Pipedream72
Member
Folks, have just picked up my first van and eagerly trying to choose some alloys and figure out what tyres I need. Van is a T32, so have quickly discovered the limitations around load rating, wheel width, offsets etc.
To try to get my head around the tyre options I knocked together a little spreadsheet which compares the stock 17" Highline wheels and their 215/60 tyres vs a 20" wheel with different widths/profiles. My objective was to get to the best balance of -
1) Choosing a tyre that looks good but doesn't turn the van into a boneshaker
2) Trying to match the width of the tyre to the equivalency table that @StudleyGlass posted above
3) Trying to minimise misread on the speedo.
Here is spreadie -
The stock 17" wheel/tyre is shown in yellow. Any tyre width that doesn't appear to be sold (I only checked BlackCircles) with 103+ rating is red, so that just leaves the green rows as possibilities.
Based on my criteria above, the 265/40 appears to be the clear favourite......the profile looks good given that its slightly lower than 275/40 (which seems to be widely recommended) but not so low that its uncomfortable. The mis-read on the speedo is the best as well (under-read of about 4.4%) compared to the other green rows. And lastly the 265 width appears to be closer to what is recommended for rim widths of 8.5 or 9 (which I believe most 20" rims have). I'm also thinking that a 265 tyre presumably is gonna give you slightly more leeway when it comes to wheel arch rubbing concerns?
That leaves me wondering why do lots of people seem suggest going for 275/40 rather than 265/40 when on the face of it the 265/40 appears better on a number of fronts? Am I missing something?
@BognorMotors I saw you were going to try out 265/40 tyres. Did you come to any conclusions? Apologies if I've missed it.
Cheers for any help.
To try to get my head around the tyre options I knocked together a little spreadsheet which compares the stock 17" Highline wheels and their 215/60 tyres vs a 20" wheel with different widths/profiles. My objective was to get to the best balance of -
1) Choosing a tyre that looks good but doesn't turn the van into a boneshaker
2) Trying to match the width of the tyre to the equivalency table that @StudleyGlass posted above
3) Trying to minimise misread on the speedo.
Here is spreadie -
The stock 17" wheel/tyre is shown in yellow. Any tyre width that doesn't appear to be sold (I only checked BlackCircles) with 103+ rating is red, so that just leaves the green rows as possibilities.
Based on my criteria above, the 265/40 appears to be the clear favourite......the profile looks good given that its slightly lower than 275/40 (which seems to be widely recommended) but not so low that its uncomfortable. The mis-read on the speedo is the best as well (under-read of about 4.4%) compared to the other green rows. And lastly the 265 width appears to be closer to what is recommended for rim widths of 8.5 or 9 (which I believe most 20" rims have). I'm also thinking that a 265 tyre presumably is gonna give you slightly more leeway when it comes to wheel arch rubbing concerns?
That leaves me wondering why do lots of people seem suggest going for 275/40 rather than 265/40 when on the face of it the 265/40 appears better on a number of fronts? Am I missing something?
@BognorMotors I saw you were going to try out 265/40 tyres. Did you come to any conclusions? Apologies if I've missed it.
Cheers for any help.
@Pipedream72 I been struggling for 2 months to make my mind up as to which wheel and tyre combination to go for.....finally I'm now waiting for my tyres to be fitted (Sunday) onto my rims. I've gone 265/40/20 on a 8.5 rim for the front and a 275/40/20 on a 9.5j rear.....with front ET25 and the rear being ET35...so fingers crossed I have no rubbing issues once the B14s have been re-adjusted and the 4 wheel alignment is done....
@YESBOY ......fingers crossed they fit........however I have seen them fitted to other T6s .. unless they running narrower tyres
Pipedream72
Member
Is there a 'look' that you get from having a tyre that is thinner/wider? I saw this van the other day running 275/40/20s and the tyres were a bit bulbous, if you know what I mean....the sidewall had a real curve to it and the tyres almost looked too big/chunky and as a result made the rims look smaller. Here is a piccy -
In contrast, here is another 20" rim with 275/40 tyres on them and these look a lot more racey/sporty. For some reason they just look like the tyres are lower profile than in the photo above -
Is it simply that one manufacture of tyre can look a bit different to another and its a bit of pot luck what you end up with?
Cheers
In contrast, here is another 20" rim with 275/40 tyres on them and these look a lot more racey/sporty. For some reason they just look like the tyres are lower profile than in the photo above -
Is it simply that one manufacture of tyre can look a bit different to another and its a bit of pot luck what you end up with?
Cheers
Yes tyres are different. My Yokohama ad08r on my prelude is 245/40/17 on a 9" wheel and has very square shoulders and looks wider than my vans 275/35/20 on a 9" wheel. Those are assymetric 2 with a buldging rim protector. Both tyres are the same side wall height just 3" bigger on the van.
Pipedream72
Member
Another thing to worry about.... 
Pipedream72
Member
Ahhhh ok....that's interesting. Did think it looked like it had really chunky tread on it.
very good winter tyres them vredestein wintracs great in the wet
@YESBOY @Pipedream72 I ordered Goodyear Eagle F1 265/40/20 104 for the front and Goodyear Excellence 275/40/20 106 for the rears, there being fitted Sunday to the rims.
I ordered my tyres via alltyres365, however Camskill are competitive.......what I did notice was that each day the prices went up or down.......so my plan of attack was to choose a tyre that I wanted and then just waited for the price to drop....which was in some cases £5-10 per tyre.....
From going to a few shows recently I noticed a lot of T5/6s running Nankang tyres, which are much cheaper, however I went for the goodyear as they were 4db quieter and better rated for fuel and wet conditions....mines a daily driver
Thing is to not read into too many online reviews and just pick a tyre as it's a mine field just like it is to decide what rims to run!...
I ordered my tyres via alltyres365, however Camskill are competitive.......what I did notice was that each day the prices went up or down.......so my plan of attack was to choose a tyre that I wanted and then just waited for the price to drop....which was in some cases £5-10 per tyre.....
From going to a few shows recently I noticed a lot of T5/6s running Nankang tyres, which are much cheaper, however I went for the goodyear as they were 4db quieter and better rated for fuel and wet conditions....mines a daily driver
Thing is to not read into too many online reviews and just pick a tyre as it's a mine field just like it is to decide what rims to run!...
