Winter tyres, only rears?

[Hacksawbob]

I had snow socks for a while but they have disintegrated with a particularly difficult run, SO I know its best to get all 4 but what it if any is the issue with getting the driving wheels done and leaving the fronts as all weather? Obviously steering and breaking wont be great but has anyone tried this out in practice? Most of my driving is local stuff with only a short up hill run to get to my house my hard wearing Firestone vanhawks are great for the rest of the year but they are totally useless on anything a bit cold and I have had some hairy moments this year.

[AdrianC]

Obviously steering and breaking wont be great

Quite simply, you'll have the same amount of front grip as you've got now... In your own words,

totally useless

At least with all four summer tyres on, you can't get the van moving to get yourself into trouble.

[Hacksawbob]

thanks Adrian to the point!

[bigherb]

Yep you need all four you still have to stop and the front tyres do most of the work then.
Or get all season tyres like Vredestien Comtrac All Season and use them all year round they are nearly as good as dedicated snow tyres in the snow and handy for muddy camp sites in the summer.

[Dad]

Mmm, I had just winter tyres on the front of a fwd car- span 3 times.
Go for 4.

[Hacksawbob]

Ok if i want to up my gearing with just rubber what is the biggest/tallest tyre i can get on a 14 inch rim?

[AdrianC]

Ok if i want to up my gearing with just rubber what is the biggest/tallest tyre i can get on a 14 inch rim?

You won't find anything higher profile than the current 80s, so you'd have to go wider. Don't think I'd want to try and shoehorn anything wider than about 205 onto the 5.5" rims.

<checks> Widest 14" van tyres are 215/80 - you might squeeze those on, but it'll be tight.

[Hacksawbob]

Ok, not really after wider, if I'm going to re-tyre I was hoping to include a gearing change for the TD engine, wider wont achieve this. If you can get a gear change with a 15inch rim surely the same can be achieved with a taller tyre or is it just the lack of availability in 14" ?

[bigherb]

Standard road tyres are nominally 80 profile which means the side wall height is only 80% of the tread width 185 tyres have a side wall height of 148mm the only way to get a taller tyre is to increase the width a 195 tyre will have a height of 156mm and so on. Or increase the rim diameter

[AdrianC]

Ok, not really after wider, if I'm going to re-tyre I was hoping to include a gearing change for the TD engine, wider wont achieve this.

Those 215/80s will be about an inch (80% of 30mm wider) taller sidewall, don't forget.

If you can get a gear change with a 15inch rim surely the same can be achieved with a taller tyre or is it just the lack of availability in 14" ?

80% is the highest profile widely available - above that, you're really only looking at big 4x4 rubber, and there's very little of that in 14", simply because few 4x4s use wheels that small...

By going to a 15" rim, you're automatically getting the extra diameter of the rim - a 185/80 15 is the same sidewall height as a 185/80 14, just an inch more wheel in the middle...

[California Dreamin]

Going wider on the same aspect ratio will make the circumference larger (taller gearing) but generally a 'wider tyre' provides a larger contact patch (spreads the load/decreases the weight per square inch) which in very general terms makes the tyres less capable on the slippy stuff (although there is rather more to it than just that).

Strange how you would be wanting taller gearing on 'Winter' tyres just when you would think you would generally be driving much slower.

Straight 195 R14C's M&S would be a good compromise.

Martin