Inches matter?..16, 17, 18? Why?

[Teekay]

Apologies Guys might be stupid question.

 

Some Alphards have 18 inch wheels? Why? I'm looking at buying one that has 18 inch and some funny YELLOW coil springs? Anyone knows what is going on here? Should it be a red flag? Avoid such car or are these desirable? It's Gen 2, 3.5L v6 if it matters. Please see the pictures! Thankyou 👍 

235/50R18 97V

[Teekay]

Wonder if 18 inch alloy wheels be used to put winter tyres on them? Traveling to Europe in winter you need winter ones. Are 18 inch any safer or unsafe than 16/17?

[Rojie]

2 hours ago, Teekay said:

Wonder if 18 inch alloy wheels be used to put winter tyres on them? Traveling to Europe in winter you need winter ones. Are 18 inch any safer or unsafe than 16/17?

 

It is a common practise in Japan for Alphies to have more 'glamorous' wheels fitted.

With larger diameter wheels you need lower profile tyres, to maintain the correct rolling circumference / distance.

If you don't replace with very similar rolling distance you will change the gearing and your odometer will be affected.

 

Fitting larger wheels with lower profile tyres will make the ride harder.

 

Regarding the coil springs, these can be changed to lower the vehicle, that is to reduce the ground clearance.

 

When you come to insure it you should, probably, inform your insurance company as they may regard these changes as modifications !

 

If you need to alter it back to original; I think picasso recently advised about £1200 !

 

Winter tyres in the UK are not very common, but some owners fit them; especially the further north they live.

Winter tyres in Europe is now a legal requirement at certain times and in certain conditions.

But that topic deserves another thread !

[OldWellhouse]

Just an aesthetic choice since bigger wheels became more popular. I prefer to have as big a tyre side wall as possible to improve ride and avoid any accidental wheel damage.

I'm not sure there are any downsides to having smaller wheels/bigger tyres but could be wrong. 

 

[Teekay]

2 minutes ago, OldWellhouse said:

Just an aesthetic choice since bigger wheels became more popular. I prefer to have as big a tyre side wall as possible to improve ride and avoid any accidental wheel damage.

I'm not sure there are any downsides to having smaller wheels/bigger tyres but could be wrong. 

 

Watch this Old Well House..

You will love it how it is explained in simple terms 👍

 

[OldWellhouse]

5 minutes ago, Teekay said:

Watch this Old Well House..

You will love it how it is explained in simple terms 👍

 

Yeah it seems like common sense with the ride etc. I've had 20" wheels in the past and they looked great but were a pain the arse although the one advantage is it probably makes the car handle better on nice smooth roads. Maybe better MPG?

If the Alphie was higher off the ground with bigger wheel arches I'd have 16" steel wheels with chunky BF Goodrich tyres. The ride must be great but they'd be noisy and probably lower the MPG. 

[Teekay]

This tyre / alloy size is such complicated topic, that is why I started this thread to find if there was some common knowledge / consensus on what is best for Alphard? What is best for summer, winter icy conditions? Etc

 

Membership on this forum is low it seems. We should post its link on Facebook or something..seems there are thousands there.. 

[Rojie]

1 hour ago, Teekay said:

This tyre / alloy size is such complicated topic, that is why I started this thread to find if there was some common knowledge / consensus on what is best for Alphard? What is best for summer, winter icy conditions? Etc

 

Membership on this forum is low it seems. We should post its link on Facebook or something..seems there are thousands there.. 

 

There are web sites that will allow you to calculate alternate wheel sizes, tyre sizes, inset, offset, etc.

What is most important, is the clearances within the wheel arches under dynamic conditions.

Not only is rubbing dangerous, it can be costly in terms of renewing parts.

 

Regarding membership.

I would be interested to know how many Alphies are registered in the UK. Then we could compute the membership ratio.

My guess is it would be rather high.

[OldWellhouse]

Sort of related to this subject, I just had Alf at Kwik-Fit to get a slow puncture repaired on one of my Goodyear tyres.

