The Importance of Fitting Weight Loaded Wheels to VW Transporter T4 & T5 – when selecting the perfect set of wheels for your VWT there are lots of things you need to know….

• What’s the wheel fitment (or PCD) of my Van? (answer 5×120 for T5, 5×112 for T4)
• What size wheels can I fit? (we’d suggest a maximum of 22”)
• What offset or ‘ET’ do I need? (45-51 depending on the wheel specification)
• …..and probably most importantly WHAT LOAD INDEX DO MY NEW WHEELS HAVE TO HAVE??

In this piece we’re going to concentrate on load index as it’s something we’re asked about all the time – and we feel it’s most important and should be the first question you ask any alloy wheel retailer or manufacturer before you hand over your hard earned cash.

VWT’s are not like ‘normal’ passenger vehicles, they are big and they can carry a lot and as such, they require a stronger wheel.

The weight loading required for your VWT differs depending on the version you have, here are the numbers you need to take note of:

• T4 Transporter & Caravelle weight loading – 748kg
• T5 Transporter weight loading – 860kg (excluding motor homes – there are so many custom versions in existence it would be impossible state a figure that covers all of them – refer to manufacturer)
• T5 California weight loading – 875kg

We recommend that you only buy alloy wheels that have the capability of safely carrying this weight at the very least.

Most wheel companies state the weight loading capabilities of their wheels either on the front of the wheel (usually on the inner dish) or on the back of the wheel. If you can’t see this information when you’re choosing wheels we recommend you find out!

As one of Europe’s pre-eminent wheel brands, Wolfrace have many alloy wheels that are ‘weight loaded’ and can easily cope with the additional weight.

Wheels such as the best selling Wolfrace Eurosport Assassin in 18” and 20” are more than suitable with a weight loading of 1050kg – whilst the new Blitz 2 launched this month (and covered in these pages) has a weight loading of a massive 1100kg.

Wolfrace’s premium alloy wheel range, named Wolf Design, has some great wheels for the T4 and T5. The range consists of four designs and they’re all weight loaded for all the VWT’s we’ve mentioned – the Wolf Design Vermont in 18” 20” and 22” and the Vermont Sport in 20” have a load index of 1050kg.

Two new wheels have been launched in the range this year – Renaissance in 18” 19” 20” and 22” (covered by VWt last month) and the striking Entourage, a five spoke deep concave wheel in 20”. The load index is 980kg and 925kg respectively.

Outside of the Wolfrace range, take a look at the wheels offered by German brands ATS and Alutec. Made in Europe, TUV approved and with a warranty of up to five years, they are not to be sniffed at. Both ranges are distributed exclusively in the UK by Wolfrace.

Another thing to remember is that you should be fitting a good quality commercial-rated tyre to your new alloys – most of the major tyre manufacturers have something suitable and whilst they may be slightly more expensive, it’s worth the extra money for extra peace of mind.

You should also be mindful of fitting alloy wheels with the same fitment as the T5 but that are intended for other vehicles, a popular trend we’ve noticed are T5 owners running on original equipment BMW wheels – these normally fall short of the required load index and are not recommended.

In our opinion, you’d be mad not to fit weight loaded alloy wheels; we don’t need to tell you what might happen should you be driving down the motorway at 70mph and one of your wheels fails, choose a quality wheel brand with a high standard of manufacturing – like Wolfrace.