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Date:         Thu, 21 Sep 2000 13:08:26 -0500
Reply-To:     Roy Olynick <keepsake@PANGEA.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Roy Olynick <keepsake@PANGEA.CA>
Subject:      Tires, The Never Ending Story: Hankook 819
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252"

Allow me, kiddies, to relate my experience with four Hankook 819 tires (8 ply, Load range D) which were recently mounted on my Westy.

The tires were installed three weeks ago. From the moment I left the tire shop, I sensed the van's handling wasn't right. In addition to perceptible body roll, the van also developed a tendency to wander. Keeping the vehicle within my lane during city driving was a real concern. Highway driving was a constant fight with the steering wheel. In the following days, I played around with tire pressure, to no avail. I returned the van to my tire dealer about a week later. After a test drive, he checked for steering problems, tweaked the wheel alignment, test drove again but commented that the wheel alignment improved the situation only marginally. He advised me to drive it for a few days, while he contacted Hankook for suggestions.

Hankook recommended verifying wheel balance and trueness of the rims, so I was back in the shop. Upon removal of the tires, the tire technician noticed the tread face of all four tires was rounded not flat. The long and short of it is that the Hankook 819 tires mounted on my Westy were actually trailer tires! The tire tech was surprised that this was not indicated on the tire sidewall as he has seen in the past.

Needless to say, I'm kinda gun shy about going with Hankook again! Based upon the apparently imminent discontinuation of this tire model and the poor tire labelling controls, I've decided to go with Michelin Agilis 61 tires (backordered in Canada but arriving in two weeks).

Roy Olynick '87 Westfalia GL (till death do us part)


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