All-Season Tyre recommendations

[chriscroft]

@chriscroft
Thank you so much for your knowledgable advice,
Im very grateful
Cheers
Dave

My Pleasure.
One thing I didn't mention is the mass of load you carry relative to the vans capacity.
Do you think you get close to the vans max axel load.
There are people on this forum, who have fitted the van out; loaded it up; put a roof rack on; then towed a heavy boat (or similar); then all of a sudden have a saggy bottom; without realising they are over-loaded on the rear axel.
If the above rings any bells; you may need to tread more carefully.
If however, when the van is on its maximum duties, you don't suffer from a saggy behind, you'll be fine.

 

[DavidGater]

@chriscroft
No i certainly wont be towing a boat or anything similar.
I only really use camping and climbing equipment.
No roof box or bike rack.
I will speak with my tyre fitting company and get them to order the 235/55/18's
And the 25mm spacers, is that something the fitters would do as an extra part of the tyre fitting ?
Or is this specialist job?

 

[chriscroft]

@chriscroft
No i certainly wont be towing a boat or anything similar.
I only really use camping and climbing equipment.
No roof box or bike rack.
I will speak with my tyre fitting company and get them to order the 235/55/18's
And the 25mm spacers, is that something the fitters would do as an extra part of the tyre fitting ?
Or is this specialist job?

Any decent tyre place will fit the spacers.
When you order the spacers, you will need slightly shorter wheel bolts as well (if you go for 25mm spacers)
People like HR do kits, so it all comes together. Which ever spacers you go with I would look for Hub-centric & TUV Approved/stamped, as a sign of quality.

 

[t0mb0]

I was considering which all-season tyres for our van and I came across this group test of all-season SUV tyres which covers most of the tyres most frequently recommended on the forum. An SUV tyre test is probably more relevant to the kind of tyres we go for as we want some reasonable grip on tracks and wet grass on campsites etc. I know some tyres (e.g. michelin cross climate agilis vs cross climate SUV) come in van-specific variants too but it's probably more representative than looking at pure car tyres. The other interesting thing is that it includes an AT tyres too (General Grabber AT3) too so we can see the kind of compromises we expect on-road for this kind of choice. It's a shame they didn't include some kind of off-road grip test too though.

My general takeaways are:

1) All-seasons really work, they get the vast majority of snow performance of a dedicated winter tyre with little penalty to the summer tyre in the dry. (Major caveat though: I can't see at what temperature these tests were done in, at e.g., 7 degrees celsius you very much expect this, would be more challenging for the all-season tyre to compare them at 25 degrees.)

2) If you pick a decent all-season SUV tyre (Michelin CrossClimates, Goodyear Vector, Vredestein Quatrac, Nokian Weatherproof) there isn't too much to pick between them in most of the tests. However, the UK price of these varies significantly, so some look rather better value than others.

3) Actual AT tyres are heavily compromised on-road, some of the tests such as wet-braking look slightly scary.

Anyway, before I forget, the actual link!

2018 Auto Bild SUV All Season Tyre Test - Tyre Reviews

 

[widu13]

I run a small 4x4 with A/Ts. A 2WD car fitted with winter tyres will possibly do as well or better as my A/Ts. despite the A/Ts claim to be M&S tyres. Nothing can be a excellent all rounder for all conditions. My A/Ts are adequate. If I didn't drive on field medians it would probably have road tyres.

 

[t0mb0]

I run a small 4x4 with A/Ts. A 2WD car fitted with winter tyres will possibly do as well or better as my A/Ts. despite the A/Ts claim to be M&S tyres. Nothing can be a excellent all rounder for all conditions. My A/Ts are adequate. If I didn't drive on field medians it would probably have road tyres.

Yeah, it’s a real shame they didn’t at least have some kind of wet grass type test to compare the traction on fields. Presumably the AT tyre would have outperformed there but it would have been interesting to see how all the all season tyres got on.

 

[XZO]

Intersting review, after much research I have just bought Michelin CC SUV and my first trips down farm tracks and into fields has been good, no issues. I have only covered about a 1000 miles so far.

Time will tell how good but being on the south coast snow is not really a prime issue for me.

 

[alter]

... in all I have three series of tires, one with ContinentalVanContact200, one Nokian Weatherproof and one with BF K002 then AT and 4 seasons .... I would never leave the BF for other tires, they reassure you everywhere, you certainly can't drive to 180km / h .., the Nokian are good on the snow and that's it ... with the Continental you can drive at 180km / h and they are very quiet

 

[chriscroft]

I've run AT, and wouldn't again unless I needed high levels of off-road capacity and high levels of cut and chip resistance.
I do have 4mo. do my choice is swayed; but wet wether performance/aqua planing/general light off road/snow/ ice; the Nokians are my choice regardless of cost for a T6. Plus they are quiet and do 40K+ miles with 3mm left.