First of all I was told the tyre couldn't be repaired because the nail was too close to the side wall(it was about an inch away) and I would need a new tyre. I went inside to see about ordering one as they didn't stock it and it never even appeared on their system. Then they said they might be able to source on on Monday for about £100 and started talking about torque values for reattaching the wheel all the while I'm holding the translated owner manual saying I'll check what it says in there, but they pretty much ignored me, looked at the internet and decided they should be 210nm, they'd over tightened them. They'd done 220nm and broke off one of the lug nuts!! 

The manual says 205nm(I think) and finally they listened. Had to wait another half an hour for them to remove the broken lug nut and fit a replacement, in that time the manager said he'd actually managed to fix the puncture in my tyre after all and there would be no charge. 

So tyre fixed for free but I had to wait about it bit longer and that translated owners manual I was recommended on here has already more than paid for itself. 

[OldWellhouse]

1 hour ago, Rojie said:

 

There are web sites that will allow you to calculate alternate wheel sizes, tyre sizes, inset, offset, etc.

What is most important, is the clearances within the wheel arches under dynamic conditions.

Not only is rubbing dangerous, it can be costly in terms of renewing parts.

 

Regarding membership.

I would be interested to know how many Alphies are registered in the UK. Then we could compute the membership ratio.

My guess is it would be rather high.

Rojie do you have any advice on getting standard steel van wheels for my 2005? Would Hiace wheels fit do you reckon?

[Rojie]

7 minutes ago, OldWellhouse said:

Rojie do you have any advice on getting standard steel van wheels for my 2005? Would Hiace wheels fit do you reckon?

 

No, I can't offer any advice on steel wheel suitability.

 

If the wheels are a comparable size I cannot see any issues but I really wouldn't know.

 

Are Hiace vehicles lighter than Alphies ?

WillTheyFit, I think it is defunct now, was an excellent website for wheel tyre combination comparisons

But there are other models out there on the internet.

 

If you know the specifications for the Hiace you could do a comparison.

Remember, clearances are key to safety. Offsets and insets are important for correct wheel bearing loading.

 

Other than above re rolling circumference, offsets, sensible tyre widths, side wall height (aspect ratio) and adequate clearances; my only concern would be ensuring you match the wheel stud type to the wheels.

 

My Gen 1 facelift uses conical shaped wheel nuts, not flat faced ones. Nut to wheel fit is crucial.

Also it wears XL (extra load) type tyres.

 

Finally, if changing wheels and tyres for non standard fit you need to check with your Insurance Company that your plans are OK.

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

[Mike Owen]

On 5/7/2022 at 4:08 PM, OldWellhouse said:

Rojie do you have any advice on getting standard steel van wheels for my 2005? Would Hiace wheels fit do you reckon?

Hi Ray, did you ever managed to find a good place to get steel wheels that fitted your 05, and also if so the size of the tyres?

[Michael Brown]

So what are the standard fit tyres reccommended for our Alphards ?

[Rojie]

21 hours ago, Michael Brown said:

So what are the standard fit tyres recommended for our Alphards ?

 

What size wheels do you have ?

[Michael Brown]

215/65/16   Gives a good ride and you don't feel the bumps as much

[Rojie]

Changing wheel tyre sizes (from OEM sizes) will affect the accuracy of your speedometer.

Be careful in 20 and 30 mph areas !

[Michael Brown]

So what whee,l tyre, sizes are standard to the Alphard

[Rojie]

21 hours ago, Michael Brown said:

215/65/16   Gives a good ride and you don't feel the bumps as much

 

The standard wheel size / tyres for your year are

 

205/65/16, which are not easy to obtain, tending to be  budget variants.

 

225/55/17.

 

What is your trim level ? AS, AT ?

As that is where the 215 variations seem to occur.

 

Most Gen 1 models are specified as 205/65/16.

 

These are for non Hybrid as my manual does not include that data, so I would assume they are the same as conventional models.

 

So, with your set up, your speedometer will read 4% too slow !

Are your wheels standard, as changes to offset will impact wheel-arch clearances ?

You have gained 13mm in ride height.