Fun! Diff Wheels Mounted Left to Right... Who will notice?

[MaxHeadroom]

TireRack had a half-price alloy wheel sale, as they do off and on, random styles, random times for stock they want to close-out.

The 'catch' was that they didn't have a full set of 4 since it was model-closeout.  Could only buy 2 or 3 of each.

 

I hadn't ever thought of this before:  Take advantage of a sale like that by buying 2 wheels of each style.  Then, put one style wheel on the passenger side of the C-Max, and the other different looking wheels on the driver side.

 

Saved $300 on a set of 4.

 

And who will notice?  You can't see them at the same time, since they're on opposite sides of the car.  

This is for if you can't decide which cool wheels you want.  Buy 2 kinds and hide them on opposite sides of the car.   Only observant people will even sense it.

 

Do not try this unless both styles of wheels are made of the same material (usually aluminium alloy) and have similar weights (mine were only <2% diff in tire+wheel weight.  TireRack listed one as 21 lbs, and the other as 22 lbs, so thats not much.  I weighed them at home and there was only 0.6 lbs diff in reality.  They were both straight-spoke styles, so rotational inertia should be similar too.  Widths and offsets should be the same too, and my offsets were only 1 mm diff, negligible there.

 

Also, these alternative sizes work:  215/55-17 on 17x7.5, 47 or 48 offset.  For comparison, OEM size is 225/50-17 on 17x7, 55 offset.

You might want snow tires in the slightly narrower 215/55-17 size, and these fit great.  Just make sure your offset is 47 or 48, NOT the original 55, to ensure they don't rub the outside fenders as smaller offset wheels may do.

It actually raises the car up by about 1/4", and the tires look like they fit in there even better than the OEM tires/wheels.

 

Pics:

Rial Zamora on one side of C-Max,  and Monte Titano MT2 Pari on other side:

 

[plus 3 golfer]

...

And who will notice?  You can't see them at the same time, since they're on opposite sides of the car.

...

 

You will when you rotate tires. ;)

 

[MaxHeadroom]

You will when you rotate tires. ;)

 

 

Rotate  front to back only, not cross.  Also, and maybe its because I've owned BMWs & they don't recommend rotating tires, but I've not rotated tires on my '07 530xi, and also not for 4 years owning an '11 Camaro.  I got even wear with good alignments.

Its nice skipping that and just leaving them be!

Also, directional tires limit you to same-side only anyway.

[plus 3 golfer]

I doubt many will follow your logic to save a few $ with wheels that are not close to looking similar. 

[homestead]

Well if the goal is to save money, what is wrong with the stock wheels?

[dicko]

Weird!

[SnowStorm]

Well, it seems a hilarious idea - I wonder how long it would take for someone to notice?  Check out your dash - its not the same left/right either!

But you might want to rotate, at least front/back.  Some of us have had cupping problems with our tires and rotations are supposed to help prevent it.  My Michelin dealer rotates for free every 5000 miles since I bought a set from them.

[MaxHeadroom]

The psychology of it:  "I mean, seriously, how often do you really look at a mans shoes?"--The Shawshank Redemption

 

I'm wondering if the "Fast and Furious" punks do this(???).  I guess they might if they steal wheels at night!  I've seen junkyard divers run diff wheels,  front-to-back of course, either being people on a budget or they stole the wrong style.....

 

I doubt many will follow your logic to save a few $ with wheels that are not close to looking similar. 

$300 is more than "a few" to me, I guess pocket change to others.

I wouldn't like it if diff wheels were front and back, but side to side nobody knows (except people with exceptional powers-of-observation.....).

 

Well if the goal is to save money, what is wrong with the stock wheels?

These are snow tires, bought on sale in the off-season.  I like to keep tires intact and change all at home, avoiding mounting/balancing/cost of that.  Cheap steel wheels would have cost me about the same as getting these custom Al alloys on sale.  

Just buying more OEM wheels won't work for me, since OEM wheels are too heavy, cost way more ($180 each!), are too common (boring), and are not the right offset for slightly narrower 215 mm snow tires.

 

Well, it seems a hilarious idea - I wonder how long it would take for someone to notice?  Check out your dash - its not the same left/right either!

But you might want to rotate, at least front/back.  Some of us have had cupping problems with our tires and rotations are supposed to help prevent it.  My Michelin dealer rotates for free every 5000 miles since I bought a set from them.

That's right, especially on front-heavy cars like ours, it is OK to rotate front to back, same side, to even out the wear.  

