Date: Fri, 1 Mar 2002 08:20:22 -0500
Reply-To: Gary Stearns <gstearns@OPTONLINE.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Gary Stearns <gstearns@OPTONLINE.NET>
Subject: Re: Tires one more time-185 to 195???
Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
I agree that any of these tires mounted on "approved" rims are safe and
won't give problems ie: peeling off of the wheel in a corner. My goal
though was a combo of wheel and tire that was better than safe and problem
free, I wanted the best result in terms of stability and cornering power.
If you look at any performance oriented wheel/tire setup (as opposed to "fat
is cool"), you'll find a moderate width tire supported by a wide wheel. The
tradeoff is that on the street an overly wide tire is more likely to
hydroplane and will cause steering to loose self centering and stability.
When cornered hard the wide tire on a narrow wheel will roll under, lifting
the inside part of the wide tread off of the road, defeating the prime
purpose for a wider tire. A more moderate width tire on a wider wheel will
avoid these problems while offering more cornering power. Keeping a narrow
tread on the road and working vs. lifting a wide tread off of the road so
that it doesn't work.
Gary
----- Original Message -----
From: "mark drillock" <drillock@EARTHLINK.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2002 12:44 PM
Subject: Re: Tires one more time-185 to 195???
> Most of the tire companies provide a spec chart for a given model of
> tire. Among the other data provided is a range of allowable rim widths
> for each size of tire in that model.
>
> 7" is nearer the upper end of width for a 205, 6" is the measuring width
> they use for the spec table for your Nokians. Allowable range is
> 5.5-7.5.
>
> 6.5" is right on for a 215 in many tables, just look up a given tire to
> check.
>
> Mark
>
> Gary Stearns wrote:
> >
> > I'm running 205/65-15 on 15 x 7 wheels now. This is the closest in
diameter
> > to the original (on mine) 205/70-14.
> >
> > Your idea of 215's on 15 x 6.5 strikes me as too wide a tire on too
narrow a
> > wheel. The weight of the Westy will cause the tire to "roll under" in
> > corners. Don't use anything but light truck or reinforced tires. I've
used
> > passenger car and reinforced tires. The difference in stability is
amazing.
> > I'm running Nokian NRH2 tires now. I'm very satisfied. Go to
> > http://www.nokiantires.com/indexen.html
> >
> > Gary
> >
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