2001 Caravan 16" wheel/tire upgrade results

[conncarl]

Just wanted to offer some information which I could not find for the life of me when I needed it.

For some reason, Dodge specifies relatively narrow rims and tires for the Caravan. Even the Handling Package option, with an impressive-sounding 17" wheel upgrade, still gives you a 215/65 tire and 6.5" rim width, nothing to write home about. It's obviously something conceived by a marketing team and not an engineer.

I wanted to upgrade the factory 15" rims on my 2001 Caravan and I had several goals; increase dry/wet traction, improve stability, match the original tire diameter as closely as possible (to avoid potential ground clearance and speedometer error problems) and not trade off too much in terms of snow traction.

Since I wanted to keep the total cost under $500, I skipped 17" and 18" rims. Besides the fact that the wheels themselves are more expensive, the tires aren't mainstream enough to offer the price/performance ratio of 16" tires.

I found a set of American Eagle Series series 139 16 X 7.5" alloys used for about $160. I would have preferred 235-60-16s, which were slightly taller than the original 15s, but there was some concern that they might rub under full jounce. I settled for 225-60-16 Kumho Ecsta HP4s, which are fractionally shorter than the originals, not enough to be concerned about.

Surprise...they fit with no modifications! I'm very pleased with the improvement in handling, as well as wet/dry/snow traction. Although the excellent Kumhos are a big part of the improvement, the 7.5" rim width should also contribute to the overall stability.

For anyone else looking to upgrade their Caravan's rims, the specs on the American Eagle are; 5 X 115 bolt pattern and +42mm offset. If you're on a budget, you should also be able to use take-off rims from many other Chrysler products, such as the Avenger, Concorde, or Intrepid.

Hope this info proves to be helpful! Carl