Like BMW's philosophy though, if your tires are wearing too much on one side of the tread, or cupping, then get your suspension adjusted properly and tires balanced.  Its the cars I've had with near 50/50 weight distribution that allow no rotations, and by comparison, our C-Max's 58/42 is hard on front tires.

Cupping is more often caused by bad balance or shocks, creating bouncing & skip, definitely fixable.

Edited May 18, 2016 by MaxHeadroom

[stevedebi]

You will when you rotate tires. ;)

 

Plus 3, I've seen Why is this better than simply front to rear?

[plus 3 golfer]

Plus 3, I've seen Why is this better than simply front to rear?

I have no idea other than to even out wear.  Pulled from Ford Owner's Manual.  I've watched Ford dealer do a rotation on mine and this is what they do.

 

 

...

 

$300 is more than "a few" to me, I guess pocket change to others.

...

 

These are snow tires, bought on sale in the off-season.  I like to keep tires intact and change all at home, avoiding mounting/balancing/cost of that.  Cheap steel wheels would have cost me about the same as getting these custom Al alloys on sale.  

...

 

 

Cupping is more often caused by bad balance or shocks, creating bouncing & skip, definitely fixable.

 

MaxHeadroom,  next time "be clear" what you are trying to accomplish and you likely wouldn't have got some of the comments.  You never said you are using these for snow tires in your original post.  I'll bet most thought you were replacing your OEM wheels like I and Homestead did.  ;)

 

Also, the rear cupping which is being referred to appears to be related to rear camber not shocks or balance.  Rear camber is not adjustable on the C-Max. You need to replace hardware.  Someone did it and can't remember who ($200 or so IIRC)..    

Edited May 18, 2016 by Plus 3 Golfer

[Adrian_L]

Mickey Mouse..........on all levels.   Come on..... This is up there with the passenger door from a wrecking yard that is a completely different color from the car itself.   Nothing wrong with being eccentric, but don't expect thumbs up from everyone.

Edited May 18, 2016 by Adrian_L

[MaxHeadroom]

You never said you are using these for snow tires in your original post.  I'll bet most thought you were replacing your OEM wheels like I and Homestead did.  ;)

 

Also, the rear cupping which is being referred to appears to be related to rear camber not shocks or balance.  Rear camber is not adjustable on the C-Max. You need to replace hardware.  Someone did it and can't remember who ($200 or so IIRC)..    

Rotating tires is not a good solution to cure rear camber issues.  Definitely worth it to fix that with new suspension parts right away.

I think that's why many car makers simply recommend getting your suspension right and NOT rotating tires.

 

For those grumpy ones above, you don't have to do this.  And you can try to jail those you see who do.  Get a new law passed for it.

---- You also won't take advantage of half-off sales at TireRack.   $300 off is nice, and you're missing it.

 

I've liked the look of custom wheels on various cars.  For those reading here who have never heard of this appreciation, you should see what people spend on their BMWs and other cars, even lowly PT Cruisers, for example.   Sure our C-Max may be a mommy-mobile jelly bean, but it does look great with custom wheels too.

The moral of the story is:  You don't have to buy the low cost ugly steel wheels if you want winter mounts, that is if you can catch TireRack when they're having a closeout sale on remaining sparse stock.

 

And again, if you do this, watch those offset specs, widths, and weights to match.

 

Wish I would have thought of this years ago to have some fun, sale or not!   The growing trend now is to get colored wheels, either plastidipped, powder coated, or painted, different colors, so you could go with gold on one side, and another look on the other side.

Then just see who might notice.  Even drop hints like "Do you like the custom wheels?" or "What's different about my car?" to drop hints.

 

Plus 3 Golfer, I mentioned the snow tire motive in the original post, buried in the middle where you missed it.

[plus 3 golfer]

I see the reference to snow tires.  My bad.  

 

The "cupping" referred to (at least on my car and I think on most) was mostly slight inside edge tire wear on the rears with some slight diagonal cupping / feathering on the inside edges.  The issue was tire noise at 75+ mph.  Depending on the pavement (type and condition), the noise was unbearable at 48k miles.    The tires would have easily gone another 10-15 k miles and I would have left them on if most of my miles would have been say under 65 mph as the noise was definitely there but bearable.  Rotation was not to get rid of the "cupping" but to even tread wear so that all tires wore evenly (tread depth wise).

 

Ford would not do anything as the rear camber was in spec. when I asked about the noise issue at 27k miles.  Dealer simply rotates tires.  We'll see if the new tires fare any better.  No noise or abnormal wear at 20k miles.  I'm running 48 psi now and ran about 44 psi in the old tires.