My friend has the same van as me but his van is lowered and has 19 or 20 inch rims. I find his ride really harsh and bumps jar you. Its that bad that when his suspension shock went he couldn't tell.
However, when he goes in my van with standard alloys and not lowered he says it wallows on the corners and bounces about. Although mines s campervan and his isn't.
His van is re mapped and he drives it faster than me but I have a clean licence. 😏 He can't understand why I wouldn't lower mine. Each to their own.
I've just changed my alloys, they were the originals and the rear leaked even after re sealing it (probably over 15 years old) Bought some Highline alloys with Hancock tyres off a van that had done 2000 miles. Campervan conversion done by a shop in Blackburn swopped them over for 19 inch wheels because they look better. They had 16 sets available.
They cost me £200. The Hancock tyres are noisier than the ones they replaced. Sold the old ones with tyres for £125.
Insurance company are happy as its standard alloys and I'm happy as it only cost me £75! They look slightly better too.
20" Range Rover wheels on my T5 for the last 10 years. 275/45 tyres and standard height suspension. Very comfortable, smoothes out the potholes and looks great (imo). Fitted with one-piece concentric/axial spacers (5mm iirc) and correct bolts. Insurer informed.
Do you not need to adjust the speedo for the mot when fitting larger diameter tyres than standard?
Here in Germany it's a naffing nightmare to make any non-factory changes. Even fitting non-OEM stuff is a pita with paperwork. Even tinting the rear windows has to be OK'd, let alone fitting wheels from another manufacturer.
Do you not need to adjust the speedo for the mot when fitting larger diameter tyres than standard?
Nope, not AFAIK or ever got checked for in my old van. I fitted bigger all terrain tyres and the speedo read about 10% over. Tbh it was a pain.
I’ve just fitted new wheels and slightly bigger tyres to current van and it’s brought the speedo spot on compared to GPS, it slightly over read on the original wheels (as all cars do).
I know a little bit about suspension and wheels on transporters. I've run various setups on my van over the years and experienced a lot of others and for a combination of looks and comfort, a set of Bilstein B14 coilovers and factory 18" Sportline wheels with a 45 profile tyre is unbeatable. I've recently switched from 19s down to a set of Sportlines just to see what they were like with the intention to possibly change my air ride to B14s, raise it up a bit and fit some AT tyres but to be honest, it rides so well now and everything is load rated correctly that I'm thinking about keeping the practicality of the air ride and retaining the ability to drop it on the floor when we're camping etc. My wife has MS so having the van sat on the floor is actually really beneficial for her getting in and out of it...
If you're happy with the ride OP, I'd leave it. The one thing I'd be inclined to check (I can't see the pics on my work laptop!) is that the "BBS" rims a) are actually BBS and b) if not, that they're definitely correctly load rated. Loads and loads of BBS reps made from chinesium are ebay "load rated".
Reading these posts is making me feel quite anxious!!
Fitting incorrect wheels to vehicles is deadly, Range Rover wheels are made for range rovers not T5 vans !!
Is anyone aware of the offsets and backspace ??
Let alone your insurance company telling you to do one if you have any type of accident.
Stick with what’s made for the vehicle and make sure you have the correct offset.
Safety before bling !!!
Jeez, how do you manage to get out of bed on a morning for fear of falling down the stairs or falling off a curb and going under a bus on your walk to work?
1. show me an example of where incorrect wheels on a transporter has been deadly (and I'll tell you about hub mods and chassis notches).
2. Range Rover wheels are more than adequate for a transporter. Some designs need a small spacer, all need spigot rings and different bolts. These are widely available and won't kill you. The biggest issue with fitting RR wheels is that they're dirt cheap (because RR owners upgrade them to deadly 22s etc) and so loads of transporter owners slap a set on without thinking that although the wheels are fine, they're specced with tyres suitable for a RR. In the example above, 55 profile tyres are massive on a 19" rim. Factory is 45 on an 18" rim. If fitting bigger wheels, at least try and think about tyre sizes...
3. offsets - yes, well at least you should be. If you've no idea what you're doing then check willtheyfit.com which is dead useful. Although theres been no mention of people having issues with offsets and widths so far so not sure why it was brought up.
4. obviously ALL mods need to be declared. As long as everything is correctly load rated why would an insurance company tell you to do one? That said, load rating is only a check on an MOT for a T32. I could quite feasibly run non-load rated tyres on an empty panel van which would be within the limits and it'd go through an MOT. Maybe I have in the past.
5. Sticking with whats made for the vehicle - luckily theres millions of correctly specced, non-OEM wheels available out there. Which aren't deadly. So you can have bling and safety together.
You can climb back into your bubble wrapped box now.
I'd be careful fitting smaller wheels if it has been lowered. My BMW on standard suspension has 18" wheels as standard and runs 40/35 section front/rear. On 17" wheels and 45/40 section frontrears, the car is noticeably closer to the ground, especially when on uneven ground. This is despite the fact that the diameter of the wheels/tyres are within 1.2% of one another. The smaller wheels with the bigger sidewall squidge a bit more which bring it closer to the ground by maybe 10-15mm. Increasing the tyre pressure obviously helps, but then reduces the ride quality which you were looking for in the first place.
Your van already looks quite low to the ground.