Bongo Fury

215/60/R16

Well, they're as close as you'll get to the original size - maybe it is the chip

Just had an indepth chat with local tyre bloke, who is a good friend of mine. I appreciate you may have all discussed this in the past, but this is what he's come up with!

Unladen weight is 1860 kgs

4 x 94 rated tyres give a total load max of 2680 kgs

Therefore the difference between unladen weight and max permissable, due to tyres rated at 94, is 820 kgs. Now I guess that the occupied allowance is based on the vehicle being an MPV with a potential 8 x 100kg plus occupants.

As the vehicle has been converted to a camper , with a side conversion , with potential seating for 4 persons...Lets say 400kgs total passenger weight. That leaves cupboards and kitchen to weigh over 400kgs to reach maximum permitted load.

So...the million dollar question.

What does my kitchen weigh????

Personally I would go for 96's minimum..... my main reason is that should you have an accident then you don't want the Insurance company to find ANY excuse not to pay out....and you having to prove corner weights etc.....for me I would rather be "over engineered" on the Tyre front.....My 17" wheels have 101w XL rated 225/55/17 all round

e31shrew wrote:Just had an indepth chat with local tyre bloke

You're probably better off chatting to your insurance company to see what their view is

Just had an indepth chat with local tyre bloke, who is a good friend of mine. I appreciate you may have all discussed this in the past, but this is what he's come up with!

Unladen weight is 1860 kgs

4 x 94 rated tyres give a total load max of 2680 kgs

I presume by Unladen weight you mean vehicle fueled up and ready to drive minus any load? Not sure where your freind got his info from but when I looked into it I found Kerb Weight = 1700Kg, Gross Weight = 2260Kg. Kerb Weight is vehicle alone, no fluids etc. Gross weight is 'fully loaded' in non coverted state.

My camper converted Bongo 4wd diesel tipped the scales at 2.2Tonnes at a local weighbridge with driver only, tending to confirm that figure. However, with four adults and their camping gear and the bike rack and food for a week and so on, suddenly your max load rating looks a bit close to the limit IMHO

Also bear in mind that the weight is distrubuted roughly 1Tonne front axle and 1.2Tonnes rear without any additional gear, (which is most likely to be carried at the rear). That is why the original tyres are rated higher (96) at the rear. I use 215/65 98H all round to allow for any additional load.

Jaws wrote:

when I looked into it I found Kerb Weight = 1700Kg, Gross Weight = 2260Kg.

What's the source of this information?

Ian
I looked at a number of sources but took the Gross weight from here
http://www.allansvehicleservices.co.uk/32132.html
I notice there is a disclaimer attached!
Jon

I find it very strange that so many Bongos come in from Japan with tyres rated around 92 to 94. I rummaged through loads at Manchester Campers when picking one for a spare, and settled for a healthy looking 92, which I reckoned would present considerably less of a risk (i.e. none!) to my insurance validity than the 12yr old skinny spare I had on board up to then. I suspect an insurance company would have a hard time invalidating your policy unless they could prove that the tyre rating was a direct cause of the accident. Any other claim by them could rightly be challenged as being spurious.

PS - I would have said 'safety conscious Japan' ('cos I think they are) but then I'd have got flak over the inadequate height of the tsunami barrier they placed around their nuclear reactor