Today's new cars are way overpowered...

[Gale Hawkins]

We drive older stuff and just last week I picked up a 2006 Ford Five Hundred (Ford Taurus name 2005-2007) with 3.0L V6 and 110K miles. This was my first FWD car in 40 years. It needed tires so I went to the shop and a car dealer had just traded in a set for Arctic Claw snow tires that are new like for $125 mounted and balance. We have a road trip to St. Paul MN next week so I said put them one. That night it came like a 3" snow and that car did the best at starting and stopping control wise that I have ever driven. The traction control feature is awesome.

At low speeds I can hear a little roar but a 17" set of four for $125 they sound might fine.

Doing a transmission bucket flush but to never have been changed it was not that bad looking. The inside of the engine looking through the oil cap hole is the cleanest I have ever bought that was 10 years old. Was was the wife's car of a Ford car salesman and serviced every 5K miles at the Ford dealership.

While the 200 HP V6 is considered underpowered by many I am adjusting to getting up to 30 MPG on open roads.

This is my first set of snow tires ever and are not needed that much in the western tip of KY. Not sure if I will get another set of wheels for summer tires or just wear them out. Hopefully they are OK for rain. Not being over powered may help more with all around traction.

 

[MossRoad]

We drive older stuff and just last week I picked up a 2006 Ford Five Hundred (Ford Taurus name 2005-2007) with 3.0L V6 and 110K miles. This was my first FWD car in 40 years. It needed tires so I went to the shop and a car dealer had just traded in a set for Arctic Claw snow tires that are new like for $125 mounted and balance. We have a road trip to St. Paul MN next week so I said put them one. That night it came like a 3" snow and that car did the best at starting and stopping control wise that I have ever driven. The traction control feature is awesome.

At low speeds I can hear a little roar but a 17" set of four for $125 they sound might fine.

Doing a transmission bucket flush but to never have been changed it was not that bad looking. The inside of the engine looking through the oil cap hole is the cleanest I have ever bought that was 10 years old. Was was the wife's car of a Ford car salesman and serviced every 5K miles at the Ford dealership.

While the 200 HP V6 is considered underpowered by many I am adjusting to getting up to 30 MPG on open roads.

This is my first set of snow tires ever and are not needed that much in the western tip of KY. Not sure if I will get another set of wheels for summer tires or just wear them out. Hopefully they are OK for rain. Not being over powered may help more with all around traction.

One thing about snow tires is they don't tend to perform that well in summer and in rain. I'm considering snow tires for our Impala, but I'm just going to go with all season radials again. We've never been stuck in the snow, so why switch now.

On a side note, there's an on line company called The Tire Rack. They started here and have a huge warehouse here (and several others around the country) and their company headquarters. They do a lot of tire testing. Last week we had some snow and they were out packing it down with a roller on their test track. However it warmed up and rained, so I don't know if they got to test. Anyhow, when they say they've tested tires, they really have tested them.

Here's their website...
tire tack

And here's a google view of their warehouse, corporate headquarters and test track.
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.7281963,-86.3509026,628m/data=!3m1!1e3

The track is pretty neat. They have pop-up sprinklers around it to soak the track for wet testing, too.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I agree all season is the best route for most. We live near the Mississippi River in KY. Unlike this past week many winters we do not get enough snow to bury all of the grass in the yard. I am going to be looking for a set of 17" rims that will fit my 2006 Ford 500 (Taurus) so I can just put these back on each Dec and put them the first of April.

The fact I was short on cash from buying the car, heading to St. Paul MN in two weeks and they were like a $500 set of tires for $125 with new like tread made picking them up easier. A local used car dealer had picked some used car out of MI and did not think snow tires labelled in big letters stating Arctic Claws Winter would help him pass it off as a local car so he did a trade with my tire dealer for a so so set of used tires.

At low speeds they do roar a bit but nothing bad especially I am not wearing my hearing aids.

I am really enjoying the Ford Five Hundred. Tomorrow we will finish the transmission bucket flush. The required Mobil 3309 ATF came Wednesday. I am putting 200-300 miles on it with the Seafoam Trans Tune in the transmission. Using my first Lubegard Red and my first response is it is awesome for better shifting. The temps are to be 60F tomorrow too.

