Tires for Niva Chevrolet. Which one to choose?

Mud tires for the Chevrolet Niva are one of the many tire offers for this SUV. There are five types in total:

winter;
all-season;
summer;
universal;
mud.

The purpose of each can be determined by its name. The mud tires we are considering are necessary when the car owner plans to operate his Chevy in off-road conditions, when the road surface turns into one continuous mud.

In some cases, replacing standard wheels with mud wheels will require re-equipping the car - lifting. This is due to the fact that a number of models have a particularly large radius, allowing them to pass not only through mud, but also to be used in particularly extreme conditions.

Only mud tires allow you to go off-road with a minimum of problems and without a too noticeable drop in speed. The vehicle's cross-country ability on such tires is rarely below one hundred percent, whereas with standard tires it is a maximum of seventy percent.

The main advantage of mud wheels, which any owner of a Chevrolet Niva can easily point out, is the crossover’s cross-country ability on any roads, including non-existent ones. But their positive qualities do not end there. Among them are:

higher wear resistance compared to competitors;
maximum tread grip;
Dirt does not stick to the surface of the rubber;
the car moves quite smoothly even on poor dirt roads;
high treads increase the ground clearance of the Niva itself.

True, there were some shortcomings. How serious they are is up to each car owner to decide for himself. Worth highlighting:

reduction in the average speed of the car;
increase in fuel consumption;
difficulty removing wheels from rims;
problems with operation on hard surfaces.

Mud tires tend to wear out fairly quickly if they are frequently used for driving on paved roads. As for other disadvantages, they are either tolerated due to the preponderance of advantages, or they are eliminated with the help of special tools.

Features and purpose of mud tires

The main thing that distinguishes tires for driving on mud is their special pattern with large, deep lugs.
Similar wheels can be seen on a tractor. Thanks to the large distance between the tread elements, the tires are independently cleaned of dirt.

Mud tires are made of harder rubber. This provides them with high off-road durability.

Unlike standard ones, they do not tear when exposed to stones and other hard elements.

Typically, mud tires are higher than standard tires. They provide greater ground clearance and make it easier to overcome high obstacles.

With off-road tires you can easily get out of a muddy rut. However, they are not intended for permanent use on asphalt.

Mud tires on hard surfaces have three serious disadvantages:

High noise level.
Poor handling.
Accelerated tread wear.

Therefore, installing such tires on a Chevrolet Niva only makes sense for those who constantly have to drive off-road. For use in urban conditions, it is better to buy road tires.

Types of mud tires

Depending on the type of tread and purpose, SUV tires are divided into 3 classes:

HT (short for Highway terrain or Half Terrain - tires for highways and poor quality asphalt roads. It can be used on dirt roads, but it will be difficult to overcome off-road on it. But such tires do not make noise and have a speed limit of 180 km/h. Therefore, these tires are bought by those who drive mainly on asphalt.
AT (short for All Terrain) are tires designed for asphalt, dirt and light off-road use. Manufacturers recommend different mileage ratios on hard and unpaved surfaces: 60/40, 50/50, 40/60. This is a good tire for those who have to drive in rural areas. The AT tire tread provides average off-road capability.
MT (short for Mud Terrain) is a tire with an aggressive profile that is designed exclusively for driving on dirt and off-road. Although you can find MT tires with a speed rating of R (160 km/h), their use on asphalt is not recommended. These tires are designed to take you off-road and reveal the potential of your car there.

The most famous domestic company that produces MT tires for the Chevrolet Niva is “Bear”. This brand offers mud tires made of high-strength rubber, which are not inferior to many foreign analogues.

The best tires for Niva 21213

Users often choose off-road models as the best tires for the 21213 modification. The asphalt version is not very common due to the car being used 80% in rural areas or for hunting and fishing, where there are no quality roads at all.
According to the tolerances, everything is standard here. The car comes off the assembly line with 175/80 16 diameter tires. According to manufacturers, users prefer popular brands:

Rossava;
Belshina;
Michelin;
TOYO;
Nokian.

Selecting tires by parameters

Recommendations from the manufacturer. Depending on the modification of the Chevrolet Niva, R15 or R16 wheels are installed on the factory assembly line. Therefore, before going to a car store, you should find out the equipment of your iron horse. The most common tire sizes are:

205/70R15;
205/75R15;
215/75R15;
215/65R16.

