Light truck tires on mini

[black86glhs]

OK, you win. I'm wrong.

[turbovanman²]

OK, you win. I'm wrong.

WOO HOO, quoted to bite you in the azz down the road,

And agreed with Brian, LT tires have a stiffer sidewall, they have more ply's which is why they are LT's. If you run P tires on G vans, they roll over and wear the outsides badly, put on LT's and its cut in half due to the tire not wanting to roll over.

[contraption22]

I agree with Tempted. Don't confuse a hader sidewall and firmer road feel with increased grip. You may find youself in an unscheduled test of a the tire's off-road capability.

[shackwrrr]

I won't take tire advice from anyone that runs thornbirds on their mud truck.



















Just kidding, but why? They are so crappy.

I am unsure if I am still going with these, since I work at a shop that sells tires, used good condition 16" tires are plentiful. Also I can go with a wider tire, we do a lot of buicks her so lots of 225 60s

[contraption22]

You have to look at every tire as a compromise.

All seasons are OK in most conditions, not great in any.
Summer tires are great in the dry and wet. Bad in snow or cold.
Winter tires are great in snow and better on ice than any other tire, but wear fast and squirm on dry roads, especially in warm weather.
All-terrains are a good compromise between increased off-road capability while still being civilized on-road.
Mud terrains are better off road, but are pretty harsh in day-to-day use.

[RoadWarrior222]

I wanted to get 14" LT winters on one of my sets of steelies for the van, but they've gone rare and hard to get. Some of the older rangers and LUVs etc had 14" LT sizes, I believe, as did VW vans, but since those are rusted and scrapped out of mainstream use, you basically have to order from a specialist now. So I guess I'm going to have to get a hold of some 5x100 15" ... but even for those, small enough LT winters are hard to find, at a BIG tire place, you only get one choice (Usually of something crap) for $$$

Anyway, what I wanted them for was winter and rough road use. Wanted to try camping in the boonies, on Govt land, but to get anywhere where that's possible it's usually 40 miles at least of gravel/dirt off the paved stuff.

So I'm keeping my eye out for something turning up...

I've got some "way too big" 15" truck winters in the garage, if I get 15" rims I might throw them on for giggles to see... or if it's a snow emergency before then, try an oldskool trick, deflate bald 14" on 14" rim and force them into the 15"s

[turbovanman²]

I agree with Tempted. Don't confuse a hader sidewall and firmer road feel with increased grip. You may find youself in an unscheduled test of a the tire's off-road capability.

I am not but on that note, your saying a winter rated LT tire won't be as sticky as a P rated winter tire?

[Tempted]

I won't take tire advice from anyone that runs thornbirds on their mud truck.

Just kidding, but why? They are so crappy.

I am unsure if I am still going with these, since I work at a shop that sells tires, used good condition 16" tires are plentiful. Also I can go with a wider tire, we do a lot of buicks her so lots of 225 60s

Thornbirds completely suck at everything except DEEP mud pits. Those sucked on the road, on trails and on grass. I had the Chevy on A/Ts the same time I had the Bronco on Thornbirds and I pretty much never drove the Ford unless someone called and were stuck in a lake or something. That Chevy had a rear locker, front spool and near 500hp. If I got stuck it was my fault. The Ford had 5.13 gears, front and rear lockers and a 351w. It got stuck all the time(which is why there is a winch on it).


Back on topic, if General make the Grabber HTS in the size you need, they might work great for you. I have an AWD Astro with FR380s on it, been very happy with them. Good traction, great ride. They aren't performance oriented in any stretch but they are perfect for what I use it for(hunting/fishing/camping truck). Firehawk Indy 500s are cheap, give good performance and, in my opinion, look great. Last time I had a set was staggered on a Malibu wagon in 2004 so I don't know if they have changed.

[black86glhs]

I agree with Tempted. Don't confuse a hader sidewall and firmer road feel with increased grip. You may find youself in an unscheduled test of a the tire's off-road capability.

Agreed. However, we weren't talking about Kumho Ecsta's or Nitto 555's, we were talking all season p-series tires in 215/65/15 to a LT 205/70/15. He isn't going to drop $175 per tire to get one that sticks really well. The LT tire will out handle any of the cheap tires he was looking at.


I will say that if he could find Goodyear triple treads in 205/70/15 or 215/65/15, they will be a good tire for the van. I put the on my 88 over the summer and what a difference they made. I suppose there are one or 2 other tires that would do the same. I really don't think he is going to push it far enough to really see the very small amount of grip difference there might be.

---------- Post added at 03:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:11 PM ----------

WOO HOO, quoted to bite you in the azz down the road,

And agreed with Brian, LT tires have a stiffer sidewall, they have more ply's which is why they are LT's. If you run P tires on G vans, they roll over and wear the outsides badly, put on LT's and its cut in half due to the tire not wanting to roll over.

Someone has to make it easy for you....LOL.

[Tempted]

Agreed. However, we weren't talking about Kumho Ecsta's or Nitto 555's, we were talking all season p-series tires in 215/65/15 to a LT 205/70/15. He isn't going to drop $175 per tire to get one that sticks really well. The LT tire will out handle any of the cheap tires he was looking at.

Correct, that's why I said

Where you can gain a little handling is going with a shorter, softer LT tire but it still won't compare to a passenger car tire of the same caliper in terms of grip or ride quality.

Sidewall flex is what you are speaking of. Cheap truck tires flex as much as cheap car tires when a side to side load is applied.

[dwh4784]

As a reverse look at the topic...I run 8 ply sidewall 185r14's on my VW Bus. A lot of people get by with passenger car tires, 185/75/R14 were on there when I got it. The LT tires are stiffer, makes for less wallowing down the road. But this is a narrow 14" wheel so there is a lot of sidewall to factor in. I'm assuming most people on here are not using that small of a wheel on their minis. Here's a link to an article about the dangers of using car tires rather than the properly rated tires on VW's if anyone's interested.http://www.busdepot.com/details/tires/

Basically it boils down to the sidewall being the important factor. Running a mini with 15" or 16" wheels I don't know if you would see much of a benefit running more expensive and harder to find LT tires.

[Tempted]

What I've always told people is to buy the best tire you can afford. It is the one and only thing separating you from the road. A 10 million dollar car is nothing more than a paper weight without the tires.

[2.216VTurbo]

I just got a set of Sumitomo 215/65/15's delivered for $79 ea + $48 shipping to put on an 89 turbo Mini. Hadn't tried this particular tire before but they had a 96 load rating and a 640 tread ware with an A temp and B traction rating. Funny thing is, Americas tire wouldn't ship me the first set I picked out because I foolishly entered the make/model in that box on the website, those tires 'only' had a 92 rating and phone sales guy said that was unsafe on a vehicle that heavy. I unsuccessfully tried to explain that it was a 23 year old van and 1000lbs lighter than the current generation he was comparing it to He gave me the "well sir, you can cancel the original online order and leave the make/model box empty next time"

[RoadWarrior222]

215/65R15s (Nexen) on pumpers work on my '88 van.