Bongo Fury

Hello Everyone..

Only joined the club a month or so ago, although I've had a bongo for some time now.

I've looked through all the posts on tyre wear but I'm still a little confused.

So, my front tyres are wearing in an odd way. The inside of the tyre is wearing but inconsistently all the way around.
It is worn in patches, imagine a clock face, on all the uneven numbers there is a worn patch.
Also the worn patch is somewhat odd, it looks as though the tread block is worn at an angle, not disimilar to a front tyre of a decent sports bike after a lot of heavy braking.

Can someone spell it out for me what I need to investigate please?

Thanks

Tim

2 or 4wd? Could be the viscous coupling (if 4wd) or are the shock absorbers OK? This also sometimes seems to happen with cars that have the 195 tyres on the front and 215s on the rear, especially if they're still the Japanese tyres.

Thanks for the reply.

It's a 4 wheel drive vehicle and I believe the front and rear tyres are differing sizes.
Should they be the same? Wht sizes tyres do people generally fit to the standard alloy wheels?

The shocks apprear to be fine, the ride is good not bouncy.


T

This happened to ours, tracking was out. Got the alignment sorted, new tyres, and drives like a different car

I believe the term for the wear is called something like casselation (not sure if spelt right), i didn't realise at the the time i bought the bongo, but, all the tyres should be the same size.
it proved costly for me, the front diff popped a seal and the bearings collapsed, re-con diff around 250 +vat+fitting i'd reccomend minimum use until you can get it checked out by a professional

Good luck

The raised tread pattern is often called castling - as in castle and turrets init - lots of people reckon its due to the VC on the way out - something that my van has had for 4 years! I've now moved onto to 215's all round to see if that helps at all -so far so good and no sign of uneven tread wear.

Touches table top

jonah wrote:all the tyres should be the same size.

It's actually the tyre circumference that has to be the same size, front & rear, not necessarily the tyre size. As standard Bongos are fitted with 195 front & 215 rear, apparantly it was supposed to improve high speed handling. The narrower front profile may also improve steering.

Having different sizes tyre on front & rear is a pain in terms of what spare you carry however, and also prevents you rotating the tyres to even out the wear. Plenty of people switch to the same size all round - 215/65 seems to be the most common choice.

Had the same problem, untill fitting 215's all round, plus fittingthe right type of tyre, as in NOT van type.

Some reading to keep you busy........

http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... mit=Search

Oh, and welcome to the forum.

Thanks very much for the advice.

Ill get a new set of tyres put on, all but one are almost on the wear bar anyway.



T

Lewy wrote:The raised tread pattern is often called castling - as in castle and turrets init - lots of people reckon its due to the VC on the way out - something that my van has had for 4 years! I've now moved onto to 215's all round to see if that helps at all -so far so good and no sign of uneven tread wear.

Touches table top

Thats because the tyres are doing the job of the fubared VC

I wonder why the fitting of 215's makes a reported difference then?

Because you then have all 4 tyres at the same diameter rather than a 1% or so difference with 195s.

BUT - running new 215 on one axle and well worn 215 on the other axle will have the same effect on wearing tyres.

A worn (read solid drive) VC will make the tyres slip as the propshafts wind up with slightly different speeds through tyre size - same circumference tyres all round will help (but not overcome) that phenonomen.