Which size tyre is the best bang for the money?

[Rolo]

When I recently mentioned to a friend that I was considering changing from 14" to 15" wheels when and if I get a rear axle out of a Mark 4 he mentioned to me that there is a lot less to choose from in LT tyres in that size and they are much more expensive and a quick google search seems to confirm that opinion, which then begs the question; if that's so then why did Ford change the wheels to 15" in the Transits"?

[MrMPuk]

Gotta say i'm running 15s now and had a much bigger choice of tyres as nearly all new vans are running on at least 15s.

[Sundowner]

14" tyres are a pain to get

the 15" tyres on my EL are $60ea

[Rolo]

Are we still talking LT (Light Truck) 8 ply tyres?

And what's an EL?

[Smooth Hound]

I am sorry to break the news to you, Ford arent interested in saving you money on tyres, They have probably got shares in the tyre industry, No seriously a 15 inch tyre is a fraction dearer, but it goes round slightly slower and lasts slightly longer.

[wheelerstyres]

hi tyre prices and info
i can get both easy enough 195/14or 195 /15
hankook are best value for money they are not a remould and are a nice ride price wise i charge £56 fitted for 14 in and £58 for 15 in
the newer transits which have215/75/16 are a different story
hope this helps

[rover]

Thats not gona help Rolo much though eh?

Rover.

[Rolo]

Thats not gona help Rolo much though eh?

Rover.

Why not?

It might conflict with the information I was given up to now and also with what I could find by myself in the net but who said all posters have to agree with anybody's preconceived ideas on any subject?

Did I mention yet that I believe Transits are rubbish and we should all be driving Sprinters instead?

[Rolo]

hi tyre prices and info
i can get both easy enough 195/14or 195 /15

So you wouldn't say that one size is more popular and more easily available (and therefore cheaper) than the other? (and I wasn't referring just to that $2 difference)

And while I have your attention, since you deal with tyres, could you please explain to me how is it that there is only 3 mm difference between the overall diameter of a 195R14 (666mm) and a 205/75R14 (663 mm)?

Doesn't the "/75" part indicates it is a lower profile tyre?

[MrMPuk]

You haven't put the full details for the 14 inch tyre but the 75 bit for the 15 inch tyre refers to the side wall profile, 75 means 75 % the width of the tyre.

So a 205 tyre with 75 profile would have a side wall of about 174mm. This is something I have kinda covered in a few posts, if you play around with your tyre sizes you can fit bigger wheels and still keep the speedo the same as before by fitting different tyre profiles.

[Rolo]

You haven't put the full details for the 14 inch tyre

I thought I did.

The tyres are 205/75R14, which you confirmed is a 75% low profile tyre, so how could it be only 3mm (1/8") smaller in overall diameter than a 195R14, which I presume by the lack of a "/XX" is a 100% or standard profile tyre?

[quote]So a 205 tyre with 75 profile would have a side wall of about 174mm.[/quote}

Which should make that 205/75R14 about 62mm smaller in overall diameter, not just 3mm, correct?

(205-174=31 mm X 2 = 62 mm)

[MrMPuk]

To have a 14 inch 195 tyre it would have to have a wall profile of 85 to be the same diameter as a 205/75r15. I haven't got a clue what you are talking about in your last post but have a play here and you can see what size tyres and stuff you can get to give you the same rolling ratio.

[Rolo]

To have a 14 inch 195 tyre it would have to have a wall profile of 85 to be the same diameter as a 205/75r15. I haven't got a clue what you are talking about in your last post

Maybe because you keep bringing up that 205/75R15 while I'm talking about a 205/75R14 tyre.

but have a play here and you can see what size tyres and stuff you can get to give you the same rolling ratio.

I'll check it out, thanks.

[Rolo]

I think the light is coming on now after checking that site.

Is the tallest tyre profile 80 and should I assume that when a tyre is shown as a 195R14 without any "/50" or "/75" after the "195" that tyre has an 80% profile by default?

[MrMPuk]

Ok then 195/80r14 is the roughly same diameter as 205/75r14. 195/80 has a wall of 156mm and 205/75 has a wall of 153.75mm making a difference of 4.5mm, which works out to be a 0.7% difference in circumferance.