My staggered wheel/tire setups - info, specs, opinions.

[markboris]

All seasons.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/pirelli-p-zero-all-season

Those BMW spec EV tires are really nice. Don't go by what the rating is on Tire Rack as these are not the same as the generic P Zero All Seasons. I've had both. Like I said before, these are OEM on the i7 so they are no slouch in performance for an all season and have a comfortable quiet ride.

Here is the link:
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tire...R0P0ASXL&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes

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[markboris]

AliRafiee, I assume you are going with custom wheels since you want specific offsets like when I order wheels. What widths are you getting? 8.5" or 9" up front and 10" in the rear?

 

[AliRafiee]

I had some 5mm spacers. I figured I can put 3 on there to see how it looks. Well I couldn’t get more than 2 on there. I think it will look to my liking. I just have to wait for the damn wheels to be made.
Before and after.

 

[AliRafiee]

@markboris
The wheel guy said I should go with 9 and 10.5 wheels for the 255 and 285 setup, if I don’t want the tire to bulge. Any thoughts on that?

 

[markboris]

@markboris
The wheel guy said I should go with 9 and 10.5 wheels for the 255 and 285 setup, if I don’t want the tire to bulge. Any thoughts on that?

With those tire sizes I’d go with 8.5 and 10 because I like a flat looking sidewall. Nothing wrong with 9 and 10.5 but then the tire will look slightly stretched. Nothing wrong with that. Now, if you went with 8 and 9.5 then yes you would have a bulge to the sidewall for sure. I can share some photos with you on what the different tire sizes would look like on different width wheels just not today. I’m not free right now to work on this. What wheels are you getting?

 

[AliRafiee]

With those tire sizes I’d go with 8.5 and 10 because I like a flat looking sidewall. Nothing wrong with 9 and 10.5 but then the tire will look slightly stretched. Nothing wrong with that. Now, if you went with 8 and 9.5 then yes you would have a bulge to the sidewall for sure. I can share some photos with you on what the different tire sizes would look like on different width wheels just not today. I’m not free right now to work on this. What wheels are you getting?

That would be awesome.

I’m not sure which wheels yet. These are the contenders. I’m pretty sure I’m going with bronze. Hopefully it will match the interior accents.

I think my top three picks are.

I’m waiting for the wheel guy to send me some rendering.

 

[markboris]

That would be awesome.

I’m not sure which wheels yet. These are the contenders. I’m pretty sure I’m going with bronze. Hopefully it will match the interior accents.

I think my top three picks are.

I’m waiting for the wheel guy to send me some rendering.

A lot of nice wheels there, Ali. When you said these are the contenders, I was thinking you were going to show just a couple. Post again when you get it down to 2 or 3.

About the wheel width vs tire size, I like to go along with what the Tire Rack lists when they spec out a tire. I find it usually gives the flattest sidewall. No bulge, no stretch. Sure every tire and sidewall is slightly different and you might have a bit of one or the other with their wheel width listed but the most neutral is usually the one they list.

As I mentioned before, on a 255 tire I would get an 8.5" wheel and 285 tire a 10" wheel.

OEM 245 tire is on an 8" wheel. Basically this is my recommendation for wheel widths however you can do anything you want within the recommended specs of the manufacturer's tire.

245 = 8", 255 = 8.5", 265 = 9", 275 = 9.5", 285 = 10", 295 = 10.5".

Those are all tire and wheel sizes I have run.

Right now I am running 275 square on 9.5" wheels. They are perfect. I'm not the only one running this size. Steve (HuntingPudel) along with several others have this same tire/wheel sizing.

The photos below show a comparison of the same size tire (265/40/20) on two different wheel sizes. The first one is my preference for a 265 which is on a 9" wheel giving the sidewall a flat appearance. The second photo is the same exact 265 tire on a 9.5" wheel. You can see it is starting to look stretched. Again, nothing wrong with this at all. I'm just not a fan of this look.

265 on 9" width wheel

265 on a 9.5" width wheel:

I just realized we are talking about Pirelli P Zero series tires for your car and they don't have as flat of a sidewall profile as the Michelin Pilot Sport series do. So going with the slightly wider wheel widths of 9 and 10.5 would be ok however we may have to reconsider your offsets because now your wheel is going to be almost 13 mm wider and that may cause in issue with the offsets we were talking about before.

