205 or 215 tyres

[kingkhung]

Hello club 80-90, been thinking about new tyres recently and was looking for a bit of advice from people who know better than me. At the moment im running on standard 185r14 but am thinking about upsizing when i next need a new tyre. Ive only got a 1.6 diesel never had a problem with it struggling but was wondering if anybody had any experience with this. I like the big tyre look and want to keep my standard steels but am worried it might stress the engine. I looked at the brickwerks page and i'll only be adding 7% to overall size so hopefully will make my speedo a little more accurate
Anyone got any experience with this?
Cheers
Leo

[kap]

Ive got 16'' wheels with 205/70/16 c rated and is ok until I load up. Then its slow on hills ,I have 1.9d 1y lump. I will probably be going down to 195/65/16 c rated as I am not bothered about how the tyres look or id probably have somthing like 215 60 or 55. To be honest I miss the standard rims round town but the larger diameter is better on motorways. Thats why I may try to get inbetween if that makes sence. Just make sure what ever you choose is 97 load rate or above check the vin plate on your van.

[kingkhung]

Been thinking about it and might go for the 205/70r14c, i feel like i'm being a bit vain replacing my tyres for something slightly bigger but i have kept my van very basic in looks so i might spoil her a little with some goodlooking new tyres i think. My girlfriends gonna get jealous me splashing out like this on the other lady in my life

[KINGPRAWN]

my westy syncro started out as a 14" and i've had merc steel 15"s and ended now with merc ml alloys 16" with 215's. the difference is amazing. the 14" setup was so high geared i could have done with 5th and 6th gears!. with the bigger wheels it pulls better, its quiter and fuel is better. i'm sure the off road boys would say that i'll suffer in the mud but hey i don't spend alot ot my time doing that!! if you put "tyre size calculater" into google there is a little conversion box that tells you how much the tyre size will effect the gearing...its possible to go from 14 to 16 without drastically changing the gearing buy choosing tyre sizes with lower profile walls..you just put in the numbers and you'll get a % of difference.

[lloydy]

I've got 4 195 75 16 road tyres that I took off my syncro, firestones, 8mm tread and pretty new.
Looking for very little for them, about £20 a tyre. Proper van rated good quality tyre
I think you'll have clearance issues with anything bigger than that. VW cut the arches bigger for 205 16's on a 16" syncro which is jacked up a lot higher than your 2WD