tires and instrumentation...

[Green1]

I've heard a lot of people talking about putting larger tires on their vans, now being that the spedometer and odometer both count on standard tire size for their accuracy, what (if anything) do you people do to correct the readings given by these 2 instruments after the installation of larger tires?

[Morganizer]

I was told that the tires that are the correct size for the L300 are not available in North America. I put on a set of Geolanders, which are popular, but slightly larger, meaning the speedometer reads a little under the actual speed. Anecdotally, I've observed that if I do what the needle says is the speed limit, I'm going a lot slower than everybody else (accounting for most people going 10-20% over the limit.)

I haven't done anything to correct this mechanically. I figure combined with the L300's general gutlessness, the speedometer reading over makes me less likely to get a ticket.

Also, being that the ergonomics was set up for tiny Japanese people, I have to duck my head to see the top of the speedometer beneath the steering wheel. So going a little on the slow side makes up for checking my speed less frequently.

[Growlerbearnz]

On standard tyres my speedo was a quite optimistic. 100kph on the speedo was closer to 92. Fitting larger tyres actually made it more accurate (but still not quite right): between 40 and 110kph the speedo was a consistent 5kph low. In the end I pulled the indicator needle off and put it back 5kph faster. At rest my speedo now says 5kph, but at anything above 40 it's spot on.

Annoyingly, the odometer was super accurate. With larger tyres (31") it's about 10% slow- but since we pay for road miles here, I'm not complaining too much.

Also, being that the ergonomics was set up for tiny Japanese people, I have to duck my head to see the top of the speedometer beneath the steering wheel.

Is your steering wheel height not adjustable?

[Morganizer]

Yes, it's got the tilt steering But I like it tilted down, so it feels more like I'm driving a car than a school bus. Where it feels right, the top of the wheel obscures the top of the speedometer. I just remember that when the needle's straight up, that's 80km/h.

[thesixpackcaptain]

I find with 235/75/15 that whatever speed my speedo reads I’m still always being passed so I dont really worry about it. This coming spring with plans for a bit larger tires (30”) I guess I’ll just have to leean a little bit more forward into the wind and for aerodynamics and open the windows a bit more cuz more wind noise makes it sound like I’m going faster.
New guy here loving my 1992 L300 for the past 5 years!!:-)

[FalcoColumbarius]

The 235/75R15s are ever-so-smaller than the stock 215SR15s, I worked it out with Mark. If you put a Starwagon with stock tyres next to one with 235/75R15s on - after an hundred kliks, the wagon with the stock tyres will be fifteen feet further, if you take my meaning. The stock ones are a tiny bit taller but narrower. You can see it in the shop manual where they have the illustrations with the spacial dimensions.

Falco.

[deskinthewoods]

Well, that is some funny news. During the safety check here in Quebec, I was told the 235/75R15s weren't the correct tires and they made me put 215/70R15s on to pass (door sticker says 215SR15). So the 215SR15s are actually BIGGER?!!! I'll be reinstalling the 235s come winter...