Seasonality. For different times of the year, you should select seasonal “shoes” for the Chevrolet Niva.

Summer tires behave well in the warm season, allowing the driver to enjoy a fast ride. It is quiet and has good rolling power.
Winter tires are indispensable when operating a car on snowy or icy roads. Friction models are recommended for the southern regions of the country, and for northern routes it is better to prefer tires with studs.
For those who like to ride through meadows and forests, special mud tires are recommended. It features an aggressive deep tread that is easy to clean off the ground. The only disadvantage of special tires will be noise on asphalt.

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Speed and load index. Many Chevrolet Niv owners use their cars as workhorses. Some reckless drivers are trying to set a speed record on paved highways. Therefore, when choosing tires, you should pay attention to the speed and load index.

Speed characteristics are encrypted in letter designation (Latin letters). For example, “T” indicates a top speed of 190 km/h, and “V” allows you to accelerate to 240 km/h.
The Chevrolet Niva can be seriously loaded, but only if you have the appropriate tires. The load index has a digital designation. If with the marking “60” the maximum weight per wheel is 250 kg, then with “113” this value will increase to 1150 kg.

We have selected the 14 best tires for the Chevrolet Niva for review. All models are sold in auto stores in our country. When distributing places, the editors of the journal expertology took expert opinions as a basis, taking into account the reviews of Russian crop farmers.

When choosing tires for a car, you should remember their intended purpose. Ground clearance, comfort, noise level and cross-country ability depend on a number of parameters.

Choosing winter tires

Owners believe that there is no need for winter tires on a Chevrolet Niva, since the car is an SUV. The reason why car enthusiasts do not want to install winter tires is simple: high financial costs. Even tires made in Russia, and with the smallest radius possible for a Niva, are expensive. It’s not enough to buy such winter tires; you’ll have to pay for tire fitting services and get an alignment done in order to preserve the product longer. The amount turns out to be quite large. An SUV needs winter tires, and there are a number of reasons for this:

A four-wheel drive car brakes in exactly the same way as a single-wheel drive car, the only difference is in the acceleration speed.
On a slippery road, a car with all-wheel drive and increased ground clearance is much less stable, as the aerodynamic characteristics leave much to be desired.
The SUV performs well off-road, and not in icy conditions.
Any SUV is quite heavy compared to passenger cars, which means it is more inert. No matter what type of tire is installed, the braking distance will still be longer due to the weight.

The only thing that the Chevrolet Niva can boast of is its high cross-country ability in loose snow. In all other cases, the driver must exercise great caution. This means that you cannot neglect winter tires. For an SUV, this type of tire is no less important than for cars of another class. When choosing winter tires, follow these rules:

Classic winter tires are the choice of calm and careful drivers.
You need to choose winter tires according to the climate. If the winter is mild and there is virtually no snow, then it is better to consider all-season tires.
You cannot change to winter tires on only one axle.
All tires must be of the same specifications and from the same manufacturer, otherwise handling problems may occur.
Depending on the driving style, a tread pattern with the corresponding speed index is selected.

If most of the driving in winter is carried out on icy road surfaces, then in this case you cannot do without studs. This option involves a quiet ride, as traction decreases as speed increases.

Which mud tires are best for a Chevrolet Niva in size?

When selecting suitable mud wheels, even if conversion is planned, Chevrolet owners need to focus on the car parameters that were initially set at the factory. The stock equipment is standard and it is this that determines the possible choice of tire sizes.

The manufacturer equips the car with wheels (alloys are no exception) capable of supporting wheels of a slightly larger diameter than those installed at the factory. And no lifting is required. The standard solution for a crossover is sizes 205/70/R15 or 215/75/R15. Any tire with a 16-inch diameter is suitable, of which there are more than fifteen-inch versions on the market.

Large inch tires easily fit both steel and alloy wheels. In this case, the wheels can reach a height of 26 to 28 inches. Wheels of similar sizes are good for moderate off-road conditions and standard dirt roads in the rural areas of the Middle Zone or the South. And, as noted above, they do not require additional manipulations from the owner in the form of lifting.

Operation in more extreme conditions will require mounting the wheels higher. Most often, tires are installed with a height of up to 29.5 inches, capable of overcoming most types of dirt, but they already require lifting the car. The offset of such wheels reaches 35 millimeters, and as for the diameter, it can equally be either 15 or 16.

