The van tyre thread

[F5 Dave]

Oh no another tyre thread on KB. But this time for vans. Real ones like HiAces not Mini trucks, good honest bike haulers used in every weather. Several hundred thousand km have passed.
I used up the commercial tyres the Van had originally which were pants & not suitable for NZ driving imo.

So I’ve used Dunlops back in the 90s on another Van & they were pretty so-so. I inherited some ex Jap tyres & they were lethal & double lethal in the wet.
I then got onto Firestones & had the erm F4000 I think followed by the F6000 & they were damn fine tyres. But both went obsolete.
These were replaced by Firestone Supercats. Which were dreadful in the wet.

I got some Firestone TZ100s which have been great, but are now, . . .of course obsolete. And they wore the corners off them as they are a bit soft for a van being punted up & down a windy road every day. Heaps of tread, maybe the softer carcass just makes them roll too much with heavy van despite recommended 40psi.

These have been superseded by TZ700s which are reputed to be softer still so I won’t try them. (Put some on missus car & they are good on that). Bridgestones are softer still I am told by Firestone guy. (best service I’ve had so sad to take business elsewhere).

So the question is: What other brands are decent for Vans? And offer some wet weather grip? And ideally don’t wear out the corners super quick (yes all vans do cut front tyres out when you drive them like cars, but some are much worse than others).
I’d like those F4000s I ran 15 years ago.

[Grumph]

I'm sure Kickaha will come on and offer professional advice, but I've recently had to put two tyres on mine. Went to car rears in the same size. Still got light truck fronts on as yes, the vans do tend to be harder on fronts. I don't have the same requirements as you - most of my running is on straight, flat roads...
I've had good results from Roadstone light truck tyres. Yes, Korean i think, hard rubber, cheap...probably not the grip levels you need on a frosty wgtn morning...and last time i looked, couldn't get them locally any more.

[Akzle]

champiro vps.
Grippy as shit but short lifespan.

Or, stop being a pussy. Git r fourby, Jack your van up and put it on bridgy at/m s

[Motu]

We usually fit Hankook, and Maxxis for those willing to spend for a better tyre.

[Kickaha]

What size?

Car tyres on vans generally = better ride and grip with shorter life span, vans are very hard on the front outside shoulders especially the left front, they need to be rotated at regular intervals to get the best life

Firestone haven't ever done a tyre called an F4000 in NZ so I'm not sure what that would have been

[nodrog:Me]

ask Scrivy what tyres he has on his Hiace, Holy Fuck, I still have whiplash from Sunday.

[Gremlin]

My Hiace came with Bridgestone Duravis (light truck). Seem Ok, but had a bit of understeer in roundabouts in the wet, so perhaps not the greatest (well, light truck - they're going to last ages because they're hard as).

Actually a timely reminder, with my Hiace being AWD I can't mix and match tyres and I'm due a rotation...

edit: Specify sizes... I imagine you don't have other rims, but you might. I think mine are something like 195/70/15

[SPman]

Was running Maxxis on the Hiace. They weren't too bad. Now have a Transit coming up for new tyres - any suggestions?

[mossy1200]

I got supercats on the work van which seem fine. Have not had issues with grip in the wet but I am old and slow.

[F5 Dave]

Hey Kick. Whatever's std on steels, can never remember but could tell you every bike tyre size from last 30 bikes. So yeah car tyres. Maybe first fire stones were some other number. Somewhere near turn of the century. Guess doesn't matter now can't get those.

[R650R]

I'd be looking at what are rural courier van drivers using, they would be the ones to ask.

I got told by several people that TZ100's wear the outer edge too... funny though I got over 50,000km on mine with about 3mm left before someone else wrote off the car for me.
And they wore perfectly evenly. I don't muck about either and like to have a bit of a play in the corners too and ran them at 34psi which tyre guy recommended as max pressure.
All down to driving style, never use harsh steering to scrub of speed or brake through corners at all.

I thought the TZ100's were a brilliant tyre too, usually reached the limit of standard cars suspension before the tyres were a problem. I wouldn't read too much into what these shop guys say, bit like motorbike mag reviews. They are probably talking up very minor differences as part of their sales technique. I would have gone with TZ700 on new wagon but Bridgestone MY02 were on special and got awesome deal.
One thing I've noticed is the 17 inch wheels on new wagon vs 16s on same model has made a huge difference for the better, bigger wheels roll over bumps better etc....

[F5 Dave]

The 700s on the wife's wagon seem good, but they are wearing & they do seem softer. Vans are much harder on corners than cars.

[Ocean1]

I would have gone with TZ700 on new wagon but Bridgestone MY02 were on special and got awesome deal.
One thing I've noticed is the 17 inch wheels on new wagon vs 16s on same model has made a huge difference for the better, bigger wheels roll over bumps better etc....

I put 17" wheels on the Granvia hoping for some improvement in wear by going to lower profile tyres.
Better ride and general handling but the shit tyres I got at the time wore appallingly quickly.
So I've just put 215/55/17 TZ700s on, feel OK, will se how they go.

[TheDemonLord]

Many moons ago, when I had the VanOwaR

I put round tyres on it, made of rubber.

Does that help?

[R650R]

BTW for any of you tight buggers out there that want cheap but good tyres for spare of trailers...

Have 2 x 215/55/17 Goodyears, one is an assurance triplemax and the other is ecopia fuel max or something. Both nearly identical tread patterns.
Took them off new wagon to fit a matching set of four new tyres as the back ones were buggered.
These two have 6mm and 7mm tread BUT have had professional puncture repairs done by previous owner/fitter etc...
Taking up space in my shed, no reasonable offer refused, can supply pics. One repair is sidewall, both original punctures look very small origins...
Already had them on TM while back but no takers....

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0N...ew?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0N...ew?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0N...ew?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0N...ew?usp=sharing