bongo front wheels all round ?

[cliffy the climber]

Hi all,whilst driving around in the snow lately i had an idea,although on the whole im impressed with the off road and snow performance of the bongo(mine has a limited slip diff),i feel the wider and less chunky pattern of the rear tyres limiting.
I have 2 sets of steel wheels and wondered if there was any reason why i couldnt stick the 195/70/15's from the fronts all round,this way i would have skinnier slightly chunkier tyres all round which would be better in the snow plus would be cheaper and easier to replace with mud and snow tyres if i wanted.

thanks in advance cliffy.....

[scanner]

I've just done just that while waiting for my new winter tyres to be fitted. They don't handle so well in skinny tyres all round, but in the snow etc. does that really matter?

I'd certainly go for a set of 195 winter tyres all round, if they have the right load index.

[David Edwards]

Yea why not, a lot of us have done it the other way anyway, i.e we have put 215's all round.

[stilldesperate]

That was my first thought when Dandemann was wanting to swap a set of steel wheels,
however I've nowhere to keep them, and the snow will prob be gone by the time I get the van back from repair.

As mentioned, as long as the load index was high enough, and you were a bit more careful cornering on dry roads, can't see a physical reason why not.

As always, I wonder what the insurance situation is, though.

SD

[dave_aber]

I put some all-terrain tyres on a Hilux last year. They were about 5% larger rolling radius compared to the originals. Phoned the insurance up and asked them about it - they phoned back to say that the underwriter was happy to record the change and leave the premium as-is since they didn't affect performance. (Hilux 2.5 TD - what performance??)

[Bongo.Baz.tard]

Hey Dave you lookin for any spares for your HILUX, i'm breakin' my trusty old mk 2 Her indoors has been on at me to remove it forthwith or congugals will be removed FORTHWITH

[dave_aber]

Thanks for the offer, but the old truck was starting to get a wee bit heavy on diesel for my 17 year old son to run, so I've replaced it with a 1.7TDi astra van.

Good timing eh?

I thought the bloke who came up on the train, bought it at 10.30 pm, then drove off back to London was mad - maybe he was a weather forecaster?

Still, Astra does near 60mpg, and it's surprisingly OK in the snow. Not as capable as the Bongo, or the Hilux mind.