Falken Wildpeak A/T 215/65/16

[connectvanplans]

TL;DR: They fit. Really fill out the wheel-well nicely. Credit to jrm223 for his feedback with the General Grabber AT2s - with that post and comparing tire specs - I was pretty confident I wouldn't have any problems with the 215/65/16 sizing.

 

 

So after an extended camping/road trip, I decided the ContiProContacts were just not going to cut it anymore. Too low and too harsh of a ride off the tarmac. Actively dodging most minor imperfection in the road just gets old too, and although the van corners better than it has a right too, I'm still not sure how much I am willing to attribute to the stock rubber vs the suspension design. Enter wheel and tire package from tirerack.

 

Between the Grabbers, Geolanders, and Wildpeak tires (KO2s too spendy), the reviews trickling in for the Wildpeaks looked promising and the price was right. Running the difference from the rev/mile calcs, these would only result in ~4.6% speedometer error which is less than the Grabbers for this size. Sold.

Since the tire weight was increasing roughly 7 lbs over stock, I looked for the lightest rim to try and mitigate the weight penalty in addition to aesthetics. The selection in the 16x7 category is not the greatest, but I managed to find something in the 18 lb range that suited me.

 

I was curious how theoretical weights measured up to the actuals:

 

Old

 

New

 

Only ~4.5 lbs heavier, not too bad!

 

One thing I didn't account for was the TPMS sensors! Honestly didn't know or think that the base model FTC would have them, but I see now it's a pesky general vehicle requirement these days.

Thankfully, the genius(es) at forscan.org in their infinite benevolence grant free access to their incredible OBDII scanner and Ford OEM module (re)programmer. Totally an aside comment, but the last time I booted into forscan was 2018 shortly after getting the van, and after updating the software it looks like they added even more features to the user-friendly "main" programming interface. In any case, they had made it super easy to enter any custom tire rolling circumference AND disable the TPMS system saving me a tough choice between putting up with an annoying alert and constant indicator light or shelling out for sensors, an install, and a re-mount/balance (as freaking if!).

 

Ford had the OEM tire at 1955mm and I had calculated 1960mm from the specs, similarly calculated 2055mm with the Wildpeaks, so I used 2050mm to mirror this minor discrepancy.

 

I think I'll end this with another Forscan endorsement because it's just that good. Frankly, I believe the customization and control it affords owners is an ability that should come WITH the vehicle, but this is the next best thing. I've since used it to disable approach mode (god-awful feature that turns on exterior lighting when door(s) are opened), turn off the annoying DRLs (I can turn on my own headlights when I wish to thank you very much), and now calibrate the speedometer to the new tires and disable the TPMS that I never wanted to begin with.

Oh and how do the tires ride? I've gained 0.9 inches in ride-height elevation and the ride quality is greatly improved. The Wildpeaks corner well too from my initial impression, but I still need to test near-limit cornering and 60+mph road noise (sub-50 might have been quieter than stock).

 

Edited August 24, 2020 by connectvanplans

[jrm223]

You should gain 0.45 inches in ride height - remember that half of the tire is above the hub, lol. I think I had calculated a difference of 5.9% based on the mileage that my GPS said the drive between my two properties should be. But when I drove my step van home this weekend, I noted the trip mileage as being slightly less than what GPS had told me before, so I'll actually be recalculating the % difference next time I drive my TC to my other house (rather, calculating it home from my other property) since I always drive the same route. That might be a few weeks, though. The good news is that would mean my MPG's may actually be slightly better than I've thought, although very marginal, haha. It's probably not enough to even worry about, though. 70MPH x 5.9% is 74.13 and 70 x your 4.6% is 73.22MPH; my GPS shows 74 to sometimes 75MPH when my dash shows 70, so my ratio is at least pretty dang close to accurate for my tires. 

