In preparation for a forthcoming trip away in our 97 4x4 2.5L diesel Bongo I decided to check the spare wheel. The tyre itself looked in pretty good nick but thinking it wasn't fully inflated we took it to a garage and sure enough it was only 11psi. During inflation, after a certain point I could hear air coming from the valve so that's knackered - perhaps just the valve can be replaced. The four tyres on the vehicle currently are 215/65R15 but the spare is 215/70R15 C 106/104S (not sure what the C refers to).
I have read various posts and the fact sheet about having four identical tyres rather than the different ones front and back which Mazda recommend and I'm happy that a) the current setup is okay and b) most other people do this without issue. That brings to my questions;
- Does 215/65R15 seem like a good choice for all four tyres? The tyre information plate on the doorwell says rears should be 215/70R15 - I would be better to have 215/70R15 on all four presumably?
- Assuming we are sticking with our existing 215/65R15s, if we could just replace the valve on the spare tyre would it be safe to use it as a spare even though it is 215/70R15? Presumably once the punctured tyre is replaced we should swap back rather than use the differently specced spare longer term? Might be easier just to get a new spare at 215/65R15 which means if we have a puncture we could fit the spare on the vehicle permanently and put the repaired or replaced tyre back as the spare.
Iain