Is it worth upgrading 15” to 16” wheels?

[Deafender]

We’re 6 months in with our first MH and loving it - 2019 Ducato PVC - and we’re building up quite a wish list of all sorts of extras and refinements, particularly with a view to longer periods in the MH than the 3-4 day long weekend trips we bought ours for (we’re both still working full time…) … I sense we are getting close to having to decide between adding all the bits, or changing MH…

The biggie for us is the ride quality in ours… nice enough on those rare decent road surfaces, but worse than our 177,000 mile Freelander 2 for pot hole crash and poor road condition ride and noise, sadly more prevalent than ever. I’m also bothered about the very low ground clearance we have- tow bar scrape has occurred several times, and we inherited loose and bent water outlet brackets and pipes underneath as well… one of which parted company with the tank and left us waterless, presumably having been vibrated loose…

Sooo, I’m already convinced of the worth in adding air suspension at the rear with cab controls for extra ride height to deal with occasional slopes and bumps, not sure about the front (air or updated shocks/springs) and still need to get the vehicle weighed to be sure what needs doing… if only the weighbridges around here were open at weekends…

However, I have noticed that many other, similar aged or newer Boxer/Relay/Ducato MH and vans I’ve looked at ride on 16” wheels… which will help a bit with the ground clearance, but my question is would upgrading ours to 16” really make any noticeable difference to the ride ? The tyres on mine will need to swapped out this year anyway due to age, so some of that cost is happening anyway if we keep hold of this particular MH…

Has anyone else done this? I’m only guessing here on any real difference, and I’d be glad of some views on the worth of this or otherwise…

 

[Lenny HB]

With 225/75/16 tyres the fairly standard fit on 16" wheels you will gain about 30mm in ground clearance, speedo will be slightly more accurate.

If you have camping tyres swapping for standard commercial van tyres will give a huge increase in ride comfort & they give better grip levels.

We have just had semi air on the rear fitted ours is an Al-Ko chassis not really noticed any difference in ride quality. What you gain in height is down to rear overhang. We only gained a Inch with the air at max.

 

[Happy Jack]

Mine is a Ducato 2016 MWB.
I fitted rear air myself and ride quality is a little better.
Also fitted double leaf springs but ended up taking one off each side as it ended up oversprung.
But, ride height at the rear up by 50mms at least.
Next, fitted uprated coil springs and gas shocks all round.
Ride quality much better, very steady and feels very safe; but it's still a tad "van like".
Next, fitted 16" wheels and tyres in place of the 15" .
Ride quality much improved.
I got 215/75/16 tyres and speedo now agrees with sat nav.
They are Falken euro allseason van 11 tyres.

 

[Guigsy]

I'm unconvinced that wheel size change does much for comfort. I think it's largely down to people replacing camper tyres with van tyres when they upgrade. 16" alloys are heavier, so more unsuspended mass. And the side wall is already large enough that the small increase won't do much. 16" wheels do look better, you do gain a bit of ride height and they help if you're looking to increase plate weight. I think it's mainly cosmetic.

 

[Bertilak]

We've been through the same process on a MWB, running at c3.1Ton on tour. My sequence was:
1 Reduce pressures to actual load, rather than max rating for the axle This helps.
2 Softer van tyres. We ended up with some Hankook Vantra which seemed better and are well regarded on MHF.
3 Semi-air rear air bags: Useful, but not a magic bullet, as we are relatively light on the back. Tends to push the back end up on min recommended pressure.
4 Switch to 16" rims with All season tyres 225/75R16. So increased tyre profile from 65 to 75%. This by far made the biggest difference, at a cost of being slightly bouncy an less sharp handling. MPG is similar, given the wheels now have a 10% bigger diameter though we've yet to do a long run on these. I imagine /75 15" may give most of this benefit without new rims.
Personally I also like the look of them, they look more in proportion, where the OE 15's seemed skinny.

