Oh, great. Another tire thread.

Well, fret not. I'll try to keep this one short but informative. I had been in an exhaustive search online for anything used, 5x112 and not destructive to my wallet, and up until recently had not been too successful. I have, however, found a package that should work well, be affordable, and be versatile in a few ways. This set is a single size tire set, so all 4 can be rotated normally.

The nitty gritty:

215/50R-17 Yokohama IG20

Unique Series 83 5-112mm (72mm CB) Steel Wheels

10 (ea.) 12x1.50 23mm Shank Cone Seat, 17mm Hex Lug Bolts**

10 (ea.) 12x1.50 35mm Shank Cone Seat, 17mm Hex Lug Bolts**

2 (ea.) H&R (or equivalent) 15mm 5x112 Hubcentric Spacers

NOTE
** These were available only in sets of 20 from Rad USA. However, if you email them they will split sets at no additional charge.

APPLICATION
Stock tire dimension/fitment:
F: Circumference = 78.813in.......Offset = +35mm
R: Circumference = 81.769in.......Offset = +22mm

Winter package dimension/fitment
Circumference = 80.001.......Offset = +38.......Offset (R) w/ Spacers = +23mm

FITTING/TESTING
I found these fairly easy to mount with the aid of a screwdriver to line up everything including the spacers for the rear. The cone seat design takes more wrenching, however, to bring up to tq. spec. Leave a ratchet in the secret compartment under the trunk carpet to retighten these after 60 miles or so as the wheel will slightly form to them and loosen up. The rears actually sit slightly closer together even with the 15mm spacers. Anyone who wants them closer to the fender can probably go as high as 22 or 23mm; 25mm might be pushing it. Remember to factor in the extra length needed and add that to the 35mm bolt shank length for the rear. From a functionality standpoint, though, the rears sitting in toward the center more will increase stability and reduce rear end wag. You may also want to purchase dust caps for any hubs that do not have them, as these wheels do not have center caps. I decided against the TPMS sensors for these tires as they are designed to also run at low pressure in case of deep snow, so the dummy light would be illuminated anyway.

Road testing was performed on damp asphalt at city speeds and (mostly) dry concrete at highway speeds. The car tends to wander a bit more due to the high tread blocks of the tires. This does not worsen at highway speeds (even with a bit of crosswind, the car was still very predictable if not a little laggy to steering inputs). I felt a slight improvement once the spoiler deployed as it is pretty windy outside tonight. Expect cornering to be about 60% capability of summer tires with extra sidewall flex but a good feel of threshold. My car is completely stock, down to the stock air filter, Limited 6-speed. Even on the drier concrete 2nd gear and 3rd gear at WOT give the TCS plenty to do, and it will notify you as such on your cluster Road noise at speed is decently diminished vs. summer tires; most of the high frequency tire noise is gone due to the meaty soft rubber compound and tread design.

I have had plenty of experience with this tire in the snow on a FWD high HP application; it is one of the best out there for the price. If it snows again in MD this season I will post up additional info on traction, etc. Pictures to come as well!

I hope this helps anyone who is reluctant to swap tires on their stock wheels.

 

 

Good bit of info, but I am wondering why anyone would want to put those steelies on their XF? Most of us have simply put snow tires on the OEM wheels for the winter and some soft summer rubber on aftermarket wheels for the summer

A car that was $35-$50K brand new should not have black steelies for the winter, in my humble opinion...

 

I understand where you're coming from, but... Head to Germany any winter... You'll see 60K-80K BMWs and MBs with steelies on them as winter tires are a German requirement and steelies are cheap, strong, and will last through the corrosive conditions. The stock rears are just too wide and low profile to properly utilize snow tires IMO. I was actually looking for 205 section width but couldn't piece together a workable package. I also prefer the stock wheels for summer as I'm leaving the car in stock form.

 

I see where you are coming from, but I drove a XF with blizzak snow tires on OEM rims for 3 years in central Indiana, in sometimes as much as 5-6 inches of snow with no problems. As soon as the snow gets over the bumper, no tire on earth will keep you moving

 

With the same size tires and wheels all the way around, does your cruise control work?

 

That's a good question. I'll test on the way home from work and let you know. As far as I can tell the only CC release criteria are brake and clutch pedal travel or a sudden increase in RPM, like traversing a slippery patch from dry or shifting to N. I chose a size that is very near the rear wheel circumference to minimize the delta in speedometer readings between sets but will not be so large as to activate TCS while under low load. Through the drive in to work today I tested traction some more and I can audibly sense the drive wheels break traction on dry pavement just before TCS kicks in, so TCS is not activating unnecessarily.

 

Cruise control works perfectly at speeds from 35+ including accelerate and coast. Much to my delight I found you can even up- or downshift without it disengaging, it merely floats the RPM when the clutch is disengaged. Pics added to second post.