On the subject of engine power being 65 I find Wide Open Throttle (WOT) take off RPM shift points being programmed to occur at 6200 RPM as way over the top say compared to the 454 Big Block in the motor home that at WOT take offs shift at 4000 RPM's. This 3.0L Ford is not too strong at 1500 RPM but at 3000-6000 RPM it is screaming in more than just sound. With the 6 speed Aisin Warner AWF21 transmission it will get into 6th gear and locked up at a very low RPM and at 30 MPG on open roads doing 55 at about 1700 RPM's. The 454 will only get 10 MPG going down a mountain.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I agree all season is the best route for most. We live near the Mississippi River in KY. Unlike this past week many winters we do not get enough snow to bury all of the grass in the yard. I am going to be looking for a set of 17" rims that will fit my 2006 Ford 500 (Taurus) so I can just put these back on each Dec and put them the first of April.

The fact I was short on cash from buying the car, heading to St. Paul MN in two weeks and they were like a $500 set of tires for $125 with new like tread made picking them up easier. A local used car dealer had picked some used car out of MI and did not think snow tires labelled in big letters stating Arctic Claws Winter would help him pass it off as a local car so he did a trade with my tire dealer for a so so set of used tires.

At low speeds they do roar a bit but nothing bad especially I am not wearing my hearing aids.

I am really enjoying the Ford Five Hundred. Tomorrow we will finish the transmission bucket flush. The required Mobil 3309 ATF came Wednesday. I am putting 200-300 miles on it with the Seafoam Trans Tune in the transmission. Using my first Lubegard Red and my first response is it is awesome for better shifting. The temps are to be 60F tomorrow too.

On the subject of engine power being 65 I find Wide Open Throttle (WOT) take off RPM shift points being programmed to occur at 6200 RPM as way over the top say compared to the 454 Big Block in the motor home that at WOT take offs shift at 4000 RPM's. This 3.0L Ford is not too strong at 1500 RPM but at 3000-6000 RPM it is screaming in more than just sound. With the 6 speed Aisin Warner AWF21 transmission it will get into 6th gear and locked up at a very low RPM and at 30 MPG on open roads doing 55 at about 1700 RPM's. The 454 will only get 10 MPG going down a mountain.

 

[turnkey4099]

I agree all season is the best route for most. We live near the Mississippi River in KY. Unlike this past week many winters we do not get enough snow to bury all of the grass in the yard. I am going to be looking for a set of 17" rims that will fit my 2006 Ford 500 (Taurus) so I can just put these back on each Dec and put them the first of April.

The fact I was short on cash from buying the car, heading to St. Paul MN in two weeks and they were like a $500 set of tires for $125 with new like tread made picking them up easier. A local used car dealer had picked some used car out of MI and did not think snow tires labelled in big letters stating Arctic Claws Winter would help him pass it off as a local car so he did a trade with my tire dealer for a so so set of used tires.

At low speeds they do roar a bit but nothing bad especially I am not wearing my hearing aids.

I am really enjoying the Ford Five Hundred. Tomorrow we will finish the transmission bucket flush. The required Mobil 3309 ATF came Wednesday. I am putting 200-300 miles on it with the Seafoam Trans Tune in the transmission. Using my first Lubegard Red and my first response is it is awesome for better shifting. The temps are to be 60F tomorrow too.

On the subject of engine power being 65 I find Wide Open Throttle (WOT) take off RPM shift points being programmed to occur at 6200 RPM as way over the top say compared to the 454 Big Block in the motor home that at WOT take offs shift at 4000 RPM's. This 3.0L Ford is not too strong at 1500 RPM but at 3000-6000 RPM it is screaming in more than just sound. With the 6 speed Aisin Warner AWF21 transmission it will get into 6th gear and locked up at a very low RPM and at 30 MPG on open roads doing 55 at about 1700 RPM's. The 454 will only get 10 MPG going down a mountain.

I have the 2005 500, not sure of the motor but I suspect it is a small one. Gotta wind it up to get up to highway speed. Yep, cruising it locks up and will stay there at highway speed until the grade gets rather steep. What I don't like is when pulling a hill and it shifts down, it will go from 6 to 4, skipping right over 5.

Wheels. Mine 2005 came with 17" wheels. I askedthem to shift them back to my set of good 16". No go, 16" wheels wouldn't clear some of hte brake stuff.

Tire: I agree that if the car is going to live on pavement or good gravel roads, all season is all that is needed. I figure that if conditions are soo bad all-season won't do it, I need to be in my truck or better yet just stay home. Used to be bad snow conditions all winter long here. Haven't seen that but once in the last 20 years and even then it ended by middle January..

