Tires size up????

[k1hog]

I have 2004 RT 200P tires on now r
LT245//75r16e is there any advantage to go to a larger tire size???

Thanks

 

[mkguitar]

a "taller" tire will cause the transmission to work harder to get you moving from a stop


I had tall tires on my '67 gmc pickup with a Muncie M20 with a "granny low", this reduced rpms at hiway speeds and increased MPG- the low 1st gear allowed me to take advantage with out stressing the truck
( which with normal tires used 2nd gear from a stop )


last week I was shopping tires for my pick up- 1 sales rep tried to upsell me to a taller tire...because THAT was what he had in stock...not the 235/75/16's



I went to another store and purchased a stock height tire.


On my chev based van I am using the michelin agilis and am very happy about 10 k in.
They are particularly good in standing water/hydroplaning



Mike

 

[booster]

I can't say how they will fit on the previous generation Chevy and the fact that it is a cutaway, but on the later 190s and 210s 265-75-16 tires fit fine. The are taller by only .5" so my guess is that you won't even notice any difference in driving. I am super aware of such stuff and I didn't notice it. Speedo will go off 2-3mph but it isn't enough to mess up the computer in any way that I have seen.


The wider, higher capacity, tires are, IMO, a good improvement. A bit better handling, probably run a bit cooler, more load safety factor, so all good as long as they fit.


Be aware that the OEM steel wheels are not wide enough to go upsize so you would need new wheels if you have those OEM wheels and the generation of van you have used the same as the later ones.

 

[k1hog]

Update

This is a picture of the rims on the RT, do you think they will work for a larger tire?

 

[booster]

This is a picture of the rims on the RT, do you think they will work for a larger tire?View attachment 11824

It should as it probably is 8" wide so plenty big enough.

 

[k1hog]

So the rim should be 8 inches wide to accommodate the bigger tire?

 

[booster]

So the rim should be 8 inches wide to accommodate the bigger tire?

The 265-75-16 which is the common upsize requires a minimum of a 7" wide rim but the factory steel wheels are only 6.5" wide so those have an issue. IIRC the acceptable range for that 265 is 7-8.5" I think, but could be off a bit on the high end. 8" is certainly good and near center of the range.

 

[k1hog]

Thanks all for the information.

 

[GroupB]

A good reference for this topic is found here

https://www.classbforum.com/forums/f8/wheel-offsets-particularly-roadtrek-chevy-1985.html

 

[shelw]

Watch your speed

Don't forget - if you upsize your tires, you'll be going faster than your speedometer says!

 

[k1hog]

shelw, good information.

Thanks

 

[k1hog]

Tire Size Update:

I had the larger tires installed on the rear of my 2004 200P RT 265-75-16. I have a tire pressure/temp monitor on the RT. On the rear larger tires, there is little pressure/temp increase as the tires warm up, the larger rear tires must be handling the load better. There was concern the ABS system would not like the difference in the front and rear tire size, however I have traveled a number of miles with no ABS issues.

The friendly tire store manager, stated he would work with me on replacing the front tires with the larger tire size. I will explore this in due time.

I wonder how important it is to have the larger tires on the front????