145 or 155 ? what are the tyres meant to be ?

???

Handbook that came with my 1995 van (copyright date 1991!) says either. (Don't mix them though). Covers S84, S85 & S86 models. Curiously it also lists tyre pressures for 5" crossplys!

Important thing is that they're 12" (obviously) and 6-ply or higher. As has been mentioned on here before, there is a very slim possibility that fitting 4-ply (car) tyres might ruffle insurance companies feathers as being 'non-standard'.

Mine are 175/70's and 13 inch.
get yourself some alloys!!!

Legally in Italy I can mount only 155R12C -8ply rating- tires.

Cheers , what's the ply bit mean ? I've got 155 but need a couple so thinking of sticking 145 on the front as iv found some , what you think ?

It describes the layers of reinforcing in the walls of the tyres, because the hijet has quite a high max load weight it required 6 ply commercial tyres I think.

Think of plywood. The more layers, or 'plys', the stronger the board or tyre.

If you have 145 on front and 155 on rear you would need 2 spares as mixing on same axle is definately illegal (not sure about front/rear though)

Lots of cars come standard with wider rubber on the rear so it shouldn't be a problem

Ive got 155 on rear and 145 on front, simply cos it was easier to get the 155 at the time and the ones on there were bald can use the 145 spare as emergency but not to be mixed on same axle as standard use

daisydon wrote:Ive got 155 on rear and 145 on front, simply cos it was easier to get the 155 at the time and the ones on there were bald can use the 145 spare as emergency but not to be mixed on same axle as standard use

did you notice any difference in the steering with the 145's on ?

cheers for all the info chaps

they were on the back before and the ones on the front were so bald that the stearing had got quite heavy so to me the stearing is much better now I've got tread!

*steering*!

toastiee wrote:Cheers , what's the ply bit mean ? I've got 155 but need a couple so thinking of sticking 145 on the front as iv found some , what you think ?

Originally the "ply rating" was an indicator of the load capacities of the old diagonal (bias) tyres.
It remains as "index" for the light truck and truck tyres, but it hasn't any pratical and real importance on radial tyres.
All the issue started when diagonal tyres was supplanted by radial ones.
Veichles with "X" ply rating written on the registration certificate (at least, in italy) MUST be equipped with tyres with that index, but for radial ones, the load range is specified otherwise, as a number that means a precise load capacity (in kilograms).

Another index of a tyre made for van/trucks was the letter C.

For example, at now i have two "commercial veichles"...
One is my Porter, the other one is my autocaravan, on Fiat Ducato chassis.

My porter must be equipped with 155R12C 86/88Q 8ply rating tyres.
My autocaravan must be equipped with 185R14C 102/100N 8ply rating.

The ply rating is the same.
The load range, not.

You can also read on any radial tyre its real "ply rating".
I remember that on the autocaravan I had a couple of Continental tyre with the correct load range and marked as "8ply" that have only two ply on the walls and four on the tread zone.
Now I have four "offroad" tyres on it (maxxis MA751) that have three ply on the walls and five on the thread zone...you can feel the difference driving it (now it is more stable).

But the load range is still the same.