Hi All,


I just moved to Massachusetts, and have rapidly discovered that my 2-week old 2015 Mustang GT with Performance Package is a disaster on even minimal snow on the stock Pirelli PZero 255/40-ZR19 front and 275/40-ZR19 rear tires.


I would appreciate some advice on how to put winter tires on this car (ASAP, before it snows again!)...


On Tire Rack, the only suggested "Winter/Snow Tire & Wheel Package" is Bridgestone Blizzak LM-32 in 255/40R19 XL front ($274) and 275/40R19 rear ($302). No steel wheels are available, so all-around this is an expensive option if I also get new wheels, and anyway I've heard narrower tires with a larger aspect ratio would be preferable in the snow.


Is Tire Rack correct that there is no way to put 18 inch tires/wheels on this car, both front and back? Is that because of the Brembo brake size in the Performance Package?


I was originally thinking of Michelin X-ice Xi3 235/50-18 (which worked great on my 05 GT). They don't seem to make the X-ice in the Performance Package wheel sizes.


Any advice appreciated...


Thanks,
Kevin

 

Nokians. Great winter tire. You also don't need to use the exact same tire sizes as stock. You can use thinner tires, as long as they still fit on the wheels.

You can order Nokians at tiresbyweb.com (and plenty of other places I'm sure). Tire Rack doesn't carry them.

 

Yes, because of the 6 piston caliper and larger rotor size, 18" wheel fitments are limited but not unavailable. I'd give Terry Fair @ Vorshlag a call to see what he has in stock. They've been test fitting various 18" wheels that work on the new model.

 

There is no doubt that the "street tires" that come on the car should never be used when the temperature falls below 40 degrees F. I have been looking for a spare tire for the PP and have come up dry at Ford dealerships. However I am aware of a couple of 2013 Boss owners have found a wheel and tire combination for this purpose. One Boss owner I spoke to has this wheel in his trunk but has NEVER TRIED it on his car??? He purchased the wheel at Discount Tire here in Daytona. The wheel is a DRAG #49271 with a FALCON # 15028 tire. Again this setup has not been tried to my knowledge.
I hope this might help and I am sure that many on this forum would like the info if it works.

 

FWIW, I just bought a cheap set of 18" gt500 replicas (bc they get beat to hell in winter) from american muscle for like $130 a rim. I have a 13gt with track pack including brembos and they clear just fine. For tires, I tried pirelli snows and they have worked great for 3 years, even in the madness/polar arctic that was last winter, I havent gotten stuck (knock on wood)

was looking at a 15 this month and was just going to swap the rims over until it gets warm.

 

couldn't you just buy some All-season tires & replace the Pirelli stock summer tires & use them year round??

 

^^The '10-'14 GT w/ track pkg. came with 4 piston Brembo's and 14" rotors. The '15 GT w/ PP comes with 6 piston Brembo's and 15" rotors. Hence the difficulty in finding 18" wheels that fit the '15 PP optioned cars.

 

Don't waste the money. All seasons are terrible on any snow covered surface above 2" for our cars. But what's worse is the ice. My '11 GT with replacement 19" all season Conti's was almost undriveable when we had a couple 'ice days' last year. This year I smartened up and bought proper winter tires. A WORLD of difference. Choose life!

 

To the OP- look on ebay I saw a guy sell a set of new take-off PP stock wheels and tires for $900. That's a whole lot cheaper than TR gets for their wheels. I bought a set of stock 18s off ebay and they came with all the casting nubs still on them for $1200. I sold the set that came with the car for $500. So I'm left with the set I bought and Goodyear ultra-grit WR3s on the car for winter. I have a grand total of $1600 invested, and I still have FULL factory warranty in force. Between the two sets, I should have about 5 years before I have to buy any more rubber. BTW, winter tires make ALL the difference in the world- this 'stang has better traction with these tires than the previous Accord did!

 

Thanks for the advice guys!


By the way boomer46, I agree with speedform and elfireo, if you've never put snow tires on your cars you should give it a try. It is astounding how big a difference it makes compared to all-seasons! I've previously run 18" Michelin X-ice Xi2 or Xi3 snow tires on my 2005 Mustang GT, and they turned it from a disaster waiting to happen into something I was excited to take out whenever it snowed. The only time I ever got stuck was in a 17" dump, but the more typical 6-8" snowfalls were easy to get through, even going up steep hills.


It's like GPS: yes, you can live without it, but why would you want to?

 

You could also go to the same size all around for winter. I am getting the GT PP and am going to buy four 19X8.5" silver AMRs (164.99ea) from American Muscle (and according to the "fitment" link on the wheel page, will work with PP-I also asked them). I am getting 245/45R19 X-Ice Xi3s, which according to Discounts tire calculator, are the same diameter as the PP rear 275/40R19, which I think is important to keep your speedo on the money, right? I have the 245/45R19 size (Continental ExtremeContact DWS - all seasons) on my 2011 GT and they look good and are beautiful in snow. The Michelin setup is gonna cost about 2 grand, but I should have the best of both worlds. Also, I found out that Discount will store your off-season wheels and tires for $75 and change them for free. By the way, you will have to buy a complete TPMS for each wheel, from $25 (AM) to more than $50.

 

kpfoley1 (OP), Your Mustang has the Performance Package which means that aside from the fact that very very few 18 inch wheels will fit over the large 6-Piston Brembos up front you also have a staggered wheel setup. The front wheels are 9 inches wide, while the rears are 9.5 inches wide.

I just wanted to add that detail for other winter tire shoppers that are reading this thread. Getting a feasible Snow Tire/Wheel combination for non-performance pack 2015 Mustangs is a much easier task. Folks should also keep in mind also that the staggered setup means that you cannot rotate the tires. You can swap the fronts (left-goes-right, right-goes-left) but would have to unmount and remount the tires from the wheels to do so (same applies to the rears). The PP is not kind to tire life in any way at all...and I Love it!

Also, while there are people that put identical 19 inch wheels on a GT w/PP I would not recommend it if you have stock suspension components. Ford tuned the chassis differently on the PP cars and my owners manual makes that clear. In fact, changing the REAR tire width on the GT w/PP may void your warranty.

It states in my owners manual that doing so may cause irreparable damage to components and a permanent degradation to performance. As such, if you do decide to use equivalent sized wheels/tires all around then you should have a set of 4 nine and a half inch wide wheels. Unfortunately, I don't think that most 9.5 inch wide wheels will fit the front properly (i.e. without rubbing/causing damage). I did read a thread somewhere out there that was written by a guy that found a particular set that worked...couldn't find it tonight...do some searching.

I live in the Rocky Mountains and hate my Winter Beater and want to get rid of it, but have not decided on whether to keep my GT and buy some good snow tires and wheels, or trade it in this spring for a Focus RS. If I decide to keep the GT I will Post my tire/wheel choice and experience here.