Club 80-90 Forums

I want to buy a syncro
I want to make it a bit of a monster, would it kill any of the running gear if I were to fit oversize tyres
I know it'll put the speedo out, and I'd need to extend the sliding door slider, maybe I'd need a ladder to get in
assuming that the tyres are all the same size, is it going to damage the viscous couplings
maybe not quite as big as these, but big

It would probably hammer the wheel bearings.

It might make the van gutless to drive, the gearing will be shot to bits.

The rear trailing arm quickly puts an end to any ideas of massive tyres ..they simply won't fit

Pete Nice wrote:It would probably hammer the wheel bearings.

It might make the van gutless to drive, the gearing will be shot to bits.

I'm thinking not to go quite as big as the landy pictured above, maybe 28" or 31" absolute maximum

peasant wrote:The rear trailing arm quickly puts an end to any ideas of massive tyres ..they simply won't fit

I hope that would not be an issue, I'm quite confident Ican get around that

I'm more worried about potentially damaging the viscous couplings

My old Syncro had 29" tyres. You wouldn't want to go any bigger & it did effect the gearing. Engine was 1600Td, so not fast anyway.



The new van is running 195 r15's on T4 steels. It's a more sensible approach.



There is a wider tyre choice in 16" so that would be the way to go.

28" is as big as you want to go before the minus out weighs any positive.
How would you get round trailing arm issue?

KarlT wrote:28" is as big as you want to go before the minus out weighs any positive.
How would you get round trailing arm issue?

I've seen a set that were cut and welded
I figure I make a JIG so that I know they won't move whilst being welded, then I can trim back enough to clear (and a bit more for luck) then plate over the bit I cut out
I am more than confident in my welding abilities to make them as strong if not stronger than they are stock, I worked welding in an engineering workshop for a few years
I found a picture of a crew cab on VZi



and this black beauty

I prefer the look of the crew cab, although the black one is a fine looking bus

The blue doka was at Shipston... lack of power was a problem along with a lot of body cutting inc the doors and then the offsets are way too big and will kill wheel bearings... but if you dont mind that and not going to use it every day...

the black one jaeger built for some german tv so there is a whole series on the web http://www.kabeleins.de/auto/videos/son ... kel/12950/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; don't thing he went any bigger than 16" tho

Those front wheel bearings are a job I would rather not do! From what I have heard it's a pig of a job.

If you need to change the front wheel studs, the front hubs need to be stripped down. This in itself destroys the bearing.

It's just a whole lot of work for no real gain. Good all terrain tyres are available in 15 or 16" that will go straight on with a simple wheel swap.

In deep mud or a narrow lane, smaller tyres would be better.

You will only be showing off to the uneducated

Mine has become a lot more agile from the simple swap to 195R15 Powerguard ATs on Merc steel rims. (same size as Pete Nice suggests)
Still waiting to try it out properly, but it's also a lot better behaved on the road

[quote="dink]I've seen a set that were cut and welded
I figure I make a JIG so that I know they won't move whilst being welded, then I can trim back enough to clear (and a bit more for luck) then plate over the bit I cut out
I am more than confident in my welding abilities to make them as strong if not stronger than they are stock, I worked welding in an engineering workshop for a few years
[/quote]

Fair enough, only straight (90 degrees) corners will be weaker than a radius.
I like to see extreme beasts ( you should of seen my old Baja!) but be warned it may well drive like sh!t.
Good luck to you & keep us posted on your progress.

My tyres are noisy as hell on the road. They are 80% off road 20% on. It sounds like I am being hunted down by a Lancaster Bomber!

They were brilliant at bug Jam in the mud. I didn't get stuck anywhere! Saying that I was at Budel in Holland VW show, a Doka Syncro did the whole off road buggy coarse on road tyres! It make me wonder if we worry too much about the standard setup. VW do know what they are doing after all. (That is in no way any reason not to modify it).

They are going to have to be changed for something quieter.

I have found some 205/70x14's that might be an option for road use. They can go on the original rims.

Modifying the trailing arms is probably easy & safe enough, it's the size of the tyre that will give you the problem. The gearing will be too high. If you are off roading on green lanes, you need to be in the tracks or ruts. The wide tyres won't go down them & make it difficult to drive.

Pete Nice wrote: Saying that I was at Budel in Holland VW show, a Doka Syncro did the whole off road buggy coarse on road tyres! It make me wonder if we worry too much about the standard setup. VW do know what they are doing after all. (That is in no way any reason not to modify it).

Yeah best fun I had in my syncro was on old bald road tyres on slippery mud...........



Hence me now going for AT, I don't see me ever needing any more than that off-road & are much nicer on-road.

I'm running BFG AT in 235/70-16 on both my tdi doka and the jx-"powered" westy. The doka loves it but the westy is dog slow (even with IC, imagine that...). They both have audi allroad 16" rims. Doka has 16x7 ET 25 and westy has 16x6,5 ET 16. Clears sliding door, just.. I think the diameter is 28,9"