Below is the best side profile photo I have when I had the exact tires you are getting (P Zero All Season's 255/45/20, 285/40/20) on 8.5" and 10" wheels. If you zoom in, you can see what the sidewall profile looks like. Also, since you are going staggered, the front and rear sidewall profiles will not match perfectly. You are mixing different sizes tires and wheels and while they will look similar, they will not be perfect.

 

[AliRafiee]

@markboris the 3 favorites were at the bottom.

 

[AliRafiee]

This is on order. It’s called Blast Bronze
8.5 x 20 +42 with 255 45 20
10 x 20 +52 with 285 40 20

 

[MachEMaster]

What do you guys have against rubber tire dressing!? Joking aside, these tires and rims look sweet. Keep up the good work.

 

[markboris]

What do you guys have against rubber tire dressing!? Joking aside, these tires and rims look sweet. Keep up the good work.

Thanks and on my tires I use Meguiars hot shine tire coating. It won’t make the rubber shine but keeps it black and that’s all I’m after. My tires always need to have a deep black sidewall appearance.

 

[nicholaspe]

This is on order. It’s called Blast Bronze
8.5 x 20 +42 with 255 45 20
10 x 20 +52 with 285 40 20

So glad I’ve found this post. I’ve had my white premium set up with staggered 255/45/20 x 9.5 front and 295/40/20 10.5 rear on black wheels. Tires are Toyo Proxes STIII. I’ve had them for about 36k miles.

I am ordering a ‘24 black GT with the bronze package. I’ll be swapping out the wheels for a bronze staggered set up. I know very little about the nuances of these set ups and was lucky to figure out the one I I have now. It’s been great, but I don’t know what I don’t know.

Any recommendations to improve my set up? May like 265 on the front.
Can you tell me where your wheels came from?

 

[nicholaspe]

WARNING: This is another one of my long posts… ?

I’ve had many members direct message me asking about running a staggered wheel/tire setup so thought I would post what I’ve learned with the Mach-E over the past couple of years. I’ve gone through all my messages and collected the questions I’ve been asked. Hopefully from now on I can just point anyone else to this thread and will update it if I obtain more info/questions and or change my setup.

Over the course of the last 2+ years and two Mach-E’s I’ve run nothing but a staggered wheel/tire setup. The only time I ran the OEM setup was on the drive home from the dealer after purchasing the cars. Why do I run a staggered setup??? Well, mainly because to me the Mach-E looks wimpy from the rear with the “bicycle” tires on it. I also want the tires to have a flush fitment because I think they are set in too far. My current and past ICE Mustangs have and had staggered setups from the factory. I think it would have been cool if Ford had at least offered that as an option on the Mach-E GTPE. Porsche, Mercedes, BMW, Audi and Jaguar EV’s come with a staggered setup and I am sure there are others. Another reason is I want wider tires for better handling. This is a very heavy car and tossing it around in the corners with the OEM size tires makes me nervous.

Going staggered there are mainly four different setups you can choose that are either the OEM diameter of 28.7” or close enough to it. It is recommended to stay within 3% of the OEM diameter. These are all 20" options because going with 21" or 22" you can run into issues obtaining tires that have the proper load rating when you are at the OEM diameter or close to it. Not saying it can’t be done, you just don’t have many options.

For reference below are the OEM 19” and 20” tire and wheel specs.
Premium/First Edition:
Tires: 225/55/19 load rating 103XL, width 9.2”, diameter 28.7”
Wheel: 20”x7”, offset 47.5mm, bolt pattern 5x108, center bore 63.4mm.
GT/GTPE:
Tires: 245/45/20 load rating 103XL, width 9.7”, diameter 28.7”.
Wheel: 20"x8”, offset 47.5mm, bolt pattern 5x108, center bore 63.4mm.

