Bongo Fury

Hello,

I bought my Freda complete with some shiny 17" low profile alloys, which I now wish to replace with some regular wheels, reason being the current wheels get through the rubber at a ridiculous rate. I posted about this a while ago on a separate thread, and it is the considered opinion of my mechanic that the wheels need to go. His belief is that the weight of the vehicle is causing a lot of stress on what are essentially inappropriate wheels, and this is causing undue wear.

Anyhow, I need to know what the exact specification is for the replacement wheels as I'm planning to check out a few salavge/breakers for the new wheels - is there somewhere I can find this information or would someone be kind enough to tell me everything I need to know?

And I'll probably be selling the alloys on here when I've managed to de-fit them, so the better the advice, the sooner the wheels hit the market for anyone interested .

I'm way down the scale on techie/mechanical know-how, so please keep any advice simple Thanks.

Mr Wheelquicks supplied me with standard steel wheels with tyres 15" at a really reasonable rate...

Maybe you could ask him.. His number is on the recommended garage thingy I think

Just a thought...

Just remember there is a difference in Tyre size recommended for the rear to the front as per handbook.. Again Mr wheelquicks made sure I had the correct wheels and tyres for Blingo... Superb chap really..

I've got a set of standard wheels complete with tyres I'll swap for the alloys.


But personally I don't believe a word your mechanic says - sorry.

Wheel is wheels, tyres is tyres, loads is loads.

Are the tyres the correct load rating? That could make a difference, I have noticed it's not easy to get 17"s with the right load rating.

Thanks for the quick replies.

My mechanic is not infallible, but I find it hard to disagree with his diagnosis. He's been servicing the vehicle for over a year now, and although not a Bongo expert, he's looked at the wheels and the tyre damage, run tests, etc. and it is the only conclusion he can find credible.

He's seen four good tyres worn prematurely, with some quite nasty looking damage, and I'm at a loss to find an alternative explanation. The vehicle is not taken off road (or at least very rarely), and I can't think what else could cause the problem.

But I'm happy to consider any suggestions! Like the load ratings - I have no idea what the load ratings are, but I'm guessing he would have made sure they were correct. Or perhaps there is someone else with similar wheels who can tell me that they are not problematic for them...?

And thanks for the Mr Wheelquicks tip, I'll check him out.

What are the numbers on the tyres it should be in the form

???/??-17 ?? followed by a letter (S T H V W Y etc)


the first ??? is the width in mm (i.e. 225)

the next ?? is the profile as a % of the width
i.e. 50 means the tyres are half a high as they are wide.

the last ?? should be a number - for Bongos it MUST be 96 or higher.

the letter is the speed rating and any tyre of the size likely to be fitted to those rims should be OK.

Lots of folk on here run Bongos with even more outlandish rims - up to 20" and don't seem to have tyre damage problems.

Full explanation of tyre markings here.

http://www.blackcircles.com/general/sidewall

ive had tyres that wear at stupid rates but it because ive gone with cheap rubber, it probably more to do with the rubber compound being soft, i agree with scanner wheels is wheels, i would go for a harder compound on a diff tyre, do they wear unevenly if so could be down to tracking, bushes etc, Dont get rid of the alloys, it'll look horid on normal wheels

HiddenMission - my Bongo came with lovely 17" alloys and the previous owner had a similar complaint to you (i.e. only 5-6k on the tyres). I came to a similar suspicion as your mechanic. However, I think two things could make a real difference. One is finding a hard compound. This won't help road grip but then 2 tons on low profiles arguably has more grip than 2 tons on standard 15" tyres (hence the high wear on 17" low profile with 'normal' compound) so one compensates for the other (maybe). BF member Tigs is just fitting some cheap 17" tyres on her new alloys. On a separate thread we wondered if these were a hard compound and whether - ironically - they may end up lasting longer and thus being a better buy than more expensive tyres with gripper compound (but not designed for a 2 ton Bongo). The other thing I wonder about is whether higher profile 17" tyres might not fare better than lower ones.

Russian Bongo owner DemonAV has posted pics of their cars with high profile 17" tyres on. I'm hoping he reads this and may be able to tell us what kind of mileage his Russian friends are getting on their tyres (the Russian Bongo owners really impress me as a bunch).