 

Since you changed the speedometer settings, I'd recommend a test run for a known distance (longer the better, for accuracy, my route is 83.9 miles per my other truck) and compare the tripmeter "traveled distance" to the "known" distance. That's how I originally calculated mine, but there's also quite a few turns along my route, which could be the cause of the discrepancy I noticed this weekend when driving my other truck home - assuming that it is truly accurate, of course. But that truck/step-van runs stock size 8R19.5 tires, so at least it's all still factory-spec. As mentioned, I'll find that out next time I drive home from my other house, lol. I left the factory settings alone because there was only a drop-down menu with maybe 4-5 sizes in Forscan when I had tried to do it way back when and none were big enough.

I notice your tread pattern is a lot less aggressive than my Grabbers (which are BFG AT copies), so those tires should be pretty quiet, I bet. The Grabbers aren't terrible, but I've also had trucks with fairly aggressive MT's before, so it's all relative.

[mrtn]

Oh damn. I wonder if ForScan allows me to turn off the annoying "SERVICE BELTMINDER" message I get occasionally. Can't check right away as I'm on a Mac.

[connectvanplans]

1 hour ago, jrm223 said:

You should gain 0.45 inches in ride height - remember that half of the tire is above the hub
...
I notice your tread pattern is a lot less aggressive than my Grabbers (which are BFG AT copies), so those tires should be pretty quiet, I bet. The Grabbers aren't terrible, but I've also had trucks with fairly aggressive MT's before, so it's all relative.

One thing - correct me if I'm wrong but (27.1 in/2) - (25.3 in/2) = +0.9 in ride height.

Definitely, I'll try a GPS speedometer soon to compare.

About the tread pattern too - yeah man, that was definitely a factor too going with a less aggressive tread to keep the noise down.

[connectvanplans]

18 minutes ago, mrtn said:

Oh damn. I wonder if ForScan allows me to turn off the annoying "SERVICE BELTMINDER" message I get occasionally. Can't check right away as I'm on a Mac.

Couldn't tell ya without getting into it, but there are a LOT of parameters in the "Central configuration (Main)" module that can be modified.

 

Forscan also let's you clear DTC (Diagnostic Trouble Codes) too, although that wouldn't keep them from coming back after whatever interval the reminder is programmed for.

[connectvanplans]

mrtn -

 

wait are you talking about the reminder for the buckling the driver or passenger seat belt and accompanying indicator light? If you are, I have that disabled too with Forscan so you definitely can. Forgot to mention originally that was another thing I changed!

[mrtn]

6 minutes ago, connectvanplans said:

wait are you talking about the reminder for the buckling the driver or passenger seat belt and accompanying indicator light? If you are, I have that disabled too with Forscan so you definitely can. Forgot to mention originally that was another thing I changed!

 

No, just the error message "SERVICE BELTMINDER" I get occasionally. The dealer does not want to have anything to do with diagnosing it. So whatever diagnostic brings it up during startup needs to be killed.

 

(sorry for thread hijack. nice wheels btw.)

[jrm223]

Yea, you're right on the height difference, my bad, lol. For some reason, I was thinking that the difference was only about an inch total, just had to go double-check the original diameter and it does show 25.3" like you're saying. My van still scrapes the damn front bumper in areas, even with the taller tires; just sticks out too far & low even though it's higher than some of my friends sedan bumpers. 

[JJordan]

Nice tire choice!! Thought I was the only one who took the chance on bigger tires. I had to plead with the dealership ,after I did all the measuring myself, to get them to put them on. I literally had to sign a waiver, wtf. Definitely made a better driving experience and not having to worry about damage when a dead squirrel is in the middle of the road. Jk

[Fifty150]

20 hours ago, JJordan said:

I had to plead with the dealership

 

20 hours ago, JJordan said:

I literally had to sign a waiver

 

 

Why didn't you just buy the tires from a tire shop, or a Wal*Mart?

[jrm223]

Walmart will not mount oversize tires on these vans because of liability. I ordered my General Grabbers from them, then ended up having to take the tires to another regular tire shop to get mounted. At least the dealership gave him a release/waiver of liability to sign instead of sending him elsewhere.