Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Wheels & Tires Stock KDW Size Unavailability?

My father's SVT recently hit a pothole and blew out one of his brand new KDWs in the stock size. He called the tirerack and a few other tire places and he's been told that they're back-ordered or no longer being produced in that size.

Has anybody else seen this? It's turning out to be a real problem since there are no other tires that I'm aware of in that size, meaning he has to go to 205 or 225 and ends up replacing a second tire to balance things out.

I also run the stock KDWs on my SVT and this sort of thing worries me since a flat could mean I have to replace two tires.

The BFG Comp T/A VR4's come in that size.

They're not as good as the KDW, but quieter. I kinda figured out that the KDW's were being discontinued as the price this year was much higher than last.

Only problem with the VR4 is that it's an all season tire and it will really stand out aesthetically.

Your dad is in Montreal? I got a new set of stock size KDW's about a month ago. However two came from Calgary, one from Vancouver, and the last from...Montreal. Sorry about that, I used your Dad's spare. I may have got the last 4 KDW's in Canada for the SVT.

Actually Ottawa - I'm in Montreal. Actually, he just got his 4 over a month ago in Ottawa without a hitch. Might have reconsidered if he had known about the low availability.

Harry-

I tried to get a stock size KDW a couple of weeks ago. Frisby nere in Ottawa put me in touch with BFG Canada in Mississauga, and they could not find a 215/50/16 anywhere in Canada. They did not say anything about "not making them anymore," but then again, I didn't ask either.

I ended up buying four 225/50/16s. BFG and Frisby gave me a good deal on three of the tires, pro-rated according to the wear. I paid 246 for one, and 140 apiece for the other three.

Still, I'd rather have bought just one tire.

The 225s are nice...much more aggressive-looking tread pattern. Apparently, the SVT Contour OE size has a unique pattern in the KDW line.
Your father might be able to get a second-hand tire in the OE size...call the Queensdale Avenue Frisby location.

Hmm... shouldn't Ford be doing something about this? Or am I just crazy. Seems like if this tire ( KDW 215/50/16 ) is OE, they should be doing something like paying BFG to keep producing them, or paying us to put different rubber on our cars. What about the safety aspects? ( And yes, I'm aware that most are running 225s w/o problems, etc... )

--JamesT

Well, the G-Force was only OE on the 99+ model years. Prior to that all SVTs ran with 205/55s. This is what mine originally came with but I more recently upgraded to the BFGs in stock config for the fact that the sticker on the tire says: "Designed specifically for the Ford SVT Contour". Just found out that if I get a flat I'll have to replace at least two of them.

Can anyone confirm for sure that they are discontinued? I was just wondering yesterday when I'll need new tires. They look original but seem to have plenty of trend left. The car has 31k miles on it, and I know at least 3-4k of those I drove with snows on last winter. Got the car with 24k on it so I don't know what happened before that.
My plan if I can't replace them would be to get the SVT Focus wheels and get a set of KDW's in the Focus' stock size of 215/45/17. That size should fit ok on the contour, no?

-CtrAltDel

I got new KDW's 2 months ago. They didn't look like they were brand new, kind of faded like they were sitting around for a while, definitely not like when I got my snow tires. Now all the online stores seem to indicate out of stock.