We’re willing to give Ford a pass for the somewhat vague?and dubious?claim that the factory winter-tire option it’s rolling out on the 2016 Focus RS is a North American “first,” because offering winter tires directly to customers seems to us a great way to get more folks to buy into winter tires. We’ve long spouted off about the benefits of winter tires, which offer drastically improved grip in snow, ice, and even on dry pavement when the mercury drops below 45 degrees Fahrenheit, and it’s neat to see a mainstream automaker like Ford put a fully mounted and balanced (on factory wheels, no less) winter-tire option right on the Focus RS’s order sheet.
The option costs $1995 and includes a set of aluminum wheels that look nearly the same as the RS’s standard 19-inch wheels but are slightly narrower and one-inch smaller in diameter. As Ford rightly points out, the winter wheels’ light color should hide the sort of seasonal grime that would have the RS’s stock, dark-gray wheels looking ratty after about five minutes in a Michigan winter. These sharp-looking rims are wrapped in 225/40R-18 Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4 winter tires, and the whole shebang arrives balanced and fitted with tire-pressure sensors. The set arrives in addition to the RS’s standard 19-inch wheels and summer tires?as in, one can swap between the two as the seasons change. In more-enlightened Canada, where in some places winter tires are legal...