15" passat wheels on T4 not strong enough?

[MAZI]

Ive just bought a set of 15" passat rims to put on my T4 using my existing michelin agilis 81 tyres.
A freind said that the wheels wont be strong enough for my van as i use it to carry weight.

Is this true?

[Herman.58]

Steel or alloy??

these are the wheels on my working van. Had them nearly two years. They were on a vw breakers van before I bought them. They are genuine vw from a mk 5 passat, so are well made, and have nice thick spokes.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x99/Fostex48/Van%20October/TeamRed2.jpg

Van rated alloys would be around 890kg per wheel. I have no idea what the load rating of mine are, but in worse case scenario if they are only rated at 700kg a wheel I can carry 2800kg safely (which I doubt I get anywhere near in the real world). Maximum allowable gross vehicle weight for the T4 van is 2700kg anyway. However I do run van rated tyres.

As I say they are genuine VW and that says a lot. I've heard of other guys buying cheap £500 wheel tyre kits (usually cheap chinese imports, RS4 copies ,etc) that are advertised as "van rated" only to find themselves with distorted/bent alloys 6months down the line. Unless your planning carrying 1000kg's of lead pipe up and down motorways at 80mph, week in, week out, I wouldnt worry too much. Thats my experience, but its your life, your call!!.

:beerchug:

[Herman.58]

Oh they are 7j x 16's by the way. I sprayed them myself with vw diamond black black paint, mixed by Halfords.

:beerchug:

[WILLY]

NICE WHEELS HERMAN,:beerchug: MIGHT DO MINE

[MAZI]

Steel or alloy??

these are the wheels on my working van. Had them nearly two years. They were on a vw breakers van before I bought them. They are genuine vw from a mk 5 passat, so are well made, and have nice thick spokes.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x99/Fostex48/Van%20October/TeamRed2.jpg

Van rated alloys would be around 890kg per wheel. I have no idea what the load rating of mine are, but in worse case scenario if they are only rated at 700kg a wheel I can carry 2800kg safely (which I doubt I get anywhere near in the real world). Maximum allowable gross vehicle weight for the T4 van is 2700kg anyway. However I do run van rated tyres.

As I say they are genuine VW and that says a lot. I've heard of other guys buying cheap £500 wheel tyre kits (usually cheap chinese imports, RS4 copies ,etc) that are advertised as "van rated" only to find themselves with distorted/bent alloys 6months down the line. Unless your planning carrying 1000kg's of lead pipe up and down motorways at 80mph, week in, week out, I wouldnt worry too much. Thats my experience, but its your life, your call!!.

:beerchug:
They are 15" genuine passat alloys from 2002 passat TDI se.
And i will be using my existing van rated michelin agilis 81 tyres.
oh and my van van is the same colour as well (paprika red)

[Herman.58]

Post a pic when you get them fitted. My van colour is called Tornado red. This shows the set up better. I've since raised the front 15mm to improve the ride comfort.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x99/Fostex48/Van%20October/vanjpeg3.jpg

[Garscoal]

can anyone tell me what the best size of alloys are more conveniant for my t4 campervan, 16's or 18's, i am going for thecheap alloy tyre package as there is never much weight in my van..cheers..

[Brian Considine]

can anyone tell me what the best size of alloys are more conveniant for my t4 campervan, 16's or 18's, i am going for the cheap alloy tyre package as there is never much weight in my van..cheers..

It really does not matter what weight you actually carry in practice - legally, the wheels & tyres must be load rated to the maximum plated weight of the vehicle.

If your wheels & tyres are not load rated a decent MOT testing station will pick this up (as a fail) as will the traffic wombles or plod, worse case will be if you have an accident & the insurance assessor picks it up & they refuse to pay out.

Your wheels & tyres are your last link with safety - it's just not worth it for a bit of bling. As mentioned before some of the cheap packages are not load rated.