS3, with the full 10/32. The popular Cooper CS5 Ultra actually has 11/32.

Although you can use H-rated tires with no problems, most tire shops refuse to install tires with lower-than-OE speed ratings due to fear of lawsuit (but going higher is no problem). Note that it actually isn't illegal to install lower speed ratings, but most tire shops just won't do it. The Pilots SPort AS3 is available in V and also W speed ratings in your size
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If you're using a single tire year-round, you'd be better off with something like the Vredestein Quatrac 5, Toyo Celsius, Goodyear WeatherReady, or Nokian WRG3. Even if one of these have an H speed rating, most shops would still be willing to install them since they are legally winter tires with the mountain and snowflake symbol
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But first, decide whether you;re going to use all-seasons, or separate winter tires
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EDIT: Tire Rack has the CrossClimate+ in the size 225/50-17, which is prefect for you, since they are probably well-suited to Michigan climate, and they are Michelin like you want, and have the V speed rating
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Originally Posted By: FordFocus
Looking for opinions on new tires for my father-in-law's fusion.


Title says Focus but first sentence says Fusion. The OP needs to focus.
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My grand Marquis came to me with Defenders (225/60R17) installed. I disliked them for a number of reasons. First, the treadwear was horrible and I couldn't do anything about it being the second owner. Second, 3 of 4 tires had beginning of tread separation and all had cracks on 4yr old tires when replaced. Thirdly the wet and snow traction below 4-5/32 was terrible. Lastly , at just under $800/set Installed, they're just too darn expensive.
 
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Originally Posted By: slacktide_bitog
Tire Rack has the CrossClimate+ in the size 225/50-17, which is prefect for you, since they are probably well-suited to Michigan climate, and they are Michelin like you want, and have the V speed rating
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Buy the CrossClimate+ from TR, get them installed at Walmart. Their free rotations include the flip/remount for directional tires
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Originally Posted By: FermeLaPorte
Don't overthink it and get Michelin. I'm very happy with mine


Not all Michelin's are created Equal though keep that in mind...I have had TERRIBLE luck with Michelin with their MXV4 series and Defender's. Horrible Tires.


Jeff
 
I did put a set of Michelin cross Climate +on for a customer from her today. Very unique tire design not sure if I would want to style tire for the winter time even though I know it as the snowflake on the sidewall [img:center]
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