The four 20” tire staggered setups I’ve run including width and diameter specs:
1. 245/45/20 F - 275/40/20 R width 9.6"/10.8" diameter 28.7" (OEM diameter)
2. 255/45/20 F - 285/40/20 R width 10"/11.2" diameter 29" (1% larger diameter)
3. 265/45/20 F - 295/40/20 R width 10.4"/11.6" diameter 29.3" (2.2% larger diameter)
4. 275/40/20 F - 315/35/20 R width 10.8"/12.4" diameter 28.7" (OEM diameter)

EDIT: Here is a fifth setup I just had on the car for three months (Feb-April '24) but recently sold to another member on 06/24: #20

I've run two different sized wheel sets with my four staggered setups:
20"x8.5" ET34 F - 20"x10" ET47 R with setups 1, 2 and 3 and the slightly wider 20"x9" ET34 F - 20"x10.5" ET47 R with setups 2, 3 and 4. Both sets of wheels are the same exact model, fully forged aluminum Signature Wheels SV706 however I had them finished differently. The slightly narrower set which I ran on my Premium are all gloss black while the slightly wider set I run on my GT are gloss black with a polished aluminum face.

A word about range..... Personally, I'm not concerned about range and don’t purchase tires based on it whatsoever. That said, I did see slight differences and this is what I learned. Going with a wider tire while it may reduce the range, it is very very little. After running all four setups with 9 different tires, I found it's the type of tire you run that affects range more than the width of the tire. I can run Continental CrossContact DWS06 Plus in the OEM 245/45/20 tire size and get worse range than running Pirelli P Zero All Season EV specific tire in a wider 285/40/20 size. All tires have different rolling resistances and tires specifically designed for EV's seem to have the least. Also, aftermarket wheels will reduce your range beings they are usually less aerodynamic than the OEM wheels. The wheels I run are on the average of 8 lbs. lighter each than OEM wheels and my current Pirelli EV specific tires which are larger than the OEM's are basically the same weight so overall I save about 30+ lbs. of rotational weight. This give me a little better range when driving around town but slightly worse range when on the highway due to the aerodynamics of my wheels.

A word about tire pressure….. I run my tires at the recommended pressure for the weight they are supposed to carry on the MME. This also will allow them to properly flatten out and have more contact on the road. These are the pressures I use with each of the tires to maintain the proper load capacity that Ford recommends as per the tire pressure/load rating chart.

245/45/20 103XL 39 psi
255/45/20 105XL 37 psi
265/45/20 108XL 33 psi
275/40/20 106XL 36 psi
285/40/20 108XL 33 psi
295/40/20 110XL 31 psi
315/35/20 110XL 31 psi

Since the pressures are a bit lower when running larger tires, it also gives you a more comfortable ride. However, running at a lower pressure can trigger the tire pressure warning system so you need to change the default 39 psi in FORScan to your new psi so it won’t trigger a low-pressure warning. Right now, I’m running 255/45/20 front and 285/40/20 rear so I changed my settings to 37 and 33 psi. These will show up in the Ford Pass app as the recommended cold pressure.

Ford app Tire Pressure Monitoring page. (My tires are showing 1 psi less than normal because my car has been in my parents garage for a couple of days where the weather is slightly colder right now than where I live).

A word about the alignment..... While I always stay within the window of the recommended settings, I dial in a bit more negative camber than the car comes set with. I do this so that my tires wear more evenly because I drive daily on mountainous roads and I tend to corner hard. While the front camber is not adjustable, you can get more negative camber by removing the two splined bolts that hold the strut to the wheel knuckle and replace them with regular bolts. This will allow a bit of adjustment and can usually get up to -.5 camber out of it. The rear has an adjustable upper control arm that will adjust the camber. Every time I change out my wheels/tires for a different setup, I have it aligned. The camber/castor does not change much but the toe does so that’s why I have it aligned each time. I generally run (on all my cars) around -1.3 to -1.5 camber up front and -1.7 to -2.0 camber in rear.

My pros and cons of each setup:

Setup 1. 245/45/20 F - 275/40/20 R
This setup is the same diameter as OEM and the least aggressive looking of the four. The 245 fronts are the same size as the OEM GT/GTPE tires with only the 275 rears being wider.
Pros: Many different tires available in both sizes with a wide variety to choose from. No fitment issues.
Cons: May not be as aggressive looking as you like and only a slight improvement in handling.

