Seeking lows - 20” tyre rating

T

T6_FunBus

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Hi guys,

For those running a drop of 90mm plus or air and 20’s, what tyres are you running?

I’m running 275 35 20’s on the arse 102 load rated, which I am OK with. The van is a t32 but basically is a day van, and is carrying the same weight as an empty t32!

On the front I want to go 245 40 20’s, and I am only seeing in decent brands (conti, bridgestone) 99y???

I’ve seen vans slammed on fancy wheels and narrow tyres, so what are people running?
 
Regardless of what you intend to carry, you must have wheels and tyres rated for the maximum plated weight. You probably already know that, but I'm just saying it at the top to save the thread filling up with a barrage of posts saying the same.

However, if you decide to do otherwise, then that's your choice.
 
Yep, I’ve seen a ton of posts where everyone comes out of the woodwork stating ‘you must have’ due to a badge on the van, and a number on the logbook. Yet the transporter world is full of people with skinny ferrari wheels, low profile tyres and slammed on air, and they are not all in jail or ended up in a hedge.

I do appreciate there are also a bunch of people who fit smaller steelies and larger profiles etc too to keep the load rating.

However, even the dealer I bought my van from fitted 102 tyres, which, I didn’t even realise until after a year of driving that a t32 should have 103’s. My van hasn’t exploded, its passed MOTs and the devil hasn’t appeared and sucked me down into oblivion. And I even mentioned wheels and tyres to the insurance company at renewal, they added to my list of ‘mods’ and they didn’t seem to have an opinion on the tyres.

The reality is, my van is unlikely to be more than 2ton, although I will be getting it on a weigh bridge soon, I pulled 60kg out of it, and added back in approx 80. Kerb weight of a 2016 panel van is 1976, so as I said unlikely to be much over 2 ton, and its cleary a dayvan not used to carry 1 ton of metal or brick.

So, what I really want to know is what tyres people with 20’s on air run? Because I can’t for the life of me find a 103 tyres in any profile for a 20 that would fit.

Cheers.
 
So I have actually just found a 103 275 35 20, in presumably what is an absolute dogshit brand, with probably about as much grip as a banana skin here:

transporterhq.co.uk

1x Royal Perfomance Road Tyre 275/35R20 103 (T32 Load Rated) - Tyres - Transporter HQ

Give your T5 or T6 the chunky swamper look with these Cooper All Terrain Tyres, Highly regarded as the best value for money all terrain tyres going. A really good compromise between them being noisy on the road, and good off road ability
transporterhq.co.uk transporterhq.co.uk

So I guess that must be much safer than a uniroyal or continental in a 2 ton van… either way, I wouldn’t touch those tyres with a barge pole.

A family member is in the police, so out of interest, I’m going to ask him if the plod would actually pull and check / care about a non-commercial use dayvan, as so far the delaer who sold it to me (a transporter ‘specialist’), MOT test centre and insurance company didn’t seem to care /shrugs shoulders.

Anyhow, original question still stands about people running air or even solows on 20’s.
 
Its your call, mine are 20x10 245 on the rear and 20x9 235 on the front. It won’t fail an MOT I have been told by my mate who is an MOT tester for McClaren.

I also contacted my insurance company to clarify their thoughts and have an email stating they do not take tyre walls into consideration, they always check tread in the case of an accident.

My LR is 96Y but then I never carry more than two passengers in my Kombi van.

Again it’s your call. Pics of my wheels and tyres below

972AE4DF-D8B2-46F5-A888-52E74B326493.jpeg

FE729532-02C2-4C8E-AA39-E52A34622005.jpeg
 
Thanks guys, are nankangs any good these days? Me and my pals in the early noughties always called them Nankang Ditchfinders lol

My main concern is getting a tyre that I have confidence in providing excelent levels of grip, whilst fitting on my 90mm drop and 20’s, as if I can’t get a decent brand that is a 103, I’d much rather have a ‘safe’ tyre even if its a 101 / 102 that stops me, goes round corners and allows for emergency manoeuvres than one that says 103 on the sidewall but slides or understeers me into oncoming traffic.

I’d be happy with a 245 40 20 on the front, as thats pretty much identical to a 275 35 20 on the arse.

Texxaco, thanks for providing the info, your van looks awesome btw, loving the pink callipers too :)
 
Nankangs are considered a good mid range brand now.
Sooner have Nankang than Accelera that a lot seem to fit. No point in spending on top brands as it ain’t no race car.
 
To be fair, it has been 20 years since I’ve looked into nankangs. At the moment I have ‘FORTUNE’ tyres on lol, kindly provided by the dealer that fitted the wheels, and even though I’ve not had any problems per se, I have no confidence in them!
 
T6_FunBus said:
Hi guys,

For those running a drop of 90mm plus or air and 20’s, what tyres are you running?

I’m running 275 35 20’s on the arse 102 load rated, which I am OK with. The van is a t32 but basically is a day van, and is carrying the same weight as an empty t32!

On the front I want to go 245 40 20’s, and I am only seeing in decent brands (conti, bridgestone) 99y???

I’ve seen vans slammed on fancy wheels and narrow tyres, so what are people running?
Click to expand...
In my experience you have to go a bit off piste brand wise for the higher weight loading on the lower profile tyres. I went for Sunny 255/35R20 102w XL on mine front and rear. Originally had 275/40R20 106w XLs on. Had the suspension lowered to compensate for less tyre wall height. Very happy with them so far.
 
I’ve used Kuhmo’s and Nankangs for the last 12 years and they’ve been fine. No issues of uneven wear or losing grip in the wet. That’s both on my vans and cars.
 
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