 

[DavidGater]

Has these Nokian 255-55-18 tyres fitted as recommended by @chriscroft. Super pleased with the performance. Fitted with 25mm spacers. No change in tyre noise. Just thought I’d post some pics. And a big cheers to @chriscroft for all the help and advice.

 

[DavidGater]

Apologies. Nokian 235/55/18

 

[Radford1071s]

Hi Michelin do a 235/60/18 crosslimate + at Costco for 133.78 but they do deals like any other place. They had Goodyear vector 4seasons too. Didn't see the price.

 

[chriscroft]

Hi Michelin do a 235/60/18 crosslimate + at Costco for 133.78 but they do deals like any other place. They had Goodyear vector 4seasons too. Didn't see the price.

235/60/18 are just too big for me in terms of gearing/drivability/if you have lowered suspension etc, for a normal T6.
OK, if you have had a series of off-road enhancements carried out such as suspension lifts; gearing changes etc. imo

 

[Gwyn]

Has these Nokian 255-55-18 tyres fitted as recommended by @chriscroft. Super pleased with the performance. Fitted with 25mm spacers. No change in tyre noise. Just thought I’d post some pics. And a big cheers to @chriscroft for all the help and advice.

View attachment 49825

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Is your van lowered ?

 

[DavidGater]

Is your van lowered ?

Yes it’s on 40mm lowered springs. I bought it like this, I needed new tyres, but also needed them to work with current suspension. As looking at getting VB air in due course.

 

[JetSetWilly]

@chriscroft, I looked at the Nokian tyres. These look ideal But....

My wheels are 8.5J width, and I believe the Sportline alloys are 8J, is that correct. I don't want to have 235 width tyres being stretched on 8.5J rims

Nokian also offer Weatherproof in 255/55R18 109V XL, so the width is good, but the profile is 10% higher. Any advice on that please?

Also, my googling suggested factory Sportline T6 with 18" wheels are supplied without a spare (inflator and repair glue instead) . Does this mean 18" won't fit in the under body spare wheel carrier?

Our van is a 150TDi Highline SWB. It came with 16" factory alloys and I am beginning to regret being talked into the 18" wheels, nice as they look.

Many thanks

Question for @chriscroft I've been offered a set of 18" Sportline wheels from a local friendly tyre fitter, now waiting for a price for a set of the Nokian Weatherproofs 235/55R18's you recommend on my 2018 T32 Kombi (standard suspension with no intention of lowering). Are spacers definitely required to avoid rubbing? I'd like a set in time but would rather avoid the extra outlay at present.

Annoyingly I have a set of barely used Vredestein Quatrac 5, same size as above from my Tiguan, but they're not load rated for the Kombi.

JSW

 

[Ads_Essex]

Question for @chriscroft I've been offered a set of 18" Sportline wheels from a local friendly tyre fitter, now waiting for a price for a set of the Nokian Weatherproofs 235/55R18's you recommend on my 2018 T32 Kombi (standard suspension with no intention of lowering). Are spacers definitely required to avoid rubbing? I'd like a set in time but would rather avoid the extra outlay at present.

Annoyingly I have a set of barely used Vredestein Quatrac 5, same size as above from my Tiguan, but they're not load rated for the Kombi.

JSW

Someone’ll correct me if I’m wrong, but I think you’ll only need spacers if the Sportline wheels are the T5 version, which’ll foul big brake callipers.

Could Some One Confirm

 

[chriscroft]

I don't know for sure with the T5 sportline. Given that 17" devonports clear the larger brakes on the T6 17" chassis; I would have thought an 18" VW T5 wheel would be fine.
The issues would come from the spokes (if any at all) at the point where they meet the inner side of the rim.
But if it did need a spacer maybe 5mm would do it, and they are cheap.

 

[Peatey]

Question for @chriscroft I've been offered a set of 18" Sportline wheels from a local friendly tyre fitter, now waiting for a price for a set of the Nokian Weatherproofs 235/55R18's you recommend on my 2018 T32 Kombi (standard suspension with no intention of lowering). Are spacers definitely required to avoid rubbing? I'd like a set in time but would rather avoid the extra outlay at present.

Annoyingly I have a set of barely used Vredestein Quatrac 5, same size as above from my Tiguan, but they're not load rated for the Kombi.

JSW

@DaveyB is running sportlines 2 but not sure on spacers and @Deaky is definitely running 5mm spacers on his T5 sportlines because of the spokes catching, i had a talk about it at the weekend

 

[JetSetWilly]

Thanks for the replies, I only saw one of the wheels briefly as they but were shutting up for the day but I'm pretty sure it was one of these