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[Happy Jack]

Mine is a Ducato 2016 MWB.
I fitted rear air myself and ride quality is a little better.
Also fitted double leaf springs but ended up taking one off each side as it ended up oversprung.
But, ride height at the rear up by 50mms at least.
Next, fitted uprated coil springs and has shocks all round.
Ride quality much better, very steady and feels very safe; but it's still a tad "van like".
Next, fitted 16" wheels and tyres in place of the 15" .
Ride quality much improved.
I got 215/75/16 tyres and speedo now agrees with sat nav.
They are Falken euro allseason van 11 tyres.

Just to add, 15" to 16" will get you another 25mm.
Pic below show front, distance from ground to wheel arch. Check yours and you'll get an idea how much extra clearance you will get. That is if you fit uprated coil springs as well as going to 16".


850 mms is after all mods.

 

[Happy Jack]

I'm unconvinced that wheel size change does much for comfort. I think it's largely down to people replacing camper tyres with van tyres when they upgrade. 16" alloys are heavier, so more unsuspended mass. And the side wall is already large enough that the small increase won't do much. 16" wheels do look better, you do gain a bit of ride height and they help if you're looking to increase plate weight. I think it's mainly cosmetic.

Yes Guigsy, my original tyres were no name 15" van tyres running at 4 bar but going to 16" Falken tyres running at 3.2 bar are a big improvement. All the other mods I've done have helped as well .

 

[DandJ]

Moving from a 15 to a 16" wheel with the same width and profile of tyre won't gain you 1"...it will gain you 1/2".
Have a look at this site to see what various sizes mean to tyre diameter and importantly, speedo accurancy. I'd suggest using your satnav..or borrowing one to suss out how accurate your speedo is.

Tire Size Comparison

Tire size comparison the easy way. Use our tire size comparison calculator to compare diameter, width, sidewall, circumference and revolutions per mile.

tiresize.com

 

[CAB96]

Can't believe no one has yet suggested new front shock absorbers.

 

[Carpmart]

Can't believe no one has yet suggested new front shock absorbers.

Shock absorbers would be my recommendation too! Make all the difference! If you’re feeling flush $$$, you can get shocks valved differently for bump and rebound (relative to your vehicle) which will significantly improve the vehicle dynamics.

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[Happy Jack]

Can't believe no one has yet suggested new front shock absorbers.

See post#3, I did say I fitted gas shocks all round although I perhaps didnt make it clear that they were uprated or that I was suggesting it would be a good mod to do.

 

[Happy Jack]

Moving from a 15 to a 16" wheel with the same width and profile of tyre won't gain you 1"...it will gain you 1/2".
Have a look at this site to see what various sizes mean to tyre diameter and importantly, speedo accurancy. I'd suggest using your satnav..or borrowing one to suss out how accurate your speedo is.

Tire Size Comparison

Tire size comparison the easy way. Use our tire size comparison calculator to compare diameter, width, sidewall, circumference and revolutions per mile.

tiresize.com

Yes that's right but I went from 215/70/15 to 215/75/16 which is almost 2" on diameter which is almost 1" extra ride height .

 

[dunnah01]

We’re 6 months in with our first MH and loving it - 2019 Ducato PVC - and we’re building up quite a wish list of all sorts of extras and refinements, particularly with a view to longer periods in the MH than the 3-4 day long weekend trips we bought ours for (we’re both still working full time…) … I sense we are getting close to having to decide between adding all the bits, or changing MH…

The biggie for us is the ride quality in ours… nice enough on those rare decent road surfaces, but worse than our 177,000 mile Freelander 2 for pot hole crash and poor road condition ride and noise, sadly more prevalent than ever. I’m also bothered about the very low ground clearance we have- tow bar scrape has occurred several times, and we inherited loose and bent water outlet brackets and pipes underneath as well… one of which parted company with the tank and left us waterless, presumably having been vibrated loose…

Sooo, I’m already convinced of the worth in adding air suspension at the rear with cab controls for extra ride height to deal with occasional slopes and bumps, not sure about the front (air or updated shocks/springs) and still need to get the vehicle weighed to be sure what needs doing… if only the weighbridges around here were open at weekends…

However, I have noticed that many other, similar aged or newer Boxer/Relay/Ducato MH and vans I’ve looked at ride on 16” wheels… which will help a bit with the ground clearance, but my question is would upgrading ours to 16” really make any noticeable difference to the ride ? The tyres on mine will need to swapped out this year anyway due to age, so some of that cost is happening anyway if we keep hold of this particular MH…

Has anyone else done this? I’m only guessing here on any real difference, and I’d be glad of some views on the worth of this or otherwise…

You'll never get close to the Freelander 2's ability to absorb the bumps (yours is just run in compared to our 250k truck )
We run on 16" wheels with hated Agilis CP 225/75 tyres. The front copes fairly well with the potholes and the rear Alko chassis is ok now that the pressures are set lower than Michelin insist on.

