Brilliant thanks the confirmation Chris. Why do van style sell them with those tyres? Wish I had bought the rims only and sourced my own tyres as it looks like I have two brand new tyres which are the wrong size
Phoned van style, they seem to think the front tyres would be fine, in fairness said I could return them no problem although I’m not convinced
seen some p zeros in a 245/45 that I’ll probably get for the front and as JOG said keep the others as spares for the rears
Thanks for everyone’s comments
Vanstyle aren't wrong as such to say they would be fine, those tyres aren't going to fail you and lead to an immediate accident, but they're not ideal on a wheel that is only 8.5" wide. The 275/40 is also pretty big on diameter, so it'll mean the speedo reading changes and the odometer is recording an inaccurate mileage. We're talking something like 5% difference from the standard size, so not major, but it's something they won't tell you.
In answer to the question of why do they fit them, well, the simple answer is money. The 275/40 is a standard RR size and as such is readily available from a massive number of manufacturers, including all the really, really cheap budget brands that you never even knew existed. This means that companies supplying wheel and tyre packages can keep their prices as low as possible and seem really attractive to the customer. It's a size that is load rated for all vans including T32, so it ticks a lot of boxes for some sellers.
I've seen vans come to the cave for lowering with 275/40 tyres fitted and even at only 45mm lowering they've rubbed on the inner arch liner on full lock, even at slow speeds without any compression of the suspension due to bumps etc. That's easy enough to solve when it's a small amount, but if you're lower than that they are highly likely to rub and may do so too much to be able to cure using the usual little mods. The 275/40 width and profile are just too big for lowered vans really.
A 265/40 is, generally speaking, a better size to fit, they're also load rated up to and including T32 vans, they are slightly closer to standard diameter, but the negative for some companies is that they're a more expensive size and there aren't so many really cheap budget options.
For staggered setups on a T32 though, there's not much wrong with fitting the 275/40 on the 10" rears and a 245/45 on the 8.5" fronts. The fronts are a similar diameter, but the narrower width helps to avoid rubbing problems, unless you start going really low. You're also still meeting the load rating requirements on the fronts with a 103 rating.
Cheers,
Chris.
