TheSamba.com :: View topic

Sat Oct 03, 2020 9:42 am

Thought I would chime in and offer feedback on the Nokian tires. Here is my experience.

During a 1400 mile trip recently, running WRC 205/65/15 tires with 25k miles on them, the left front tire suffered from a delamination. This happened after a 25 mile climb up over a mountain on very rough and rocky forest road at low speed. The tread on the other 3 tires is pretty well worn so its time for a new set. The Nokian’s have been a fine tire other than being a bit too small in diameter which makes the speedo read about 4 mph too high. The spare is unused so I’m thinking of getting 3 new tires and stick with the same brand and size until I figure out whether to convert or keep stock engine, gear ratio, larger tires, etc. in the near future. I used to run Michelin LTX 215/75/15 tires which lasted a long time and worked well other than the poor gear ratio match and speedo reading too low. I did not like the constant shifting and high load with this size tire and stock engine/gearing. Otherwise, great clearance and handling, longevity. No noticeable fuel economy difference.

Anyone running a slightly taller tire thats closer to stock?

1990 Syncro Westy, stock engine, decoupler, rear locker, lift springs, T3 bushings & anti sway bar, OME shocks

Sat Oct 03, 2020 11:20 am

205/65R15 is the closest 15" size to stock 14" diameter.

I run 205/70R15 XL for a little more height and Load Index 100.

Mark

Sat Oct 03, 2020 12:35 pm

crazyvwvanman wrote: 205/65R15 is the closest 15" size to stock 14" diameter.

I run 205/70R15 XL for a little more height and Load Index 100.

Mark

Thanks for the feedback, Mark. Is that on a tin top syncro with 2.1 WBX’r? How does your speedo compare to gps? It seems like the tire size you have would be a better fit and also have 8 ply instead of 6 ply, right?

Sat Oct 03, 2020 3:42 pm

I am running the Entyres on my Westy 205/70/15 and they give you an 8% increase which makes the speedo and mileage lower than actual.
On my Tintop I run Grabber AT2's 205/75/15 and they give you a 10% increase and lower mileage and speed.

Sat Oct 03, 2020 4:11 pm

Stock 14" tires are about 815 revs/mile

Entyre 205/70R15 are about 790 revs/mile according to Nokian.

815-790=25

25/815 = 3%

I'm running that tire and size on my tintop Syncro.
On my second set. I'm happy with them for my use.

These tires are XL, meaning Extra Load
They carry more weight and are rated at more pressure than an SL tire of the same size.
A set of 4 could carry nearly 7000 according to their specs.
Their max pressure is 51 psi.

They are not C or D tires.
They are not 6PR or 8PR tires.

Mark

Sat Oct 03, 2020 4:33 pm

For folks reading along, a C load range tire = 6 ply, D = 8 ply. A D/8 ply tire no longer means that the tires have 8 plies, they're just roughly equivalent to a tire made with 8 plies back in the olden days. As CVWVM points out, it's important to know the differences. It's helped me to consume a few different resources to get up to speed. Here's one...

https://m.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp...lsrc=aw.ds