Date:         Wed, 10 Jul 2002 21:53:00 -0000
Reply-To:     Cooper John LCDR ALCOM/J322 <John.Cooper@ELMENDORF.AF.MIL>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Cooper John LCDR ALCOM/J322 <John.Cooper@ELMENDORF.AF.MIL>
Subject:      TIRE SWITCH
Comments: To: "syncro@yahoogroups.com" <syncro@yahoogroups.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

I know, another tire question.  Well, I AM doing my homework.  A friendly
neighbor put a bullet behind my tire and it punctured it too close to the
sidewall for repair.  Naturally I have no proof who did it but I don't have
any M-16 bullets (unused round mind you) lying around my house.  And, my
four year old doesn't have access to them at pre-school, so she is off the
hook for now.  It happened in my driveway as I was moving my van early in
the morning, so I didn't pick it up the day before.

Anyway, I need to replace all four tires on my Syncro because the remaining
three, are pretty worn.  I figured now is the time to upgrade to 15 inch
rims.  I have surveyed the list and the following are candidates...
S/A 15 inch alloys,
Mercedes C230, 300E, C280 etc.
Audi 5000, A4, or A6 rims.
VW Eruovan or Passat rims.

I will not bore you with the year/model details.  Suffice it to say, I am
trying to do this without spending a fortune, so the S/A alloys are out as
well as any shiny alloy wheels.  Steel wheels would be fine.

Well, as I continue to investigate, I see that I may be able to achieve my
goals of having decent sized tires by upgrading to 27x8.5x14 tires (and have
a load rating of C).  However I only have 5 1/2 inch rims.  All the web site
specifications I have seen for this tire size state the minimum rim width is
6.0"  Fine if you have 14 inch alloys, I don't even have those.

So, how many of you out there are running 27x8.5x14's on 14x5.5J rims and
have you noticed any adverse effects?  Tim Smith stated in a posting back in
1995 that he did.  AND that BF Goodrich listed the approved rim width as
5.5-7.0 inches.  The current specs for the BFG A/T KO tires show only 6.0 to
7.0 as acceptable for this size, as do all the other spec pages for other
manufactures I have seen.

If I can't find something, I will end up back on 195/75 R14s which look
really wimpy under my Syncro, that is if I can find them for a decent price
with a load rating of C up here in Alaska.

Thanks in advance.

John