Setup 2. 255/45/20 F - 285/40/20 R
This setup is one size larger in diameter (1%) than OEM. Tires have a slightly higher sidewall which can give you a slightly softer ride depending on the type of tires you get and lessens the wheel well gap just a bit. Personally, I think this setup is the sweet spot of the four.
Pros: Decently aggressive looking and an improvement in handling. No fitment issues at all.
Cons: Least amount of tire choices available in this setup however, there are a couple of good ones, one of which I am currently running right now which is EV specific.

Setup 3. 265/45/20 F - 295/40/20 R
This setup is two sizes larger (2.2%) than OEM. The tires have again slightly taller sidewall giving a bit more of a softer ride and fills up the wheel well a bit more. This is the most aggressive setup you can run without having to modify the suspension. This setup was the one I ran on my Premium the 10 months I had it and several members here also run this setup.
Pros: Many different tires available in both sizes with a wide variety to choose from. Aggressive looking setup with no fitment issues however, you need to have the proper rear wheel offsets. Good improvement in handling.
Cons: Must get the proper wheel offset in the rear to allow the 295's to fit properly with no interference of the suspension or wheel lip molding. Also, it helps to find tires that have a flatter sidewall profile (Michelin Pilot Sport 4S for example) to help with fitment which may be difficult.

Setup 4. 275/40/20 F - 315/35/20 R
This setup is the same diameter as OEM and the most extreme you can run. As far as I know, I'm the only one that has run this setup and did it mainly to prove it could be done. I don't recommend this setup unless you don't mind modifying the rear suspension and never fully loading the rear of your car with 3 passengers in the back seat plus luggage.
Pros: Most aggressive setup of the four and best improvement in handing.
Cons: The 275/40/20's are the widest tire you can run up front on the MME and you may get a very slight rubbing of the inner tire tread against the fiber fender liner when the wheels are at full lock going over a dip or bump. As far as the rear to fit the 315’s, the OEM upper shock mount must be "thinned down" to allow the inner sidewall of the tire to fit without rubbing. I shaved 1/4" off the back and 1/8" off the front of the shock mount giving me 3/8" more clearance. Also, the fiber inner fender liner needs to be pulled back in two places (I used screws) and you need to have the proper wheel offset. The only tire I could get to fit properly was the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S because it has the flattest sidewall profile of any tire I have seen. It also happens to be my favorite performance tire that I've run on several cars.

I’ve tested 9 different tires over the past 2+ and many have asked why. On previous cars I knew exactly what I wanted and just ran with that. On my SUV’s I would always use Michelin Pilot Sport All Season’s. My performance cars always Michelin Pilot Sport’s. My trucks Michelin LTX All Seasons. I have kind of always been a Michelin guy but have run Pirelli and Continentals from time to time. The Mach-E has been a very different car for me to get a handle on the tire I like for it. The car is very heavy and unless I run my favorite tire, Michelin Pilot Sport 4S which has a ton of grip, I’m not very happy with the handling of this car. Problem is, for the Mach-E I also want a tire that rides somewhat comfortable and is decently quiet and I decided I wanted to stick with and all-season tire because didn’t want to change tires out every six months. On this car, all the Pirelli tires I tested were more comfortable riding and quieter than the Michelin’s however the Michelins all had a bit better performance. In the end I figured since I also have a performance car (GT500) I would stick with tires that sided more towards ride comfort and low noise so stuck with Pirelli’s.

Continental Extreme Contact DWS06 Plus 245/45/20 F - 275/40/20 R
Good all-around all-season tire. Decent riding, handling and fairly quiet.

Michelin Latitude Sport 3 255/45/20 F - 285/40/20 R
Good summer performance tire. Low rolling resistance however has somewhat harsh ride and can be noisy. Besides the EV specific Pirelli, this tire had the second-best max range.

Michelin Pilot Sport SUV 265/45/20 F - 295/40/20 R
Good summer performance tire and second best to the Pilot Sport 4S as far as handling. As with most Michelin performance tires, can be a bit harsh and noisy.

Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4 245/45/20 F - 275/40/20 R
In my opinion the best handling all season tire however it has the harshest ride of any of the all seasons I tested and it’s the noisiest.

