18" winter tires and wheels

[krewat]

Am I batty for wanting to do this?

Put a set of Goodyear Ultra Grip GW-3 winter tires on a stock set of 18" rims so my SHO will be more sure-footed during the winter?

(found a set of 2015 Taurus 18" wheels for $400 with less then 1500 miles on 'em)

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Goodyear&tireModel=Eagle+Ultra+Grip+GW-3&partnum=455VR8UGGW3&i1_Qty=4&autoMake=Ford&autoModel=Police Interceptor&autoYear=2015&autoModClar=Sedan&vehicleSearch=true

For anyone not in the know on these tires, they are specifically for the Police Interceptor it seems.

Anyone ever use these tires and have some real-world experience with them on a SHO?

 

[Terryy]

I have them on my Ecoboost Police Interceptor-(poor mans SHO).
I like them so far--good grip wet and dry. Full throttle/boost shifts in the rain have a twitch of torque steer but otherwise so far have been great.
Really heavy rain a few times and they don't seem to hydroplane going thru relatively shallow but noticeable standing water at 70 or so.
Haven't seen winter yet here but the cops love them in snow apparently.

 

[krewat]

Thanks, that's generally what I thought of them just reading the specs. I've been through this before with Goodyear tires (the only things I use on my passenger cars), and they usually live up to my expectations.

The one time I was a little let-down was a set of Aquatreds I put my '96 t-bird Sport. The handling left something to be desired compared to the Eagle GT's it had on it, but in terms of traction, they were awesome in anything. Illegal speeds in pouring rain were never an issue

 

[JimC]

Quick question on snow tires. I have a set mounted on 18" wheels from a 2011 Mustang. I traded my 2013 Mustang for my SHO, does anyone know if the Mustang wheels fit the SHO?

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

 

[krewat]

So as an update, got these mounted and balanced on Saturday, installed on Sunday. Drove to work for two days now, and ...

what a tire. In deep water, they didn't fight me, they just plowed right through.

Handling wise, as you can guess, they aren't the same as the Supercar F1's - but - they are passable. They do slide a bit more in dry AND wet conditions - again, to be expected because the rubber is harder.

But at high speed (say 70+) they are not scary and are well planted even if they do give less feedback than the F1's.

I bought them from Tire Rack for around $176 each. The tire place I brought them do does a lot of commercial stuff - and police cars. He immediately recognized the tire, and called them "pursuit tires" a lot. I asked if I could have gotten even close on the price through him, but he said no, they are some kind of flat-rate pricing for "government".

The rims I got were missing the TPMS sensors. Had to go run to Ford on a Saturday to get them, at the cost of $76/each ($90 list). What's another $300+ (sheesh).

Side note, first drive into work with my 20 year old daughter in the car (she attends the college I work for), a blue Ford Focus with an idiot at the wheel spun out on the 3-lane highway, went right into the side of a box truck, and then slammed head-first into the concrete divider right in front of me. Thankfully, I noticed him just starting to slide as he cut in front of someone and I was already backing off the gas just in case. I easily braked to avoid him. I think he had bald back tires, the car had absolutely no traction on wet pavement. I was in the HOV lane. I slowly picked my way through the debris so as not to damage my new tires, so I could get a look and see that the guy was conscious and already dialing 911. Phew...

And then I told my daughter, "See? That's why I didn't want you using your laptop in the front seat - If I hadn't been able to avoid him, the air bag would have thrown that thing right into your skull". Lesson learned for her