I'm about to replace my (no-longer-available) Michelin XCD light truck tyres with something.

Does anyone have experience with any of the following?
Michelin Agilis
Diamondback TR645
Bridgestone R263

Any other (185R14 light truck) recommendations?

Humourous suggestions (such as using passenger car tyres) also welcome.

TIA

Obviously for your bus??

I've a customer car here now with Bridgestone R623 and it was terrible to drive after a front end repair and align, so I checked the rear align, it was 6mm toe in, so reset and best I got was 3mm toe in and its way better but still twichy in the rear. I'm yet to see if I can get the rear closer to zero, but I feel the tyres are contributing to the poor handling

Is there a specific reason for light truck tyres only? A set of 4 passenger tyres can accommodate 2400kg GVM load rating in most circumstances.

We use Kumho KH18 for the 91V load rating for the limo which has a GVM 2450kg

LOL (for humour)

Toyo h08 From reports a good tyre. I had the Yokohama equiv. good as well.

Why do you want light truck tyres? (I don't get the joke)

Check out Toyos.

Stay away from Michelin Agilis.

I've Toyo Tranpath MP4 215/65R14 94H on my Doka on 6" rims.

The standard tyres are 205/70R14 but are near impossible to buy with a decent load rating.

The light truck and C rating are old ratings and don't really mean much nowadays. They are not even written into Australian standards.

Light truck usually means stronger less flexible sidewalls and shit handling in the wet.

The upshot - after searching diligently for comments, I managed to find negative comments and experience for just about every tyre of the right size ever constructed.

I am trying Diamondback 185R14C 102/100N tyres on the front. They were $89 each, fitted and balanced, and so far, so good. The ride quality is good, directional stability is good. I'm sure that ultimately they will lack cornering grip compared with some of the other options available, but it's not a race car. The one thing I haven't found out yet is whether the wet grip, especially braking, is up to snuff, but it hasn't rained since fitting them two weeks ago.

hth

Good point, it's not a race car. If you drove fast enough to question the tyres grip I think your in the wrong vehicle. I have bought at least 6 sets of 185r14 lt tyres over the last 10 years and one thing I know is that more expensive tyres DO NOT last longer than the cheapies. I got over 90,000ks on a set of $78 cheng shin (or whatever they were) and I never matched that on dunlops or bridgestones. This may not be true with 4wd tyres but for normal use light truck tyres its just not worth the extra $100+ for a set unless you have performance upgrades.

Hi

Ive had some terrible experinces with light truck tyres on my Hi Lux work utes, the worst were Goodyear G800, in the wet you were never sure what was going to happen when you went around a corner or applied the brakes.

Im using Kumho 857 in 205 x15, they are very good in all conditions but we never let them get anywhere near the wear indicators.

My ute is permantly loaded and weighs 2.5 tonnes.

Steve

Years ago I was travelling from Byron to Sydney with the wife and four kids in my '74 Microbus downhill at 100kmh with a fully loaded box trailer with our camping gear in it. I had only been on the road for about 200k.

Bang, Bang! I lost both rear tyres. If it wasn't for the added weight at the back with the trailer and some drag keeping us straight, I reckon we would have run off into the bush and been killed. No joke.

On inspection the new Bridgestone car tyres had failed and had flailed around under the rear mudguards and caused a huge amount of damage from the flapping.

When I contacted Bridgestone they said that it was my fault (of course) that I had run the tyres under-inflated. This was of course not correct as I was anal at keeping my pressures higher around 40psi even if it meant a little hard ride. After replacing the two tyres and back on my way, one of the front tyres started to delaminate but I felt it going and I had to replace both the front two as well before I got home.

I was somewhat upset and aided with a letter from a country tyre dealer I confronted Bridgestone in Sydney and they advised in the end after some pressing that it was a bad batch of tyres. They paid for the tyres and the body repairs. However they did say off the record that you should not have used a 2-ply radial car tyre on the Kombi. Even though there was NO recommendation against it.

I immediately proceeded to remove the Bridgestone and go to Dunlop LT tyres and never regretted it. Nor did I notice much difference in the handling.

LT tyres have stiffer side walls. The idea is that this will give you better stability while cornering or in side winds. It’s kind of like using a larger rim and a low profile tyre. I had LT’s on my stock ride height bus and loved the difference. The tread pattern was very uninspiring (firestone cv2000) but they were quiet and fine in the wet weather. Pretty sure the owner’s manual specified LT’s too. The other thing that made a big diff was tyre pressure. I can’t recall what the specified numbers were but rear was about 10 psi higher.

The idea is that they have stiffer sidewalls so that the mongs driving them can hit gutters.

Stiffer sidewalls = poorer handling. As you corner the sidewall cannot flex so it acts like a hinge and reduces the amount of rubber on the road.

The owners manual would not specify LTs as they were never fitted from factory.

Tyre pressures are the same whether they are LT or not.

The factory knows best.

Can't see why you should not fit light truck tyres to a light truck.

Quote:

Originally posted by bus914 Quote: Originally posted by AA003 Stiffer sidewalls = poorer handling. Google this ^ AA003 And here... pg51 :

Quote:

Originally posted by HappyDaze Can't see why you should not fit light truck tyres to a light truck.

Quote:

Originally posted by AA003 Quote: Originally posted by HappyDaze Can't see why you should not fit light truck tyres to a light truck. Is a Kombi a light truck? What about a Microbus? I'll go for safety. (Handling, braking etc.)

Sorry Greg I don't understand what you mean.

Quote:

Originally posted by HappyDaze That's OK , AA03.....I often don't understand what I mean.