Club 80-90 Forums

hugomonkey wrote:

syncropaddy wrote:

hugomonkey wrote: as they are only about 3% bigger than the original tyres

Or 7.98% .......!

205 r14 - 215 75 15 = 2.9%

185R14 - 215/75/15 = 7.98% (652 vs 704)

Original tyres = 185R14
Optional tyres = 205/70/14 & 205R14 (16" is another matter)

( According to the VW handbook )

As above...but I do know a JX won't pull your foreskin back with the standard wheels so going larger is asking for 2nd gear hill climbs on motorways..now what are the 185/14 muds you mention again?

mine is stock suspension height 2.1i & has no issues on 215 80 15's on merc et 37 steels, it cruises loverly at 60mph on the motorways, but pulls ok offroad also, these will be for sale soon

I want to move to 16" et 31 merc rims but tyre choice I'm not sure what to go for? be interested to know what sizes other more experienced syncro guys run on 16's on stock suspension

What happens when you get to the first long incline on those 80 ratio tyres?
There is a really good reason why VW specced the 6.16 diff (and the other one) on the 16" vans.
You will kill the performance stone dead and unless that motor is fairly fresh, risk killing that too imho.

We're just doing the planning on a Syncro conversion and I ran some numbers on the change from our current 4.83 5spd gearbox to the proposed 5.43 Syncro box. I found that we will get the same engine RPM to road speed relationship by using 195/75 R16 tyres on the Syncro box as we have been getting using 185R14 tyres on the 2WD box. Happy days.

I'm getting confused with all the techi conversations!!
I'm looking at a set of recip 185 14 mud terrain tyres they are very aggressive and re treads, but they have a speed rating of 99mph and are obviously made to British Standards so I have no real worries.
In fairness this syncro is not going to get alloy of use, I think a couple of hundred miles in a couple of
Months at the most really so I'm not over worried about using the aggressive tyre on road.

Excuse the above spelling and grammar mistakes, I will blame my predictive text on the fruit phone
But theatrics of the matter is I have allot of vodka in me right now!!

the tyres I'm using (they were on the van when bought) 215 80 15s on long hills to be honest its not to bad, rarely I have to drop to 3rd, it compares well on rpms in fourth @ 60 to the dk box in my Aircooled t25 rpm @ mph 3100

it doesn't feel strained at 60 like my previous crewcab with aaz & I ran 225 70 16's on that to lower the final drive ratio, I don't know what rpms at 60 that did but its gotta have been 36-3800ish, had no tacho

my 2.1 syncro is not running 100% either, its ok but I can improve it further yet...

I thought the syncro 16 option tyre was 205 80 16?????

what would be the recommendation from you all for good all around road/offroad ability on 16's but keeping the strain down to an acceptable range, I'm not a serious greenlaner as I just don't get enough weekend time free at the mo! plus at present I work nights so I'm knackered come the weekend so fiddle/fix/adjust by van as rest & recuperation

whats the crack with bernt jagers upgrade he has 16's with 225 75 16's on the webpage but I don't know if they would require suspension mods???? yes they look awesome but at what cost to other componentry????

just want to agree with dumptruckface (feel a bit abusive callin ya that) myself if I had 14's

I can get all techy but in all honesty, I cant be arsed to type all that, I've squeezed 12" wide x 17 diameter rims with fairly large tyres on my Aircooled t25 with no suspension mods apart from it being lowered -70 & it looked awesome but the syncro is expensive to fix so I don't want to stress it "too much"

at the end of the day we all like "the look" of a chunky syncro and want to get as close to that as possible but........I want mine to have the abuility to get me out of the crappy stuff when I need it too (driver ability aside, which offroad experience for me is slushy farm tracks/brooks, nowt else)

personally I'd like to keep close to the factory recommended tyre diametecwpr but a wider tyre than stock for "the look" as my syncro is a low use vehicle! element what ya reckon all

or to put it another way what tyre size on a 16 will give the look but if I fancied a mess about on the offroad section at Busfest (probably with a mangers or two in the system) I wouldn't want to be swapping rims n tyres on the day, I'm being straight up honest here, vw will havw built a little more tolerance in the drivetrain than the stock wheel/tyre I'm sure.....

mine is the 4.53 cwp

205 80 16's were never an option on a 14" Syncro. They were standard on a 16" Syncro but the transmission, dampers and brakes were all different to a 14" and for good reason. 215/75/15 on a 14" is good enough and anything bigger brings another set of problems. Why not try 225/70/15?

A 215/75/15 mud terrain is actually bigger and heavier than a 215/70/16 A/T....I'm currently running both and the A/Ts have really good road manners, no noise, and work well on mud up to a point...the muds are the new KM2s and are very quiet at speed but noisy at about 10mph ish...ok on the road but do feel a little light ( ever ridden a motocross bike on Tarmac..like that..) but off road they hook up like a dumper tyre!

For your stated aplication I think A/Ts are your best bet...and I would advise against the cheapo brands are despite what some will tell you they are not "just as good" and a used set of BFGs have an impressive resale value too.

right you guys have me thinking now, possibly the bfg 15's with some tasty big mud terrains for cocking about, & some nice 205 80 16s on my 16 rims for road dutys

I wanted to sell my 15" rims to fund tyres for the 16s in all honesty LOL but maybe that could be a "mistakea to makea"

decisions decisions

You can bring a horse to water .....

I'm ordering 215/75/15 s today for our 14", just a question of brand and model really.

BFG Long Trails, or BFG A/T, or General Grabber AT or AT2s??

syncropaddy I like that