Michelin Pilot Sport 4S 275/40/20 F - 315/35/20 R
My favorite summer performance tire and has been for 6 years. Besides the Michelin Sport Cup 2 tires, this has the most grip of any tire I have tested. Great steering feel and handling however they do ride a bit harsh and are not the quietest tire.

Pirelli P Zero PZ4 275/40/20 F – 315/35/20 R
Why second favorite summer performance tire next to the Pilot Sport 4S with a less harsh ride and a bit quieter. Doesn’t have the max grip the 4S has and the steering can be a little vague

Pirelli P Zero All Season EV 255/45/20 F - 285/40/20 R
As of right now, this is my favorite performance all-season tire. It is the smoothest riding, quietest tire of this bunch I’ve tested. This is what I’m currently running and it’s a BMW spec’d EV specific tire designed for their i7 electric luxury sedan. It has the least rolling resistance and so far, the best range I’ve seen in my GT. On average of 2.8-3.2 kWh/mi and 260-265 miles at 100% battery level which is basically what I would have expected to get if I had the OEM EV tire/wheel setup. Again, not concerned with range but I have seen my best with these tires. I’m sure most EV specific tires will give better range than a non-EV tire.

Pirelli P Zero All Season Plus 245/45/20 F - 275/40/20 R
Good all-season tire with good handling, ride and low noise level.

Pirelli Scorpion Zero All Season Plus 265/45/20 F - 295/40/20 R
Heavy-duty all-season tire with better handling than the P Zero All Season Plus above with a great ride and a low noise level.

There are two tires I want to mention that while I have not personally tested them, I have recommended them quite a bit based on what I have learned from others and reviews from the web. They are two of the most comfortable riding, quiet tires you can buy for the Mach-E and also listed as such on the Tire Rack. The top rated for those two qualities is the Pirelli P7 AS PLUS 3 followed by the Michelin Cross Climate 2. I know several members I have recommended these tires to have all been very happy. I get asked why I don’t run them and it’s because they are grand touring all-season tires which have a strong emphasis on a quiet, comfortable ride, with long lasting tread. Performance is not really a trait of grand touring tires and while they will work very well on the Mach-E and most owners would be very satisfied with them, it’s not my type of tire. All 9 tires I have listed above are either summer or all-season performance tires.

Below are some photos of the four setups. I didn't take photos each time I changed tires as I ran though 9 sets and sometimes, they were on the car less than a couple of months. While it may not look like it in these photos, on every setup, the tires have a flush fitment.

245/45/20 F - 275/40/20 R 20"x8.5" ET 34 F- 20"x10" ET47 R Pirelli P Zero All Season Plus.

255/45/20 F - 285/40/20 R 20"x9" ET33 F - 20"x10.5" ET47 R Pirelli P Zero All Season EV
This is my current setup and so far, my all-around favorite.

265/45/20 F - 295/40/20 R 20"x8.5" ET34F - 20"x10" ET47 R Michelin Pilot Sport SUV

275/40/20 F - 315/35/20 R 20"x9" ET33 F - 20"x10.5" ET47 R Michelin Pilot Sport 4S

I’m looking to run set up #3 above. I’ve been running 295/40/20 x 10.5 on my premium for the last 3 yrs. I found some wheels I thought were cool and bought them. Did I just luck out on the fit? I know nothing about off set. You stated in “set up 3” that I need to ensure the correct offset. Can you give me a number? I’m going to run this new set up on a GT (bronze package/wheels). Does the fact that it’s a GT make a difference compared to my premium? Thanks for being such a wealth of knowledge here and for all your time to share so much info!!

 

[markboris]

As Ali has ordered, 8.5” width is better for 255’s than your 9.5”. If you like your setup, I would go with 265’s up front on 9” and leave the rear the specs you have. Otherwise go with the setup Ali is getting. That’s my suggestion.

 

[nicholaspe]

As Ali has ordered, 8.5” width is better for 255’s than your 9.5”. If you like your setup, I would go with 265’s up front on 9” and leave the rear the specs you have. Otherwise go with the setup Ali is getting. That’s my suggestion.

Thank you! If I go for 265’s I’ll definitely do 9”. Main concern now is knowing correct offset range for 295s on a GT.

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