Project 'Me BooSTa'

[Jake]

Mileage: 13,350

So the car comes with Goodyear Eagle F1 "extreme high performance" summer tires. I took delivery back in January so I had the chance to experience how they work in light snow. The answer is, they don't. Getting from my driveway to the end of the street was near impossible and met with many lights related to traction control and things.

Decided to find some wheels/tires for the cold this year. Between the chance of snow, and the fact that cold overnights/daytime temps are bad for summer rubber, I hoped I could find some Focus Titanium 17" wheels with all-seasons to rock out all winter. More grip in bad stuff, better rubber compound.

Well, the number of Focus non-ST enthusiasts who sell their stock wheels is approximately zero. And the car shares a lug pattern with (wait for it)... the '13+ Fusion, the Jaguar X-Type/S-Type, and some Volvos. And, as I discovered one afternoon, with the 89-07 Taurus/Sable. So I set about finding a Taurus enthusiast (*snort*) who'd want to sell their stockers. Found precisely one person in this entire area who was A) selling wheels B) with tires C) with nearly new tread.

Ladies and germs, I present the 2013 Focus ST, Old Man Winter Edition.



The front brakes are larger than the rears. I got supremely lucky with both the wheel style and the offset, and these clear the calipers by a few millimeters. Have driven the car for ~40 miles now and no problems.



Also went over to Mom & Dad's last night (free dinner!) and swapped Dad's Miata wheels. Got him a set of '06 Sport wheels with Continental DWS M&S tires for wintertime, since Mazda saw it fit to sell the NC with 140 treadwear summer tires. Guess that's how they make it handle so well. It's a bit more loose on these



Bring on the powder, now I wanna play. Oh, and I need to see if I can make the TPMS system ignore the lack of reported tire pressures.