4 Continental Van Tyres and Wheel Alignment for VW Transporter

Whereas some tyre and vehicle combinations come up regularly e.g. 205/55R16 91V on a medium sized car (e.g. Golf, Focus Civic) or 235/65R17 104 H for a mid range 4x4 (e.g. Freelander) a booking we received in Shrewsbury today was rather more unusual - a set of 4 Continental Van Contact 100 185/80R14 102/100Q tyres for a 30 year old VW Transporter.

185/80R14 is a size that we do fit fairly regularly, but to a very different sort of 'van, the sort that often only has 2 wheels and needs to be towed to go anywhere! It is THE most popular caravan tyre size - however, fitting a Continental to your caravan would be somewhat overkill, given that caravan tyres are almost always replaced due to age. They also don't have to deal with either tractive or braking forces and any superiority over a budget tyre in terms of noise, ride comfort, handling or tread wear.

We were a little surprised that Continental still make a tyre in this size, but after a little research we realised it's still a popular size for some older VW vans, they were especially popular on early Transporters. There's no doubt that it's a common choice for these vehicles, given that one popular German brand deserves another!

Apparently, this VW Transporter (a recent purchase by the owner) had a current M.O.T. Certificate, despite being fitted with two heavily cracked tyres, the newer one of which was 18 years old!!! (Keeping in mind tyres should be changed once they reach an age of around 5/6 years). This certainly goes to show the value in thoroughly checking tyres yourself on any second-hand vehicle purchase, an M.O.T. Certificate, however recent, cannot be taken as a guarantee that all the tyres are in a roadworthy condition.

One of these old, cracked tyres had been fitted with an inner tube – despite being a tubeless tyre – this is certainly not good practice as tubeless tyres do not generally have a smooth interior, which can lead to chafing of the tube and ultimately cause it to fail. Despite the heavily aged state of the tyre, it would seem this unsafe bodge had been done due to the equally poor state of the rusty wheel – the valve aperture in the wheel had become oversize and misshapen due to rust and so would not be able to seal a tubeless valve, hence fitment of the innertube.

Fortunately, the vehicle had a full-size spare wheel in much better condition, so the new tyre was fitted to that and the rusted unroadworthy wheel relegated to the owner's shed, the sourcing of a replacement wheel another small job for the owner to tackle during the restoration of this VW.

With four new tyres fitted, we then carried out a wheel alignment, correcting the previous tendency for the VW to pull to the left. Given this alignment issue and the state of the old tyres, it is perhaps unsurprising that the owner reported his vehicle transformed after our visit!

New Tyres for VW Van in Shrewsbury 

If you need tyres for your beloved VW camper or any other car or light commercial vehicle – call us! We can fit anything from 12" to a whopping 23" tyre, all fully mobile.

If you know what you're looking for, you can simply order online and one of our team will be in touch to confirm details of your booking!