Is it worth upgrading 15” to 16” wheels?

[stevewagner]

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.

I think you’ll find that speedos read over not under.

 

[Happy Jack]

I didn’t change the tyres for lift, I did it for better range of tyres. I got the most lift with rear air assist, and did the front to balance what I’d done at the back. I wouldn’t want to do the front without the back, as it would make the back even lower

Same here, not worth doing one without the other.

 

[Deafender]

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.

Yep, and I’ve come across Mr B ’s thread around unrated front shocks as well… the two combined have me certain they’ll get done on my MH as well as the tyres, which have to be done anyway…

 

[Deafender]

IHere's my 215/70/15 next to my 215/75/16.
15" dia is 26.9". 16" dia is 28.7".
These values from tiresize.com, guess it's USA as they've spelt tyre wrong.
Note I fitted 215, most people fit 225.
View attachment 1003008

Thank you all for your input, as always on Funsters, it’s helped a lot.

Improving ride quality is the main priority for us, while the clearance bothers us it’s manageable and may actually improve a bit without the 16” wheels if I get the air suspension mods done. Some of you may have heard a thump earlier that was me falling off my chair at the cost I’ve seen of the larger alloys - - steel wheels with swanky plastic hub caps are about 25% of that cost…

… so I am tempted to gamble slightly and go van tyres all round and air at the rear, with updated shocks at the front and maybe pass on the bigger alloy wheels - from what’s on here it looks more likely from a cost viewpoint that we can viably uprate our MH rather than trade up from it…

But next stop is Off Grid or Vanbitz for upgraded electrics, so quite possibly a change may yet occur… we’ve end-of-life leisure batteries, no inverter, not sure if we have a smart alternator or not, though we do have a solar panel and lots of wire stuffed under the seat… so we shall see…