Swamper Upgrade

[blackpoolcali]

Hi All

So i've jumped on the Swamper bandwagon and purchased some 2019 17" Borbet alloys with 245/65/17 Road X tyres on, however, I took off some 255/45/18 wheels which have a shorter rolling circumference, 203mm shorter to be honest. Forgetting the speedo differences, the issue i have is my ABS/Anti Skid/TPMS lights now come on regularly, the AS and TPMS lights go off overnight but come back on again next day when you have been driving a short while, ABS stays on unless I clear the codes with VCDS.
Does anyone know if this can be adjusted to take into account the additional distance travelled on each rotation. I have checked all the ABS sensors and all are good, no error messages from the sensors on VCDS scan, just an error saying there is and electrical fault with the ABS. All this happened since swapping the wheels so i am assuming it is something to do with the rolling circumference. I can swap back to my original wheels to see if the issues goes away, but i like the swampers and want to stick with them. The Vehicle is a 2010 T5.1 California 4Motion. Thanks

 

[Kind of Blue]

On a tyre comparison site put in the correct pressures for your original manufactures supplied tyres usual on the door jam or similar then put in the new tyre details that are asked for. The site will generate new tyre pressures. The new pressures are very likely to be much lower than original and will give a better safer ride and will be within tyre companies recommendations. Do this for travelling with and with out load and write them down put on a stickers or something easily forgotten and will inform a garage if they are playing with your machine with what the tyres should be set at. You will need to set your vehicle computer to accept the new situation, it does vary how this is done across the range of Transporters but it should be easy to find out the correct procedure. This should reset everything and ABS then should not get upset and tyre pressure warnings should stop.

You have chosen one of the tallest tyres and more or likely will be rubbing when articulating and is going to take place at some time or other. Do not lower the vehicle, preferably lift it to prevent rubbing. Your speedometer will need recalibrating by VCDS or similar it will most likely be reading slow, an offence! Most speedometers over read but it cannot not be taken for granted so one could receive a fine for speeding and another for having a slow speedometer as you have one of the biggest fitting wheel tyre combinations it might give you an idea.

I do not know or understand why it has become fashionable to have the Off Road Look nor any other look for that matter but unless someone is living off road (me) working for a utility company in the country, farmer, vet or anyone else needing to travel regularly off road then the best tyres are All Season tyres if only having one set or one set winter and one summer AS tyres are a massively competitive area right now and will do year round performance very well even on most campsites. I can not see what tyres you have so will say little more.

It may be possible that recalibrating the tyre pressures and resetting the vehicle computer system on the dash may be will cure your faults but it may still be that you have a problem with wheel sensors, a very common fault on our vehicles and which may upset other systems on the vehicle also.. Their is plenty on these pages to cover all of that. You seem to have a reader so you could try and look for a fault to see if you do.

Good luck on sorting your wheel tyre combo.

 

[DaveD]

Hi All

So i've jumped on the Swamper bandwagon and purchased some 2019 17" Borbet alloys with 245/65/17 Road X tyres on, however, I took off some 255/45/18 wheels which have a shorter rolling circumference, 203mm shorter to be honest. Forgetting the speedo differences, the issue i have is my ABS/Anti Skid/TPMS lights now come on regularly, the AS and TPMS lights go off overnight but come back on again next day when you have been driving a short while, ABS stays on unless I clear the codes with VCDS.
Does anyone know if this can be adjusted to take into account the additional distance travelled on each rotation. I have checked all the ABS sensors and all are good, no error messages from the sensors on VCDS scan, just an error saying there is and electrical fault with the ABS. All this happened since swapping the wheels so i am assuming it is something to do with the rolling circumference. I can swap back to my original wheels to see if the issues goes away, but i like the swampers and want to stick with them. The Vehicle is a 2010 T5.1 California 4Motion. Thanks

The first thing I'd do is put the old wheels back on and clear any existing codes, then go for a drive.
This way you will find out for certain if the issue relates to your new wheels, which I personally think is unlikely.

 

[blackpoolcali]

On a tyre comparison site put in the correct pressures for your original manufactures supplied tyres usual on the door jam or similar then put in the new tyre details that are asked for. The site will generate new tyre pressures. The new pressures are very likely to be much lower than original and will give a better safer ride and will be within tyre companies recommendations. Do this for travelling with and with out load and write them down put on a stickers or something easily forgotten and will inform a garage if they are playing with your machine with what the tyres should be set at. You will need to set your computer to accept the new situation it does very how this is done across the range but it should be easy to find out the correct procedure. This should reset everything and ABS will not get upset and tyre pressure warnings should stop.

You have chosen one of the tallest tyres and more or likely will be rubbing is going to take place at some time or other. Do not lower the vehicle, preferably lift it to prevent rubbing. Your speedometer will need recalibrating by VCDS or similar it will most likely be reading slow, an offence. Most speedometers over readd but it cannot not be taken for granted so one could receive a fine for speeding and another for having a slow speedometer as you have one of the biggest fitting wheel tyre combinations it might give you an idea.

I do not know or understand why it has become fashionable to have the Off Road Look nor any other look for that matter but unless someone is living off road (me) working for a utility company in the country, farmer, vet or anyone else needing to travel regularly off road then the best tyres are All Season tyres if only having one set or one set winter and one summer AS tyres are a massively competitive area right now and will do year round performance very well even on most campsites. I can not see what tyres you have so will say little more.

It may be possible that recalibrating the tyre pressures and resetting the vehicle computer system on the dash may be will cure your faults but it may still be that you have a problem with wheel sensors a very common fault on our vehicles and may upset other systems on the vehicle also.. Their is plenty on these pages to cover all of that. You seem to have a reader so you could try and look for a fault to see if you do.

Good luck on sorting your wheel tyre combo.

Many thanks for such an comprehensive response, I never even thought of tyre pressures, shows my lack of knowledge. I replaced the wheels because two of them have been repaired in the past, good repairs and don't leak but still repaired. My vanity wanted the swamper tyres, because its a 4motion, I didn't want to get stuck on a camping field (oh the shame) with a capable van!, I also thought that the Off road tyres would last longer with the additional weight. The dash board has an option to adjust the speedo in MPH for winter tyres so i might have a look at that to see if it helps as well. Thank You

 

[blackpoolcali]

The first thing I'd do is put the old wheels back on and clear any existing codes, then go for a drive.
This way you will find out for certain if the issue relates to your new wheels, which I personally think is unlikely.

Hi DaveD, yes I must agree, factory reset so to speak. The only issue is my wife suggested that and i said 'Don't be ridiculous'! looks like I'm in for some humble pie! Thanks for the response.