 

[dunnah01]

We’re 6 months in with our first MH and loving it - 2019 Ducato PVC - and we’re building up quite a wish list of all sorts of extras and refinements, particularly with a view to longer periods in the MH than the 3-4 day long weekend trips we bought ours for (we’re both still working full time…) … I sense we are getting close to having to decide between adding all the bits, or changing MH…

The biggie for us is the ride quality in ours… nice enough on those rare decent road surfaces, but worse than our 177,000 mile Freelander 2 for pot hole crash and poor road condition ride and noise, sadly more prevalent than ever. I’m also bothered about the very low ground clearance we have- tow bar scrape has occurred several times, and we inherited loose and bent water outlet brackets and pipes underneath as well… one of which parted company with the tank and left us waterless, presumably having been vibrated loose…

Sooo, I’m already convinced of the worth in adding air suspension at the rear with cab controls for extra ride height to deal with occasional slopes and bumps, not sure about the front (air or updated shocks/springs) and still need to get the vehicle weighed to be sure what needs doing… if only the weighbridges around here were open at weekends…

However, I have noticed that many other, similar aged or newer Boxer/Relay/Ducato MH and vans I’ve looked at ride on 16” wheels… which will help a bit with the ground clearance, but my question is would upgrading ours to 16” really make any noticeable difference to the ride ? The tyres on mine will need to swapped out this year anyway due to age, so some of that cost is happening anyway if we keep hold of this particular MH…

Has anyone else done this? I’m only guessing here on any real difference, and I’d be glad of some views on the worth of this or otherwise…

You'll never get close to the Freelander 2's ability to absorb the bumps (yours is just run in compared to our 250k truck )
We run on 16" wheels with hated Agilis CP 225/75 tyres. The front copes fairly well with the potholes and the rear Alko chassis is ok now that the pressures are set lower than Michelin insist on.

 

[Widge]

Surely going from a 15" wheel to a 16" wheel in its self would only add 1/2" to ride height, and to keep the correct calibration for the speedo as per manufacturers spec, you would need to put lower profile tyres, gaining you nothing.
So depending on the current tyre size you have, it is probably possible to gain a bit just by putting tyres with a higher profile on, but this will change the calibration of your speedo, but they tend to be 10% under anyway.

When working it all out remember the profile figure on a tyre is a percentage of the tyre width not the profile in mm.

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[Happy Jack]

Surely going from a 15" wheel to a 16" wheel in its self would only add 1/2" to ride height, and to keep the correct calibration for the speedo as per manufacturers spec, you would need to put lower profile tyres, gaining you nothing.
So depending on the current tyre size you have, it is probably possible to gain a bit just by putting tyres with a higher profile on, but this will change the calibration of your speedo, but they tend to be 10% under anyway.

When working it all out remember the profile figure on a tyre is a percentage of the tyre width not the profile in mm.

As you said, most Speedos are out.
Mine was and I mentioned this to my wheel/tyre supplier before buying and they recommended 215 profile instead of the 225 that most people put on.
It now agrees with my sat nav.

 

[Happy Jack]

Surely going from a 15" wheel to a 16" wheel in its self would only add 1/2" to ride height, and to keep the correct calibration for the speedo as per manufacturers spec, you would need to put lower profile tyres, gaining you nothing.
So depending on the current tyre size you have, it is probably possible to gain a bit just by putting tyres with a higher profile on, but this will change the calibration of your speedo, but they tend to be 10% under anyway.

When working it all out remember the profile figure on a tyre is a percentage of the tyre width not the profile in mm.

You need to stop calling people shirley