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Page 1-3 in this document https://www.fleet.ford.com/cmslibs/content/dam/aem_fleet/en_us/fleet/showroom/resources/2017-C-Max-Modifiers-Guide.pdf contains the following: WARNING: Only use replacement tires and wheels that are the same size and type (such as P-metric versus LT-metric or all-season versus allterrain) as those originally provided by Ford. Use of any tire or wheel not recommended by Ford can affect the safety and performance of your vehicle, which could result in an increased risk of the loss of vehicle control, vehicle rollover, personal injury or death. Additionally, the use of non-recommended tires and wheels could cause steering or suspension failure. If you have questions regarding tire replacement, see an authorized Ford or Lincoln dealer. NOTICE: Do not install an off road, aggressive tread or incorrectly sized tire. Any of these may cause elevated stress to the steering system. This can cause the power steering system to overheat and shut off the power assist, which can affect the safety and performance of your vehicle. Hope this helps.

There is some additional height available but I am not sure how much. I recall a member using cable chains in the snow driving to a ski mountain without a problem. There might be something in the manual about this. I vaguely remember cable chains are OK but full height chains are not. I personally own a set of cable chains but have not needed them. (Though I did install them on one tire to see how hard it was going to be.)

I'm also looking to put on taller tires, bumping up only the aspect ratio from 225/50/R17 to 225/55/R17. So all other tire dimensions would be the same except for a .4" taller sidewall. Does anyone know if they would rub with such a change?

Consider that the Escape offers 17, 18 and 19" wheel options. Each uses an increasingly lower aspect ratio, 65, 60, and 55, to maintain the same diameter. The issue is that your options are limited when you start with a 50-series combination.

I'm super interested in this topic too. As far as I understand it you can move from 17' to 18' without a problem. Not sure about bigger than 18' though. I do think that bigger tires will reduce your MPGs tough (basically the car has to do more work to turn the wheels)