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Date:   Mon, 28 Aug 2000 23:29:54 -0400
Reply-To:   Marc Perdue <marcperdue@adelphia.net>
Sender:   Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:   Marc Perdue <marcperdue@adelphia.net>
Subject:   Oh no, not tires again!
Content-Type:   text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Hi all,

I'm back for a short time because I've run into an odd situation and I think my tires may be the culprit. I've got an '87 Westy with auto tranny, recently replaced shocks, KYBs per list recommendations, tires rotated and balanced, and wheels aligned. Before doing all this, I had an incident at low speed where I thought the van was going to roll over because the rear rocked so violently. In addition, the steering wheel was always turned about 10-15 degrees left when the wheels were straight, and the van pulled to the right. After doing all the work, the van handled beautifully and the steering wheel was straight. Now, about a thousand miles later, the van rocks lightly, but regularly, at slow speeds, almost as if there were a bump on one of the tires. At higher speeds the van seems to vibrate, with a fair amount of road noise. I checked out the tires, which were uniformly low at 37 psi, and pumped them up to the max rating listed on 3 of them, 44 psi. I haven't yet fully tested the effects of this. The 4th tire is different. All the tires appear to be evenly worn, with probably half of their tread left. I wrote down the specs and suspect that either 1, 3, or all of these tires, is incorrect for the Westy. Unfortunately, I can't make any sense of the numbers beyond the normal stuff. Here are the numbers and what I understand about them. I'm hoping somebody can shed some light on what the other numbers mean.

One tire: Continental Transport 185R14C RS771 DOT CUKM CWC 496 185 R 14C 99/97 N 55 PSI Tread: 5 Plies (2 Rayon, 2 Steel, 1 Nylon) Sidewall: 2 Plies, (1 Rayon, 1 Nylon) Load Range C

This one sounds like a halfway decent tire, but probably right at the lower end of what I should be looking for in terms of # of plies and load range. I understand the size part except for the RS771. Not sure what 99/97N is, or what the DOT numbers mean.

Three tires: Metric Radial (Who is this made by?) 185R14 90S Treadwear: 280 Traction: B Temperature: B Made in Brazil URM-203 R-35441 K-7371 M&S 44 PSI DOT C2J5 HPKR 256 Tread: 3 Plies (1 Polyester, 2 Steel) Sidewall: 2 Plies, Polyester

I get the uneasy feeling that these tires are cheap and woefully inadequate. The speed rating of S seems ok, but is the 90 the load index? Is 90 sufficient? I understand treadwear, traction, and temp., as well as M&S, but what is the URM number and, again, what do the DOT numbers mean?

Thanks for your help in figuring out this weird problem, Marc Perdue


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