Posted by Chris L on October 07, 1998 at 00:11:29:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Van tire upgrade- is wider better? posted by Mark on October 03, 1998 at 11:35:39:
Hydroplaning - you have to think of the situation in that if there is standing water on the road (not just a wet road), then a wider tire can more easily "float" above this water, just like a larger airplane wing can create more lift. The tires will not be worse just on wet roads, but only when you have standing water conditions, or snow.
Load range - I don't have a load range chart with me currently :), but if you know the load indexes of the tires you could compare the increased load carrying capacity. I gave a link to the Michelin site for this below.
I addition to the tires having a greater load capacity, the rest of the vehicle would need to be upgraded if there is a major increase in weight. Brakes, lugs 5->6->8, springs. The tires alone will not increase load carrying capacity. Overall though upgrading the size does make an improvement.