Some owners install 31-inch tires. Tires of this height are capable of passing through terrain where there is not even a hint of a path and perform well in the Far North. But the standard size 31/10.5(9.5)/R15 will require a serious reconstruction of the Niva, including not only lifting, but also alteration of the body. As for the diameter of the rims, such extreme wheels are usually installed on the R15.

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Large tires are perfectly compatible with standard wheels. An excellent choice without installing a lift would be tires 205 75 15 or 205 70 15 or wheels with a radius of 16, the height of such tires will be 26-28 inches. This type of wheels will perform well both in light off-road conditions and in city conditions.

If you still need to overcome serious obstacles, it is better to install 28-29.5 inch tires on the Chevrolet Niva, but then you will need to lift the SUV.

What tires are best for the Niva?

Often, drivers are not satisfied with the size of the wheels that are installed on the automaker’s conveyors, and they resort to some independent modifications to the hubs and suspension elements for a safe and comfortable ride on an SUV. So that the VAZ-2121 pleases its owner with impeccable driving performance and reliability, he can install on it tires with the following characteristics that differ from the original parameters:

For many drivers who operate their cars in hard-to-reach areas, swampy areas, on unstable sandy soils or in deep snowdrifts in winter, the sole can be widened up to 245 mm to provide an increased area of support on the ground. However, to prevent the wheel from staining the side parts of the body, the driver needs to install it as deep as possible under the arch, purchasing wheels with a shorter offset, or ET parameter (32-38 mm).

If this is not possible, he will have to install additional plastic linings called wheel arch extensions.

Because of this, the car takes on a more aggressive appearance, but it should be taken into account that the bending moment at the interface with the hub will increase, and deformations are possible under severe overloads.

If the car is used exclusively on smooth asphalt roads, and the expressiveness of the exterior is extremely important to its owner, he can increase the diameter of the wheels without changing the outer dimensions, but only reducing the tire profile. This means that when setting the dimension R18, the profile size will be 50-55 mm, R19 is already 45-50 mm, and the huge rim diameter of 20 inches will oblige you to install Vli 5 tires on the Niva with a side surface height of 35-50 mm. All such changes will inevitably affect the wear of the entire bolster part and will bring its overhaul closer.
The last and most serious change, which extreme driving enthusiasts often resort to, is an increase in the overall diameter of the wheel with an increase in ground clearance. So, for example, if a motorist wants to install wheels with beadlocks with a diameter of 16 inches and powerful mud tires with a tractor tread and a 90 mm profile for fishing or hunting trips, he must understand that the outer diameter of the wheel on the Niva will be increased by at least 50 mm, and in its normal state it will no longer fit under the arch.

In such cases, drivers turn to a tuning studio or specialized services, where experienced specialists completely digest all the struts and levers, increasing ground clearance.

You may be interested in Cordiant - choice of winter tires

Non-standard tires for Niva

Important!

Any serious intervention in the important systems of the VAZ-2121 always causes loss of warranty from the factory, and can also reduce the service life of the car and increase the risk when moving, since no one can take responsibility for sudden breakdowns.

All terrain tire manufacturers

The following models are most in demand for the Chevrolet Niva:

Medved I-569 are budget mud tires, the installation of which does not require modification of the wheel arches. Before installing Medved 235/75 R15, it is enough to do a light lifting. This soft rubber performs well in mud and snow. However, on summer asphalt or ice the car becomes almost uncontrollable. The price starts from 3700 rubles.
Cordiant off Road is another Russian-made mud tire. Unlike the Bear, these tires perform well on asphalt. Its size (225/75 R16) allows it to be used on a Chevrolet Niva after a light lift. Price - from 4000 rubles.
Hankook Dynapro are optimal tires that wear out slowly on asphalt and are capable of pulling a car out of muddy clay or black soil. Installation of these tires (235/75R 15) requires only a small lift. Hankook price - 4500 rubles. The tires are equipped with holes for studs.
Kumho Road Venture is a tire with an aggressive tread designed for professional off-road racing. The side lugs grip the dirt securely. However, on asphalt these tires wear out very quickly. Size 235/75 R15 does not require modification of the Niva's wheel arches. The price of one tire is 5800 rubles.
The BFGoodrich Mud-Terrain is a true mud tire that wears slowly on asphalt. For a lifted Niva, size 215/75 R15 is suitable. After reworking the arches, you can install 240/80 R15. The price of one tire is 7,100 rubles.

