Sshould i upgrade my tires

[Cyrull]

Originally Posted by asgard

I am in Eastern Ontario although I seldom drive the van in the snow the snowflake does appeal due to the drive on I81 south in March. Currently, with the 225 tires, I am returning 19mpg from my last road trip to Colorado and back via Memphis. I have checked the mileage both via the ultra gauge and by fuel bought to distance covered.
The van rides well and is well balanced, my only mod is a Road Master front stabilizer which I like a lot, self-centers the steering due to the spring.
I do like the idea of 245 but wonder if it is worth the unsprung weight and potential loss of economy and comfort.
I have a Forscan so I think I could alter the speedo.

Make sure you research those winters, the snowflake is fairly easy to get on a tire. The tire only needs to preform something like 10% better than street tires in snow conditions to get that symbol so YMMV depending on the tire you choose.

Originally Posted by reelchef67

My fully Pleasureway traverse camperized (ford e250) came with 225 to help make garageable. If your e150 is still light then stick with em since you don't go offroad. 225vs 245 's is more weight bearing capacity although on this forum always goes bigger. I now run 245's in the summer 265 studded in the winter (British Columbia ). Hills are easier to drive in smaller tires as you get rpm's up faster , which something I've noticed.
Just get some good quality tires and drive. PS where are u located ie climate region?

I'd love to check out your van sometime Chef.

[Vanzila]

Dont get to hung up on the Snow Flake.. The Truth is you will need to Chain up with our without the Snowflake in most locations that woudl require a 4x2 to do so.. Here in Oregon the law is Carry regardless. and they have made me chain up with my snowflakes.


Look more forthe Tires ability to handle Ice. and then be sure you own chains.

[reelchef67]

Originally Posted by Vanzila

Dont get to hung up on the Snow Flake.. The Truth is you will need to Chain up with our without the Snowflake in most locations that woudl require a 4x2 to do so.. Here in Oregon the law is Carry regardless. and they have made me chain up with my snowflakes.


Look more forthe Tires ability to handle Ice. and then be sure you own chains.

Nokian Hakkapelitta studded have been perfect for British columbia alpine mountain ski hill travelling to and from including The Coquihalla "highway to hell" per the reality show .
These tires when studded are superior to every snow tire on the market.
I am professional driver ( teamster) and were blown away with them.
On milder winters I run nokian Rotiva LT 2' all weather which are also remarkable considering they are 0 not all weather snow rated.

[olivelawn]

I recently went from some balding 225/75/16 HT to 245/75/16 AT's (I went with Cooper Adventurer from Pep Boys during their BF sale). So far I am happy going a little bigger, but admittedly I feel less confident going into corners. I generally drive pretty conservatively as well. I did recently get out of a bind in some mud that I'm pretty sure would have had me stranded on my old tires, but that had more to do with the lack of tread. If you're anything like me, you won't regret going up to 245, but after the 1st couple hundred miles, you won't really think about it too much afterwards.

[IanF]

An E-rated tire is somewhat overkill for a E-150, although I suppose it won't hurt anything. My 1990 E-150 needed XL tires, although most of the time I had it, it had standard P tires on it. That did make it ride nicer, but they definitely "squashed" a lot on a few occasions when I carried heavy loads. Were I to do it again, I'd get the proper XL rated tires the van calls for.

I also have LTX tires on my E350 van (came with them) and they seem good, although I have limited miles on them. If/when I start driving the van in a lot of winter conditions, I'll get a second set of wheels with proper snow tires. I had Bridgestone W965 tires on an old Cummins 4x4 pickup and those tires defied the laws of physics with how they allowed that truck to stop and turn on snow/ice.

As far as oversizing the tires - it depends some on the axle ratio. Many E150 vans were designed for relaxed highway cruising and have a fairly tall rear gear ratio. IIRC, mine was around 3.08:1. Acceleration was never great to begin with and installing larger tires would not have helped that.