FocusCanada Forums

When i bought the car in December, it came with the stock 15s for the 07. They had some Hercules tire on it, which while has good amount of tread left, seem to have the belts shifted.Had the weights and such re balanced but it didnt really help.

So... since I wanted new rims, and my condition of needing new tires first actually happened. Here I go!

I think I am going to with the ASA AR1 17" rim. I really like the ASA AR2 v2 but id rather not play a guessing game with it. ( I believe it is 17x8 with a 35mm offset). The ASA AR1 looks like very close to the BBS RS-GT

ASA AR1:


As for tires I am looking at the Conti Extreme Contact DWS all-season. Just trying to pick the size.



I am kinda stuck between going the 205/45 R17 vs 215/45 R17. What do you folks thing?

depends on the look you want. if want a beefier tire, go with a 215 45 or 225 40 tire for a little more meat, if you just want functionality and average road holding then stick to a 205.

The ASA AR1's are a nice wheel for sure, good choice. with regards to the tires, maybe im just partial to falken, but the 452 (summer) and 912 (all season) are both GREAT tires for the money. I run the 912's in a 225 50 15 on my car and they are far better then any previous tire i have run (and thats a lot of tires LOL)

(04-15-2011, 05:03 AM)GFXjamie Wrote: [ -> ]depends on the look you want. if want a beefier tire, go with a 215 45 or 225 40 tire for a little more meat, if you just want functionality and average road holding then stick to a 205.

The ASA AR1's are a nice wheel for sure, good choice. with regards to the tires, maybe im just partial to falken, but the 452 (summer) and 912 (all season) are both GREAT tires for the money. I run the 912's in a 225 50 15 on my car and they are far better then any previous tire i have run (and thats a lot of tires LOL)

x2 on the rims - very nice - and I agree about the Falkens. I've had 6 sets of Falken tires (winter, summer, track only) and frankly right now I wouldn't even consider a different brand.

I get my tires in the states where the ZE-512 is still available and that's my Z-rated summer tire of choice.

In terms of size for every day street I'd recommend the stock SVT size of 215-45-17 ... just make sure your offset is correct for the rim width, and personally I wouldn't go wider than 7.5".

(04-15-2011, 08:46 AM)ZTWsquared Wrote: [ -> ]

(04-15-2011, 05:03 AM)GFXjamie Wrote: [ -> ]depends on the look you want. if want a beefier tire, go with a 215 45 or 225 40 tire for a little more meat, if you just want functionality and average road holding then stick to a 205.

The ASA AR1's are a nice wheel for sure, good choice. with regards to the tires, maybe im just partial to falken, but the 452 (summer) and 912 (all season) are both GREAT tires for the money. I run the 912's in a 225 50 15 on my car and they are far better then any previous tire i have run (and thats a lot of tires LOL)

x2 on the rims - very nice - and I agree about the Falkens. I've had 6 sets of Falken tires (winter, summer, track only) and frankly right now I wouldn't even consider a different brand.

I get my tires in the states where the ZE-512 is still available and that's my Z-rated summer tire of choice.

In terms of size for every day street I'd recommend the stock SVT size of 215-45-17 ... just make sure your offset is correct for the rim width, and personally I wouldn't go wider than 7.5".

Hmm. Had not considered the Falkens. I will take a look at them.
I believe the ASA AR1s are 17x7 with a 45mm Offset. Backspace... something like 5.83"

I looked at the DWS there as the have some excellent ratings on tirerack and have very long tread wear. This is a daily driver that will soon be moving to kitchener and commute changes from 150km to 4km. I am not sure on the look I want. Seems the 215/45 is the in between of those (coincidently cheaper too). Is there much change in road feel (bumps, tracks, etc) between those sizes?

Thanks for the input so far!

the 205's will feel the bumps more, however the 225 40 and 215 45 will be similar feel, just more width on the 225 and same sidewalls.

if you want some pricing on some falkens, give Performance Improvements in guelph a call, tell either mike or jay that you are a focus friend. 912's are a good bang for your buck tire same thing for the rims and they can put together a rim and tire package for you, i have been running them since the fall, amazing tire. was decent in the winter for what it is and "falken" amazing in the dry/warm weather.

(04-15-2011, 11:50 PM)GFXjamie Wrote: [ -> ]the 205's will feel the bumps more, however the 225 40 and 215 45 will be similar feel, just more width on the 225 and same sidewalls.

if you want some pricing on some falkens, give Performance Improvements in guelph a call, tell either mike or jay that you are a focus friend. 912's are a good bang for your buck tire same thing for the rims and they can put together a rim and tire package for you, i have been running them since the fall, amazing tire. was decent in the winter for what it is and "falken" amazing in the dry/warm weather.

IF you're shopping for Falken tires you should also put Tires123 in Mississauga on your list ... and if you want a US price for comparison shoot me a PM.

When it comes to street tires I go for Continental . For me Made in Germany counts alot . I have Conti SportContact 3 on the Focus and last year during our stay down in Hollywood FL we had purchased and installed a brand new set of Conti's DWS on my wife's Mazda3 . They have good grip , did well in Florida's pouring rain and are very quiet . So far about 6-7000 kms and look like new . But achtung ! , Conti's don't come cheap .

At the moment I am going with the Continentals. i know the 215/45 would work for the 17s, but i am still a bit worried. There is something 8mm between overall diameter of the stock 195/60R15 and the 215/45R17. If I needed to use the spare donut would that like 8mm difference in Overall Diameter make a difference?

*if you work in inches... 24.21 (stock), 24.26 (205/45R17), 24.61 (215/45/R17).

If its not going to be something my insurance says no to, and I lower the car with FRPP springs, and the suspension kit, would that tire size be an issue then? Esp with like turning and entering or exiting driveways or other bumps?

I actually almost just purchased the DWS's for my Mazda, but instead went with the Yokohama Avid Envigors, as per Mac @ Tire Rack. Damn good tire, and almost as long a life as the DWS's. I went for the Yokos because I was afraid of 'tread squirm' with the Contis out of the box, due to the S part of the tread. I also prefer a directional tread, so the Yokos for me. I'd look into them if I were you.

As far as size, a good friend of mine just put 17 x 7 Sparco Pistas on (+42 offset) and he has the FRPP kit on his '06 ZX5 GFX. He's running 215/45/17s, and the only rub he had was the 'tabs' on the inside of the front fenders. He bent them up by hand, and all good.

215/45/17 is the way to go. That was stock on the SVT, stock on the '08+ SES, and I run them on my 2000.