Which size is better to choose

First of all, you should remember that universal tires, which are installed from the factory, perform very mediocre on and off the track. An experienced car owner approaches the choice based on several conditions:

Conditions (road surface);
The presence or absence of tuning (lifting, widening of wheel arches);
Price;
Manufacturer's authority.

Together with the above list, it is necessary to decide on the parameters that were written above. But not every buyer can take into account so many indicators at the same time, so let’s conditionally divide tires into two categories: some are more suitable for urban conditions and the highway, while others are adapted for off-road use.

There are several types of tires that are designed for off-road driving:

Tires marked as H/T are intended for use in areas with minor off-road conditions. Such tires can withstand loads much greater than standard ones.
Tires marked A/T have excellent cross-country ability, both off-road and on roads where there is asphalt. It gives the car excellent stability while driving.
Tires marked M/T are classified as extreme types. It is used where there is really severe off-road conditions.

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It is used only in off-road conditions, and if you drive it on an asphalt area, this can lead to such factors as:

Increased noise
The tread will wear out quickly
Poor vehicle control

Based on what is said above, we can conclude that the best option would be to use a second type of tire for standard wheels, namely A/T. Another mistake would be if different tires are used on the front and rear axles.

Why you shouldn't ride on asphalt with off-road tires

The coefficient of adhesion to asphalt of all off-road tires, regardless of price and manufacturer, is inferior to road tires. As a result, the braking distance increases, the risk of skidding increases and controllability deteriorates. These factors must be taken into account when driving into the city on mud tires.

Another reason why you should not use mud tires on the track is purely economic. Off-road tires are much more expensive than traditional tires and wear out quickly on asphalt. Therefore, before trips to the city and, especially, long trips along the highway, it is advisable to “change” the car to road tires that correspond to the season.

Off-road tires for a Chevrolet Niva may well be inexpensive. But you shouldn’t count on a low price when it comes to extreme wheels. Of course, domestic models are mostly cheaper than foreign ones, but this difference is not always great.

Tire	Cost per unit, rub.
Cordiant Off-Road	4500-5500
I-569 "Bear"	3000-5000
Kumho Road Venture	6000-6500
Federal Couragia M/T	6700-8700
HANKOOK DYNAPRO MT	7000-10000
MAXXIS MT-762	10000-11000
Cooper Discoverer S/T	8000-10000
Yokohama Geolandar MT	5500-7000
Forward Safari 500	7000-8000
Simex Extreme Trekker	11000-13000

Photos of the protectors of each model can be found on the sellers’ websites.

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Standard 16" tire options

The standard tire size for Niva is quite unique - 185\75\R16 - narrow and tall tires of 16 diameter. Not many manufacturers produce tires of this size, and even fewer produce narrow and tall winter tires of 16 diameter.

Which winter tires to prefer for the Niva - studded or not - each car owner decides for himself (on our website there is an article to help: Velcro or studs).

Since the Niva is primarily an SUV, studded tires are most often selected for it.

Among studded tires, one of the most popular are Voltyre VLI-5 and VLI-10. Tires of this particular brand are installed at the factory, so this option is the most inexpensive. But not the most optimal, since the driving characteristics of these tires leave much to be desired.

For standard sizes you can also find winter studded tires of such models as:

Amtel K182A (Seven Hills)
Cordiant Business
Gislaved NordFrost Van
Nokian Nordman C
Nokian Hakkapeliita C Cargo
Michelin Agilis X-ice North
Good Year Cargo Ultra Grip

Among the non-studded options for the standard Niva size you can find tires of the following models:

KShZ K182A (Amtel Seven Hills)
Kama Euro LCV
Rosava LTW
Viatti Vettore Brina
Belshina Bravado
Tigar Cargo Speed
Yokohama W.Drive
Hankook Winter Ipike
Continental VanContact
Nokian WRC3

However, it is worth mentioning that except for the domestic Amtel, Cordiant and Kama, as well as the Ukrainian Rosava and Belarusian Belshina, all other tires will be quite expensive, so most Niva owners will not consider them as winter tires for their car. Because instead of these expensive 16-radius tires, you can install 15-radius tires, which will cost significantly less.