2002 118WB with LT215/85R16 So far they fit

derekhski

Member
So I recently went out on a lib and bought some un-used, used tires. They have a 2016 date stamp and were unneeded by the owner. At LT215/85R16 I dint know if they would fit, but it was a good value, and I thought I would see, and if not, I could sell to someone with a NCV3.
So first, its a 118WB which was spec'd with 15" wheels, which I upgrade to 16" back in 2012-13 and ran LT225/75R16, which I trimmed the mud flaps for. On the Mercedes Rims I have had no rubbing, as one time I ran Aftermarket Rims, the Warriors, which has a small offset difference, these would rub on my Wheel wells.
I mounted onetire in the newest to me size, LT215/85R16 30.4"Diameter +/- I test fit it on the front, and had no rubbing. I have now had the local tire guys mount the other three, and I installed them last night, drove around, check my turning left and right, and check various positions to make sure nothing was touching. They fit (for me) may not fit for others (?)
I drove the van to work today and not no pint did I notice any contact made with any parts of the body. Over a couple sets of train tracks, some poor pavement, in and out of a few store driveways and not a side contact point.
Just thought I would share this information. They are a road / Hwy like tire and not an All terrain. Couple pictures of the space on the front.
 

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derekhski

Member
Short and brief update. I have run the LT215/85R16 for some 8 days now. I have not heard or seen or felt a single rubbing issue on my little 118". I did bounce it down an un-maintained road surface just the other day.. the surface was gravel, with some larger potholes which at 10 mph gave the van suspension a test. I'm happy to say I never heard or felt anything touch. When I had a previous non Mercedes Wheel set, there was a noticeable vibration and BRRRRHHHH sound when the tires made contact with the fender metal / wheel well edge.
Other results may vary....
I will follow up on this again after taking a camping trip to the Oregon coast this coming weekend. Derek
 

derekhski

Member
Now its been a few weeks, and ran the van loaded down to the Coast and back. Tires are running great, not a single issue with the size.
I did have some bad tire wear with the last set of tires, which was clearly due to alignment issues at the front end. I ran a google search and came up with Kalberer Frame and Line-up out on SE92nd and Woodstock Ct in Portland OR.
They seemed to have a lot of good reviews, so I opted to try them out. They felt that they could handle the Sprinter without issue. They only did the Front end, using one of the front scale systems with a triangle measurement tool. They
had to fire up the torch to un-seize the nuts and bolts on the adjustment bars, but I was in and out in less than 30 minutes. Sub $100 in costs and everything looks clean and straight. They two gentlemen doing the work were hands on with me and the van, with some old world charm and knowledge. I would give them a chance for any ones alignment needs. Derek
 

gilee

2006 Sprinter 2500 Camper
Interesting to say...
My wheel and tires are 225/75/16 16"... Atleast its what comes with my Van when I bought it.
Screenshot_20180807-161642_Photos.jpg
I thought my van stock came with 16"...

But interestingly from tirerack.com... it say my OE wheel is 15".... Screenshot_20180807-161609_Chrome.jpg
I guess mine was upgraded by previous owner.
LOL, i feel good knowing I got a free upgrade.... LOL
:bounce:
 

SprinterLex

2006 T1N 3500 Long & Tall
I put new 235/75-15 tires on my 2003 118" van today. They are the proper load range called for. They cost $632 out the door at discount tire.
No problems with hitting or rubbing.
Is your sprinter a dually? If so check to see if rear dually tires touch, if not how close? Do you think they would touch if slightly low air or under load? I read some forum members say the 235/75-15 size dually tires touch each other.
 

SprinterLex

2006 T1N 3500 Long & Tall
aaahhh that will work nicely for you then. 15" rims through me off. My 3500 has 15" and 2500 has 16" I really wanted the 235/75/15 because it is has the proper load index for my 3500, but no go because of dually tire rub.
 

owner

Oz '03 316CDI LWB ex-Ambo Patient Transport
Are there no laws there against putting thinner tread width tyres on than stock?
 

SprinterLex

2006 T1N 3500 Long & Tall
I seriously dought it in Canada, haha.

Narrow tire are safer in winter
Wider tires give less traction in snow/slush/ice. Feel free to do a quick google research, lots of info on it. :) If your tires are wider it’s more likely to ride above on the snow and not get traction, and get stuck. The narrow tires cut through like a knife and grip the solid ground below, opposite of a snowshoe. There are more stopping related accidents in Canada from snow then dry pavement stopping distances. So it’s safer for me to lean on a more narrow then wider tire, especially since my vans drive in the mountains. Winter is my main concern of safety for my vans. I’m not the only sprinter owner using 215/85/16 in the Rockies. The bonus part is in summer it will get better fuel mileage. Also, the 16” rims and narrow tires will give some snow gap between the dually.

