Bongo Fury

I'm considering replacing my standard wheels with new alloys and tyres.

Any advice or considerations that I should be aware of?

I'm aware the current (different) tyre sizes front and rear. Any advice on changing from a 15" to say a 16" rim?

Tony

Most run the same width & profile tyres front and back ..

Make sure the PCD (5 holes / spacing) are 5 x 114,3mm and the hole in the middle at least 67.1mm

Also the load rating should be cast into the rear of the rim .. remember it's a two ton bus .. then add potentially the weight of eight people + luggage so I would think around 690+kg ..



Google .. there are several converter tables that you input your wheel size and gives you an idea of the rolling radius to keep your speedo accurate(ish) ..

http://www.brspecialtuning.co.uk/Tyre%2 ... ulator.htm

Thanks. Very useful.

Regarding, "Most run the same width & profile tyres front and back", are you saying that people have changed their tyres to do this?

The Bongo Fury FAQ states that, "Manufacturers recommendations are that the tyres on the rear should be wider than on the front. This is for load distribution purposes. The correct tyres are 195/70 R15 on the front and 215/65 R15 on the rear. Having said that, many people run around with the same size tyres front and rear (typically 205s) without experiencing any problems"

Cheers

Tony

My V6 runs Mazdas recommended 15" rims & tyres .. (as on the label on the door jamb) ..



But .. most (and I would replacement time comes) run the same profile / width on all four wheels ..

Remember the bigger the rims diameter .. the lower the profile you will need to be to keep a comparable rolling radius to the original 15" rims / tyres ..

So an 18" wheel will not 'fill in' the wheel arch any more than a 15" does ..

As an example .. an 18" wheel / tyres diameter (rolling radius) .. should be very close to the original 15" wheel / tyres diameter (rolling radius) .. but the wall of the 18" tyre (profile) will be a lot lower (less rubber wall from rim to road) .. which can lead to rim stress / damage with speed bumps / pot hole and such ..

Also bear in mind that the lower the profile .. the harder it is to obtain high load rated tyres (usually a minimum of 96+ is recommended) ..

This is one of my fronts .. notice that it is marked as ... 195/70/R 15 C



The important bit on mine is the 'C' meaning commercial / van tyre rated ..

Just thought I would chip in here because I did this recently and had an interesting experience!

I like the look of Mazda RX8 wheels (17"), and read some people here on BongoFury using them, so I bought a set on ebay. The tyres I use are very low profile (scared me a bit at first!) but they have happily taken me on a 1000km tour of Normandy for 2 weeks at Easter with no problems.

Well, there was one problem... Not really the fault of the wheels! My rears are slightly larger profile than the fronts, and my 4WD did not like that one little bit. Front drive diff exploded after my holiday, so I had to convert my poor Bongo to 2WD.

However... This has actually turned out to be something of a blessing in disguise, as the fuel consumption is now lower, and it's generally quieter and smoother in the cabin (especially at higher speeds).

Looks nice too!

If nothing else, that highlights the importance of ensuring a 4WD has the same rolling circumference on all tyres. Even fitting a couple of new tyres on one axle while leaving part-worn on the other can put unnecessary strain on the diff and transfer box. Modern electronically controlled AWD systems such as Haldex are able to distribute the drive between front and rear to minimise the affect of mis-matched tyres. Unfortunately, the Bongo uses a pretty old fashioned mechanical system which is a lot less forgiving.

As Mike mentioned, for the V6 at least, Mazda specified same size all round which makes it easier / cheaper and means you can get a full size spare to match.

Ok... can someone clear this up?

Do Mazda 6 16" Wheels fit on a 1996 Bongo? I was under the impression that 5 stud Mazda wheels (providing they're within the acceptable sizes) would fit, but the compatibility check on ebay is claiming that they don't!

Can anyone please clear this up for me? I'm looking for some new wheels and tyres, and can't find any decent Bongo ones, but have seen some decent ones for other Mazda cars.