Need advice on low profile tyres-cheap brands & long wea

mikeonb4c · Post by **mikeonb4c** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 3:25 pm

Apologies for starting a new thread on this but cant find what I'm after.

I need help from low profile tyres users.

I have to make a decision on whether to get standard 15" steel wheels and tyres or put a new set of low profile tyres on my 17" alloy wheels (215/50/R17 91V from memory although I'm advised my load rating should be more like 96).

The Bongo Fury tyre fact doesnt really offer much help, and I have two questions:

1) To keep it affordable, it looks like I will need to buy Nankang tyres at £54 each. They seem to be well reviewed on mytyres.co.uk

2) The current tyres on mine are Bridgestone. The previous owner said he as disappointed as they have only done 5k miles and a re near to needing replacing. Is this typical of low profile tyres? I would hope to get a lot more mileage out of my tyres.

Hoping someone can help & thanks

Mike

Bumbly1 · Post by **Bumbly1** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:08 pm

I cannot comment on the low wear rate of the Bridgestones but in my opinion most cheap tyres dont last long. Tyre wear seems to be a compromise between high wearing but sticky compounds and long lasting non sticky compounds with tread patterns and construction adding to the complexity. As there are only four small patches between me and the road through which all control passes, I have always used high quality tyres. On my Bongo I have 225/55/R16 Toyo Proxes (sp?) on alloys, so far I have had about 15,000 miles of safe motoring with excellent road holding and quiet ride, the two rears will require replacing in about 1000 miles but the fronts have plenty life left.

mikeonb4c · Post by **mikeonb4c** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 7:05 pm

Thanks Bumbly1 - that sounds a lot better than 5k miles on the 17" Bridgestones I'm told mine have done. It will be interesting to see what other replied come back on this thread. Its almost something worth taking a poll on so owners can look and see who and what are getting / giving the best bangs for buck.

Mike

trevd01 · Post by **trevd01** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 7:33 pm

My Yokohamas still look like new after 10,000 km. My experience of 4wd vehicles (Subarus, Audis, Landrovers) is the tyres tend to last longer cos' you cant so easily spin the wheels.

Autos are kinder on tyres too (similar reason).

I do 20-30,000 miles a year in my 'other' cars and keep them about 18months to 2 yrs from nearly new. I always drive autos - mainly rwd and 4wd. They would have all had factory fit tyres which are 'good' makes.

I dont often buy tyres - the last ones I bought were on the back of a Merc C class at around 50k miles. Most of my cars get part-ex'd on the orginal tyres at around 50k miles.

Thing about a bongo which could affect tyres, I guess, is the weight

Bumbly1 · Post by **Bumbly1** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 7:41 pm

Forgot to mention, mine is 2wd which could explain the greater wear on the rear tyres

Tom

mikeonb4c · Post by **mikeonb4c** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 8:14 pm

Anyone able to comment on Nangkang tyre brand? The ones for me seem to be NS-2 215/50 R17 91V TW @ £54.40 ea. They get a good review on http://www.mytyres.co.uk

Yokohama equivalent seems to be 215/50 R17 95W RF , RPB asymmetric @ £71.60. They too get a good review but no better than Nankang!?!

Are the load ratings adequate on these tyres?

Thanks for helping me - all new stuff to me I fear

Mike

Bumbly1 · Post by **Bumbly1** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 8:50 pm

The handbook load rating for the front is 92 and the rear 95, speed rating is S. As it is a heavy old brick I have 96 front and rear. Nanking does not look suitable on this evidence.

trevd01 · Post by **trevd01** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 9:12 pm

When we bought our Bongo, the standard tyre fitment by Wellhouse was Nangkang. We paid a few pounds extra and got the Yokohamas. The Nangkangs look fine and Wellhouse are happy to recommend them.

But I run on 215/65 x 15s. I am not a big fan of low profile tyres on what is essentially a van. I haven't tried where the limit comes on grip versus falling over - it feels like it would fall over first!

Much bigger choice of properly load rated tyres at higher profiles, I suspect. Plus you get more cushioning on potholes. My wife's Audi A2 with 40 profile tyres hits the rims (or thats how it feels) on local potholes - two front tyres destroyed at less that 30 mph in the last year.

mikeonb4c · Post by **mikeonb4c** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 1:08 am

Great help that guys. Sounds like those of us who have to be practical about £ etc should perhaps pass on the alloys (shame cos they are lovley) and go for high profile/steel, economy and comfort, if not max elegance

Mike

Bumbly1 · Post by **Bumbly1** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 8:31 am

mikeonb4c wrote:Great help that guys. Sounds like those of us who have to be practical about £ etc should perhaps pass on the alloys (shame cos they are lovley) and go for high profile/steel, economy and comfort, if not max elegance

Mike

I think there is also a trade of in ride comfort with the low profile tyres though I do not have direct experience of them on a Bongo. They were not manufactured for "vans".

Tom

mikeonb4c · Post by **mikeonb4c** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 2:48 pm

The funny thing is that - although expecting to find the ride unsatisfactory - I've been really impressed with it. Hence my dilemma!

Thanks everyone for help on this.

Mike

fordavefreda · Post by **fordavefreda** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 6:20 pm

i' d love some 17s

mikeonb4c · Post by **mikeonb4c** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 12:46 am

I've bought myself 4 steel wheels with good condition 215/65/R15 94H tyres (6mm tread on them) off ebay for £100 (which I think is OK) and am picking them up at the weekend. But I sure do like the 17" alloys that Mango came with - if only I wasnt so fearful of having to reshod them every 5k miles or so etc. Very nice ride on them though - it will be interesting to see how much better I find the 15" high profile ones and how much squidgier (to use the technical term) I find the Bongo on bends.

If I cant bear to part with the alloys, I can always keep the steels as 4 full depth spares!?!?!

Mike

bigdaddycain · Post by **bigdaddycain** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 2:18 am

perhaps you could use the "steels" as your winter wheels, the alloys on your bongo i suspect wouldn't like salt in winter grit. I had a set of nangkang tyres on my previous ford focus with 17" wheels, i found them to be acceptable budget tyres, giving very good wear, but sudden breakaway grip in the damp. Funnily enough they performed really well when it was full on raining though. i got nearly three years out of those, doing 4-5 k a year on them. Be wary of very budget tyres though!,i recall an xr3i i had some years back with set of tyres ( cant recall the brand) which probably would have lasted hundreds of thousands of miles (seriously) but gave virtually no grip in any situations, i think they were a very hard compound. I ended up having to scrap the car,and for hee hee's parked it nose first against the scrappy wall, engaged first,and sidestepped the clutch with full revs, spinning the wheels easily on dry tarmac.after about ten minutes the clutch gave up, but still those damn tyres had no wear on em! they were still like new! they would have killed me before i could kill them...

mikeonb4c · Post by **mikeonb4c** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 1:32 am

Amazing bigdaddycain & your advice is sound - probably what I will do. The tyres on the steels I've bought are KUMHO SOLUS KH15 205/65R15 94H

Looked them up on mytyres and they seem kosher. Will keep me from having to buy new ones for a while! I'm assuming I can get some 15" trims from Halfords to make 'em look OK

Mike