Club 80-90 Forums

Thanks for all the input, looks like 215/75/15 General grabbers it is.
People seem happy with different sizes so long as they are not too far off the mark. Good to have a bit of feedback before I fork out a big chunk of cash.

It's Interesting to hear what others are running happily on syncro's both tyre's and rims and what they are using em for. Especially if they have used different tyre's for comparison.

cheers again

tforturton wrote:Ideally, what you need (at least the way I see it) is a wheel and tyre combination which gives you the same gearing as you would have with the original stock wheels/tyres. Or am I wrong? If that is the target, then which is the best size to fit to a 15inch wheel?

205/65/15 is the same as the standard 185R14 and a reinforced version is available. 215/75/15 is only 7.4% larger than standard and its a popular off road size so that clinches it for most

Can we just clarify this? If you are currently running 185s on 14 inch wheels, and you replace them with 205s on 15inchers, then the gearing is more or less the same. Does this mean that the vehicle is taller (because of the wider wheels and tyres), or does it stay the same height? And if it is taller, how come the gearing is the same?
Sorry if this is all a bit dim, but I'm just trying to get it straight in my head (and failing!).

i thought syncros were 205/14 as standard

most 14" syncros came on 185R14C
original 205R14C vans are distinguished by their little wheel arch spats and came on 6J rims

And the 185R14 were 80% aspect ratio, so were quite "tall". Think that the 205's were 70% ?

7.4% is still a pretty big jump in gearing, equivalent to around a half-step between diff ratios i.e 6.16 up to to 5.43 or 5.43 up to 4.86, which are both around 12%

Best to check the manufacturer's specs for the size you are interested in as they all vary depending on tread profile and design.

tforturton wrote:Can we just clarify this? If you are currently running 185s on 14 inch wheels, and you replace them with 205s on 15inchers, then the gearing is more or less the same. Does this mean that the vehicle is taller (because of the wider wheels and tyres), or does it stay the same height? And if it is taller, how come the gearing is the same?
Sorry if this is all a bit dim, but I'm just trying to get it straight in my head (and failing!).

Syncros came with 185R14 tyres as standard. So if you have 185R14 as standard, your tyre diameter is 650mm. If you fit 205/65/15 you will have the same rolling radius as the tyre diameter is 648mm. Effectively the height is the same as is the overall gearing. As an option 205R14 were available but with a different final drive ratio and the tyre had a diameter of 685mm which gave a 5% increase in diameter.

205/70/14 was a size available as well on alloys which made the height of the tyre 1.4% smaller than the 185R14

I've had the BFG's and now have the Hankook Dynapro ATMs and they are every bit as good as the BFG but are half the price (almost).

http://www.camskill.co.uk/m26b0s244p106 ... se%3A_73dB

Well im still waiting for Fedex with my wheels. Called me at 7pm on Friday when i was in the pub to ask why i wasn't in

So that gives me time to check out other options, Hankook next up. They seam ridiculously cheap compared to others. Do you find them as quiet on the road as the BFgs. And does the 80 profile mean i'm being even harder on the gearing than the 75 bfg.

I had thought that the 205/75/15 general grabbers would be the best all terrain match for stock, is that wrong.

I guess ill be ordering on monday so any other advice would be appreciated.

these are the sizes of Hankook i have to choose from

Hankook Hankook DynaPro ATm RF10
195/80 R15 T (96)
205/70 R15 T (96)
215/80 R15 S (102)

Original 14" wheel and tire size is 205/75/14 (I believe).

This means that the
1. 195/80 R15 T (96) will be 4.52% or 30mm bigger
2. 205/70 R15 T (96) will be .75% or 5mm bigger
3. 215/80 R15 S (102) will be 9.35% or 62mm bigger

So if you want to remain roughly the same size then option 2. is the best and wont affect the speedo much. If you go bigger then you need to watch out for clearance problems and you will have an incorrect speedo. I have 225/75/16 (12.2% difference) on mine and have had to frig about and even cut away some of the arch to make em fit.

They are pretty quiet no worse than the BFGs and a hell of a lot quieter than MTs. I did a lot of review reading and they are rated in other countries. I reckon they just aren't well known here which is why they are cheaper. If you hunt about you will see the reviews are good on and off road. I haven't used them off road properly (my vans a bit of a show pony) but what I have done in the mud wasn't a problem. I have used them in snow and ice and they performed flawlessly. I put them on in Aug 2009 and have done about 12k miles and still have plenty of life in them. I will be replacing them with the same when the time comes.

slobbo wrote:Original 14" wheel and tire size is 205/75/14 (I believe).

This means that the
1. 195/80 R15 T (96) will be 4.52% or 30mm bigger
2. 205/70 R15 T (96) will be .75% or 5mm bigger
3. 215/80 R15 S (102) will be 9.35% or 62mm bigger

So if you want to remain roughly the same size then option 2. is the best and wont affect the speedo much. If you go bigger then you need to watch out for clearance problems and you will have an incorrect speedo. I have 225/75/16 (12.2% difference) on mine and have had to frig about and even cut away some of the arch to make em fit.

This is what we needed. Thank you, Slobbo!

Yep, thank's slobbo. Much appreciated, i think i'll stick to the safe middle ground.

confusing business this rubber

slobbo wrote:Original 14" wheel and tire size is 205/75/14 (I believe).

This means that the
1. 195/80 R15 T (96) will be 4.52% or 30mm bigger
2. 205/70 R15 T (96) will be .75% or 5mm bigger
3. 215/80 R15 S (102) will be 9.35% or 62mm bigger

This is incorrect. The original size is 185R14 and not 205/75/14. 205/75/14 was never fitted as standard to a Syncro

As was said in a previous post ..... Syncros came with 185R14 tyres as standard. So if you have 185R14 as standard, your tyre diameter is 650mm. If you fit 205/65/15 you will have the same rolling radius as the tyre diameter is 648mm. Effectively the height is the same as is the overall gearing. As an option 205R14 were available but with a different final drive ratio and the tyre had a diameter of 685mm which gave a 5% increase in diameter.

205/70/14 was a size available as well on alloys which made the height of the tyre 1.4% smaller than the 185R14


This means that the
1. 195/80 R15 T (96) will be 6.29% or 41mm bigger
2. 205/70 R15 T (96) will be 2.45% or 16mm bigger
3. 215/80 R15 S (102) will be 11.2% or 73mm bigger