I've held on to my 17" alloys as I like them so much, and am as interested as you in finding a solution to high tyre wear problems so I can reshod them and use them. Don't give up yet!

Mike

Following up scanner's post, I have harvested some information from the outer wall of my tyres, and all four are the same:

225/40 ZR 18 (92Y)
Extra Load
Max Load 630kg (1389lbs)

You say the number "must be 96 or higher" - could this be the problem - what does the number mean?

Mike, thanks for your reply, but not too sure what you mean by a "hard compound" or how I would translate that into new tyres.

Grateful for all input - please bear in mind that my technicla knowledge is very limited, so abc explanations most helpful for me!

Thanks

And just to add - the specific problem is less routine wear than damage - mainly around the very edge of the tyre which seems to disintegrate and deform - I think this is what made the mechanic think that the wheels/rims were the source of the problem.

92 would be OK just on the front axle but it needs 96 at least on the back. The number shows the load the tyre can handle 92 is 630Kg as you say but 96 is 710Kg (see http://www.tyresave.co.uk/tyreload.html)

What pressure are you running them at? and is the damage to all 4 tyres?

Damage sounds like under inflation to me, so that the tyrewall is flexing too much.

I've just done a search and it looks like anything over 95 is hard to find and you need to go to 45 section for that.
40 section tyres don't seem to go higher than 92.

To get over 96 you need to go for 235/45-18s which are 98 and coincidentally an almost perfect match in diameter for the 215/65-15s that should be fitted on the rear axle so won't alter your speedo accuracy

Sorted, you just need to buy 4 new 235/45 - 18. 98 tyres.

The fronts were the first to go (although not sure that they were newer than other tyres), and the rears have just been replaced. All four seem to have picked up damage.

Under inflation is a distinct possibility I guess, as I tend not to check tyre pressures too frequently - how do I know for certain what the correct pressures should be? I was going on the basis of what the garage told me, but would be good to check. If this is the cause of the problem, it seems odd that all 4 tyres would be under-inflated.

Fitting new 235/45-18s looks an expensive option, but will certainly look into it when the next re-fit is due, which shouldn't be too long

Just like to thank all for the helpful responses, and I will try to keep this thread updated with any useful information I come across as this is clearly a bit of a live issue.

hi hidden mission , i also have 17" alloys on my bongo
i'm running 235/45/17. 97 rear and 215/50/17.95 front .
the make is sumo st08 and cost about £55 each it took me approx 3 months to find them had them on van now 8 months and are still in exellent condition also they have sports tread not like van tyres.

HiddenMission wrote: Under inflation is a distinct possibility I guess, as I tend not to check tyre pressures too frequently - how do I know for certain what the correct pressures should be? I was going on the basis of what the garage told me, but would be good to check. If this is the cause of the problem, it seems odd that all 4 tyres would be under-inflated.

If you didn't put enough pressure in in the first place and if you don't check them very often, surely that's a possibility.

What pressure did the garage recommend?

Fitting new 235/45-18s looks an expensive option, but will certainly look into it when the next re-fit is due, which shouldn't be too long

If you get standard wheels they will need new tyres sometime and the going rate for half decent original size rubber seems to be around £80 each anyway.

Just like to thank all for the helpful responses, and I will try to keep this thread updated with any useful information I come across as this is clearly a bit of a live issue.

Yes, tyre choice does seem to cause some discussion..................


After much research and thought I came to the conclusion that a good optimum fitting was 215/60-16. 99H XL's and I'm really happy with them

simon heaton wrote:hi hidden mission , i also have 17" alloys on my bongo
i'm running 235/45/17. 97 rear and 215/50/17.95 front .
the make is sumo st08 and cost about £55 each it took me approx 3 months to find them had them on van now 8 months and are still in exellent condition also they have sports tread not like van tyres.

Those are the tyres Tigs was asking about, what are they like for grip and wear?

scanner,
they've been on for 8 months , i'm a hard cornerer, grip has been excellent in wet and dry, got slight wear on outside cos tracking out by a miniscule amount other than that i will be ordering more when the time comes.
At £55 approx you couldn't get better.... (well happy)