by poormansporsche » Mon Mar 07, 2011 12:38 am
Alright peeps,
Just thought id post about my research as its a bit of a grey area really
Anyway in my experience ive found that the number one rule if you are pulled (especially by the VOSA - bastids !!) is:
BE PREPARED and know what to say ! If you sound like you know what you are talking about and not just "bunged any old thing on" you are less likely to get trouble especially if you know more than your average copper (so long as you are not patronising obviously!)
So Alloys:
First thing to remember is the connect is a proper commercial vehicle not a car derived van
But there is no specific regulation that vans have to have commercial wheels, just that the wheels have suitable load carrying capacity
So as a general rule its best to stick to OEM Ford / Jaguar wheels because if you are pulled and they start asking questions you can say that if you have proper ford wheels that "These wheels are available from fords on the Galaxy which has a Gross Laden Weight of 2.5 tonnes which is more than the 2, 2.2 or 2.3 GLW of the Connect" - it is then down to them to prove otherwise
Avoid cheap chinese replica wheels because it has been known that they often do not have the load rating stamped or are not "E" marked which the VOSA can do you for they are that way inclined
Thirdly - TELL YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY ABOUT YOUR WHEELS - even if it costs you 50 quid extra a year, the rozzers can check and can nick you for no insurance if you have not told them
Tyres:
Tyre load ratings are a bloody nightmare as it depends on how you read the law so its best to go OTT to be safe
Basically with vans you have to have 10% ontop of the car load ratings to allow for uneven loaded weight distribution but it is unclear in the law how this is implemented
So Basically on the connect the load ratings on tyres you need to be 100 % safe are:
Connect 200 - 2000kg / 4 = 500kg x 10% = 550kg = Load Rating of 88
Connect 220 - 2200kg / 4 = 550 x 10% = 605kg = Load Rating of 91
Connect 230 - 2300kg /4 = 575 x 10% = 632.5kg = Load Rating of 93
So basically if you have a LWB 230 its pretty hard to get proper legal rated tyres as most XL tyres in a 225/40/18 are 91 Rated so what I did was put 225/45/18's on the rear which come with a 95 load rating and 225/40/18's on the front with a load rating of 91 which gives an average of 93 which keeps me 100% within the law
This is all subjective but if you get caught by somebody looking for something to find it can be a pain in the arse (speaking from experience as i go through the blackwall everyday where the VOSA lurk all the time)
Brett
55 LX, ST220 Leather Recaro's, Leather Dash,Console, Visors and roof lining, Vantuner Remap, Chrome Running Boards, Zetec S 18 Alloys, Zetec S Leather Wheel, Double Din Nav, Custom Dials, Blue ledded etc