I bought the car new in 2005, it just last month turned over 70,000. Been serviced per the schedule at ford shop all its life. Doesn't cost much more than at a quick lube. Purchased it as both me and my wife (deceased 2014) were up in years and 'climbing down into a hole' to get into the regular cars was just too much. the 500 sets higher, one basicall can just turn around and sit down.

Harry K

 

[MossRoad]

If you're looking for a 2nd set of rims, a pick-your-part auto parts yard is a good place to find exact matches for your car.

 

[5030]

I run Winterforce radials year around now. Wear good, great traction on dirt roads (I live on a dirt / mud road. Fantastic in the snow. I mount and balance my own, I own a tire machine.

 

[arrow]

What ever happened to the 413 ahead of a 747 ?

It disappeared in 1979 and by then it was only in trucks. It was used mostly to power Chryslers big luxury barges and teamed up with the venerable and bullet proof 727 tranny. Because at a certain time it was Chryco's largest displacement motor, it was given some performance treatment and had a cross over ram manifold with two 4 barrels sold for drag racing in the late 50's and early 60's. Richard Petty also played around with it for a while. This motor actually put out more HP than the hemi 392 as it came from the factory.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Harry the fact the 500's (2005-2007 only years sold before mods and name change to Taurus) are first generation (1998-2006) Volvo S80 chassis's with Ford 3.0L engines and the Aisin Warner AWF21 transmissions used by many cars in Europe and Asia that is owned in part by Toyota. It is very good but being a 6 speed it does shift more than a 4 speed for sure but is in part how they can get up to 30 MPG on the open road.

Being messed up with arthritis getting in and out of the wife's old towncar was the reason I was looking for another pickup to replace my dying blazer. When I read Five Hundred Ford set was 4.5 inches higher than the average I left the office and went to look at one where I was looking at a 2001 Sport Trac. The 500 fit me and gives me the best vision ever. It fits my 6'4" son as well.

Our 2006 looks clean all around and today I had the bottom side checked out and it actually looks new like being a TN car. It turned out to be the SEL version so the leather seats helps me side in and out better. I am going to keep my eye out for another one down the road. The towncar (2000 with 175K miles) is now kind of a back up car since we have four drivers. Some how the 18 year old twins are putting about 2000 miles a month on their trucks but a trip to town and back will rack up 50 miles to Mayfield or Murray or 100 miles to Paducah KY.

The Ford dealer gave $3K for it clean with 110K miles and I gave $5K and about all it needed was tires. We both would have been $1000 ahead if we would have talked before he traded. Well not really because if it had not been on the dealers lot I would most likely found it but their website promoted it well. The wife drove the car but when purchased the husband sold Fords and the dealership serviced it every 5K miles and it has a new like Ford battery for example. It does have new like rotors and pads but it was done by a private one man shop and they used the best quality from Auto Zone because the shop owner worked there once and still go parts wholesale. Looking down the oil fill hole the aluminum metal is bright and shiny with not film build up at all. The timing chain is the same way with not brown varnish look. I am going to keep using the same Ford oil for sure.

In 2008 Ford messed with the Volvo S80 chassis suspension some and redid the nose on them and later swelled the rear ends. I had a 1966 Comet, the 2000 TC and now this Ford. I am in love with my 500 in less than two weeks. I see some with over 200K miles on them so I am hoping this one will go for another 5-10 years.

Tomorrow with temps to be 61F I am going to pull off the transmission cooler exit hose and pump the fluid to a 5 gallon bucket until it runs red. I have 12 quarts of the Mobil 3309 ATF that Ford (actually Aisin Warner) requires. I will set four aside to top off with so that will let me refill the transmission twice pushing out about 3 gallons when it only holds two gallons so it should be quite red. Next week I will get a Ford oil change (actually cheaper than the Quik Lube place I have used for 20 years) and we should be ready to head to St Paul MN next Saturday morning.

What color is your 500? I think all 500's have the same 3.0L V6. Some were all wheel drive with the Constant Variable Transmission. Long term most prefer our 6 speed transmission from what I can read.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

The Arctic Claw Winter TXI M&S tires do roar some especially at 20 miles and below. I am not off of paved roads generally but being physically limited I love the way they start and stop on snow. It snowed 12 hours after I got them installed so I tested them the next day.

My rims look like new and if I do go with another set that look good I may just leave these tires mounted. It would be nice to find some great tires/wheels already mounted at a great price.

It is good to know others have ran M&S ok year round. As a kid dad kept two mounted snow tires to using each winter and when they got really worn he just ran them the next summer and replaced them by December. Back then they looked more like mud grips.