Besides my widths isn’t much different, and I ended up increasing the width of my 3500 stock tire and only slightly decreased the width of my 2500 tires.

Tire width.
- My 3500 stock tire is 195/70/15, which is a 7.7” wide tire
- My 2500 stock tire is 225/75/16, which is an 8.9" tire
- The tire i chose is 215/85/16 on both, which is a 8.5-inch tire.

Aaaaaannnnddddd

The stock tire size for the next model year 3500 is 215/85/16, which is the same 16” rims I’m using. My 3500 should have the same traction and grip profile as the next year's 3500 model.

I wanted
- a safe strong-walled tire to avoid the wobble swaying people have talked about with a lower-rated ply tire. I’m speaking of tires that can meet the manufacturer load index by going with bigger tires but the tires have a lower ply wall rating. An easy way to tell is to check how much psi the tire can handle. It should be able to handle the same PSI that your stock tire can.
- A winter rated tire
- For the 3500 I wanted more snow clearance and a better gear ratio, my 3500 is always doing super light loads, it doesn’t need that much torque.
- A tire that at least matches the stock load index. Which is very hard to do on a 15”
- A popular tire and popular tire size. The stock size for the 3500 does not meet both those things.

So I decided to do the 215/85/16. Out of the popular sizes, it’s the thinnest that still meets the manufacturer’s load index rating for t1n. Plus it’s rated a 10 ply
 
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DRTDEVL

Active member
Food for thought:

With the right tools you can set adaptations in the cluster for three different tire sizes: 195/70R15 (25.7" diameter), 225/70R15 (27.4" diameter), or 225/75R16 (29.3" diameter). With 215/85R16 being 30.4" in diameter, your best bet for adaptation would be 225/75R16, as that would correct your speedometer to -3.7%, or reading 96.3% of your actual speed (57.8 mph @ 60 actual), whereas a 3500 would read -15.5%, or 84.5% of your actual speed (50.7 mph @ 60 actual) and a 118 would read 93.5% of actual (56.1 @ 60 actual)... and those numbers are ignoring the automatic +3 mph readout in the cluster (60.8 @ 60, 53.7 @ 60, 59.1 @ 60 respectively are what you would see).
 
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SprinterLex

2006 T1N 3500 Long & Tall
Food for thought:

With the right tools you can set adaptations in the cluster for three different tire sizes: 195/70R15 (25.7" diameter), 225/70R15 (27.4" diameter), or 225/75R16 (29.3" diameter). With 215/85R16 being 30.4" in diameter, your best bet for adaptation would be 225/75R16, as that would correct your speedometer to -3.7%, or reading 96.3% of your actual speed (57.8 mph @ 60 actual), whereas a 3500 would read -15.5%, or 84.5% of your actual speed (50.7 mph @ 60 actual) and a 118 would read 93.5% of actual (56.1 @ 60 actual)... and those numbers are ignoring the automatic +3 mph readout in the cluster (60.8 @ 60, 53.7 @ 60, 59.1 @ 60 respectively are what you would see).
Which tools can do this? Is it only the MB stars?
 

Cam paps

New member
So I recently went out on a lib and bought some un-used, used tires. They have a 2016 date stamp and were unneeded by the owner. At LT215/85R16 I dint know if they would fit, but it was a good value, and I thought I would see, and if not, I could sell to someone with a NCV3.
So first, its a 118WB which was spec'd with 15" wheels, which I upgrade to 16" back in 2012-13 and ran LT225/75R16, which I trimmed the mud flaps for. On the Mercedes Rims I have had no rubbing, as one time I ran Aftermarket Rims, the Warriors, which has a small offset difference, these would rub on my Wheel wells.
I mounted onetire in the newest to me size, LT215/85R16 30.4"Diameter +/- I test fit it on the front, and had no rubbing. I have now had the local tire guys mount the other three, and I installed them last night, drove around, check my turning left and right, and check various positions to make sure nothing was touching. They fit (for me) may not fit for others (?)
I drove the van to work today and not no pint did I notice any contact made with any parts of the body. Over a couple sets of train tracks, some poor pavement, in and out of a few store driveways and not a side contact point.
Just thought I would share this information. They are a road / Hwy like tire and not an All terrain. Couple pictures of the space on the front.
Where would a guy find some rims like that? I’m in British Columbia thx
 

SprinterLex

2006 T1N 3500 Long & Tall
I got lucky and found mine on the buy used online stores. It was either eBay, Facebook marketplace, or Kijiji. I can't remember. The guy just bought a container full of them.

I would try calling places that do a lot of aftermarket changes on the newer sprinters. I read that often owners upgrade their tires and rims and those places have to try and get rid of the 16" rims. So as long as it's a newer 3500 you would be in luck.

Hopefully, that helps someone.

Let me know how it goes.
 

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