When I purchased the Vanagon, it had the original 14 inch alloy wheels that came stock in the GL versions. The previous owner had installed 205/70 R14 tires that were better suited for a passenger vehicle and intended for highway use. Since this van is an all wheel drive Syncro and I was hoping to do some boondocking, I was tempted to go find some 16 inch wheels with tires designed for off road use. I stopped to think about what would likely be my actual use of the van and how larger diameter tires would impact the already weak performance of the van. Sure enough, there are plenty of articles that help explain what happens when you start messing with tire sizes…especially with Vanagons. So the hunt was on.
Based on the potential impact on performance, my goal was to find a wheel/tire combination that would would have a diameter not more than an inch or two larger and that would have a revolutions per mile that was within 5% of the factory tires. I first decided that I would go 15 inch wheels. Not too much bigger than the stock wheels, but a wheel size that provided considerably more tire options than the old 14 inch wheels. Next I decided to go with steel wheels. If I do end up off road, steel wheels can be more forgiving. Then I choose a 205/70 R15 tire that would give me a slightly larger diameter and only a small reduction in the revolutions per mile. As for the tire, given that 80 to 90 percent of my driving with be on pavement, I ended up selecting Yokohama Geolandar AT tires.
The combination seems to work. I think the wheel tire combination looks better than stock, handling has improved, and there is no significant increase in road noise. Driving around town the new tires have no real noticeable impact on performance but I do notice when going up a grade, the speed bleeds off a little sooner requiring me to shift down sooner…reminding me that the Vanagon operates in a completely different space/time continuum than other vehicles. There was one added bonus, the speedometer now registers the actual speed as confirmed by GPS measurements.
