Date:         Fri, 17 Mar 2000 14:21:41 -0800
Reply-To:     BRENT CHRISTENSEN <bchristensen@INFOGENESIS.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         BRENT CHRISTENSEN <bchristensen@INFOGENESIS.COM>
Subject:      Re: slashed tires, used tires
Comments: To: "Dldemarest@AOL.COM" <Dldemarest@AOL.COM>
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;

Douglas:

PLEASE be careful of the load range of whatever tire you end up with.
Regular passenger tires are not built to handle the load of the Vanagon.  If
that BFG tire you have has a maximum inflation pressure of 35 psi or less,
chances are that it is a passenger tire and really shouldn't be used.  Look
for a Load Range C tire (or LT  - Light Truck)

As to using mix & match tires, there's really no big problem AFAIK (except
in a Syncro) as long as they all are rated to handle the load.  You may get
less than ideal handling characteristics, but I doubt any safety problems.

Brent Christensen
'89 GL Syncro Westy
Santa Barbara, CA


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Douglas Demarest [mailto:Dldemarest@AOL.COM]
> Sent: Friday, March 17, 2000 2:09 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: slashed tires, used tires
>
>
> So I'm still driving on one of the tires that got slashed in
> Mexico, about
> 3,000 miles ago.  Everyone says this is dumb, and I agree.
> But the rest of
> the tires are in ok shape.  I priced new michelin LTX at $470
> for a set,
> installed.  Then I thought, hey, couldn't I just get one used one?
>
> Obviously this isn't ideal, but how stupid is it, really?  Do
> I need to match
> it closely to the ones I have?  Or is it enough that the
> sizes printed on the
> tire match? I already have one odd tire that used to be my spare ( a
> Continental).  The other 3 are michelin XZX.  I found a
> single BFGoodrich (no
> model name that I saw) 185 R14 for $25.  It had almost full tread.
>
>
> Doug Demarest
> Minneapolis, MN
> 86 Vanagon "kombi"
>

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