New Tyres: 195/75 vs 185/75?

Hi guys, I need to replace the original 185/75R14C tyres in my Tiggy.

I'm considering to change to the 195/75 14 which seem to be more popular these days, but I'm not 100% sure yet.

I like the thinness of the 185 as they super perform in snow, the only issue really is feeling sea sick on the windy mountain roads   

I wonder how do the 195 perform or if I should consider to go slightly lower at 185/70 perhaps? Alloys and low profile tyres are not for my old school taste

Any experience on this would be much appreciated, thanks!

Just how much snow does East Sussex get? We had none this year at all, and if you did get snow, and it's not a daily driver, would you take your van out in it?

All personal taste as really.

good point mate! I'm actually spending some time in Italy at the moment by the mountains where the van will stay over winter before coming back. I got stuck twice on snow once in UK and once on the Alps.. both times managed to have good traction simply due to the narrow profile, while there were only 4x4 on the roads! It's my back up car and I often use it for work too
I might check the snow chains size actually, If they could fit the extra tyre size I might go for the 195

Are you lowered?

You might find that the 195s will rub the wheel arch as they will be wider, plus the profile will be a bit bigger as well

Hi Kiteman, no I'm not lowered it shouldn't be a problem then should it?

I think 195s will rub regardless of whether you're lowered or not.

ignoring size

these are current market leader in tyre industry and i have fitted them to my van, ride comfort improvement is massive and wet braking is very good Michelin ENERGY SAVER +
185/60 R15 88H XL

currently a deal on with mytyres hope fully link works, i spend about £3k a month with these guys faultless service i get delivery only tyres but used black circles for fitting once very good try to get higher load index as i dont believe the 84T are enough

MY TYRES

88 load rating and higher is best otherwise you get premature tyre wear.

Thinking of getting Hankooks RA08 185R14C 100/102
They have great rating in type2 forums and the US. It's also M+S!

Hi guys

i'm not a T2 expert but do know the odd bit about tyres
load index wont change wear on its own directly wear is a function of the compounds abrasion resistance but overloaded tyres will have a different pressure distribution so you may get abnormal wear like a high rate of wear on an inner shoulder for example

my higher concern is overloaded tyres may suffer earlier life failures of the structure, you may see bulges appear etc but worse still is if a tyre begins to heat up during use, say overloaded and running for an extended period like a motorway run the tyre is flexing more than intended and the heat generated breaks down the interlayer of rubber holding the tread/belt packs to the carcass this can cause what people call a blow out, its actually tread pack delamination where you initially get a vibration and then the tread comes away, this is very dangerous, it can be reduced by using higher tyre pressures if you calculate the pressure using the tyre load and speed index with the ETRTO calculator you will need the weight of the van though

tyres like the hankook which have C are commercial tyres they tend to be 6 ply which has a much higher loading capability this is an obvious route, you may find the ride a bit more harsh

a care point though if reading forums/online reviews tyres are market developed a tyre sold for usa market is most likely to have significant differences to a Euro tyre, USA tyres have a mileage warranty usually and they have better wear resistance at the cost of wet performance Euro tyres the reverse amercians are not so worried about wet, asian tyres/china again wear against wet but with higher levels of carbon black for cut and chip resistance of the tread vs euro higher silica and more SBR to natural rubber

the M+S is mainly down the the number of sipes to clear water personally i use winter tyres they are far superior in the snow and cold wet weather as summer pattern tyres are not as effective below 7c due to compromises in dry/wet/cold/hot
Continental do a Vanco 2 which is a C tyre this would be a very good euro van tyre, i've not tested them yet but will later in the year all the data i have shows them to be excellent i've not checked is the do 185R15 but they do make 185/60R15 which is a popular size for lowered T2's on alloys

BR

Ray

Hi Ray, did you manage to test the Vanco 2? I need 14inch, got any recommendations? You do seem to know just a bit about tyres!
Cheers
Joe

Hi Joe

I've tested Conti Vanco 2 on my T5 size 215 65 R16 109/107 they are borderline OK lack a bit of sidewall support and were well behind for wet grip, they appear to be a 1 polyester sidewall construction to all the competitions 2 polyester sacrificing structural strength for light weight and ultimately rolling resistance the winner in this size from my test with Nankang CW 20 and GT Maximiller CX plus my development tyre was actually the Nankang it was very good in the wet for braking and laptime its wear was worse though but it was 5 meters shorter stopping from 100 kmh to 0 in wet which is a lot

The same occurred with the Vanco 2 Winter the 1 poly sidewall didn't help stability in the wet or dry

what are your options obviously the T5/T2 are very different Continental products are usually very good all my cars have Conti tyres Golf GTi has Sport Contact 5 Polo Premium Contact 5 but T5 has Hankook RA18 as the sidewall is better makes steering a bit light unladen though and the T2 has Michelin Energy which im really happy with

the construction info is on the sidewall if you look, polymide is usually better than polyester or nylon but its more expensive and only in premium tyres but you get what you pay for and I'm not aware of anything else touching the ground so while its expensive in the long run you get it back

feel free to drop me any questions, I'm not around over xmas on here but I'm on facebook

Hi Ray,
I couldn't get conti winters, so have gone for Kleber transalp 185/80/14. Will let you know hoe I get on.
Cheers
Joe