Whenever Mario and I have chosen wheels for our Fords, with only a few exceptions (my Rs, his CR Kais, etc) it has usually come down to the same brand: fifteen52.
Yes, we deal with fifteen52 a lot but the reason has always been rather simple – it’s because they make parts that we like. Their wheels specifically are affordable, they have some cool designs, and (importantly) they’re made for our less-than-ideal bolt patterns.
Given Mario had already owned a few sets of Tarmacs as well as a pair of Turbomacs, he took the opportunity to try something different for Selsun and so chose Integrales this time around. There was the option to have them in white just like my loaned set – which looked quite good against the Nitrous Blue, it has to be said – but Mario decided to order his in silver to tone them down just a touch instead.
With the wheels delivered and tires picked up it was time to head on over to the shop to not only see the new shoes go on the RS but also pick up mine since they’d no longer be needed. Of course, it was also an excuse to visit Gizmo.
As for the tires, Mario had picked up a used set of Michelin Pilot Alpins in 225/40R18 sizing – this is because the Integrales weren’t ordered to replace his OEM summers but rather the winters! The argument here is that given our cars spend about half of the year in winter mode, why not have some nice wheels for it?
Because the Integrales were to be used as winters Mario didn’t need to be concerned with any custom specs to achieve crazy fitment, so the off-the-shelf 18×8.5 +42 sizing was perfect; exactly the same that mine were.
Common sights for us: Fords on hoists (so that they can be First On Race Day, not because they were Found On Road Dead), and fifteen52s laying around.
With this being just a straight-forward wheel swap it wasn’t long before Selsun was sitting back on the ground, with all four of its new wheels and tires mounted…
…which I’m sure Gizmo appreciated, because he didn’t seem to be as interested in the process as we were. He probably just wanted to go home for food.
My Integrales were then quickly rinsed off before being loaded into the back of the Suburban to head home; I’m still a bit surprised at myself for how briefly I owned them, but while they looked good on Mustard, they truly suit the hatch.
The last and most important step of the process was naturally to roll the RS outside for a proper look at it with its new shoes, and grab a couple final photos before we all headed out. For a functional setup with the chunky (relatively speaking) winter tires, this was the perfect look for the car!
With some more new designs coming out from the team perhaps we’ll see some more fifteen52-branded boxes showing up in the future for these or other vehicles, but it hasn’t only been our little hatches (and sedan) receiving their offerings; Vlad is sporting a set of Turbomac HDs on his new Raptor (Vlad, I still need to shoot that thing properly!) and another set of Turbomac HDs recently arrived for a project my boss and I are working on…
Hey, we know what we like.
-Bill