2020 Transit, tyres and abs…

[A.J.M]

A friend has a 2020 Transit taxi with wheelchair ramp.
It drives nice and he’s happy with it bar the 17” alloys.

Because it’s on 17”, he can’t get LT tyres for it and it’s chewing through fronts at a rate of 6,500 miles for front left and 12,000 ish for front right.
The backs are still the original Continentals at 23k.

My works take delivery of a fleet of 2021 transits with 16” wheels.
They have Goodyear Vector 4 season Cargos in 235/65/16 115/113S and after 4K of use, the front lefts are still in as new condition.

I’ve suggested he drop from 17 to 16s and get a set of these tyres as not only will they last longer.
Being an all season tyre, it will give him better safety in winter months for driving.

He’s been told he can’t change as it will set off the abs sensors apparently.

Is this true or is he been spun a load of BS?

[AdeRacing]

With a big change in overall diameter I can see that the ABS ECU might get confused but I've never had an issue going from 17" alloys in the summer to 16" steels in the winter on my 2017 Transit.

The 16" wheels are 215/65 tyres whereas the 17" are 215/60. That makes about 0.5mph difference at 60mph and a diameter increase of about 3mm. I can't imagine the ABS is going to be bothered by that.

[colin79666]

With such a massive difference in wear across the front axel I’d start by getting the alignment checked. No point throwing new tyres on with the alignment being out of whack.