Date: Wed, 25 Dec 2002 13:21:14 +1300
Reply-To: Andrew Grebneff <andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Andrew Grebneff <andrew.grebneff@STONEBOW.OTAGO.AC.NZ>
Subject: Re: Aftermarket rim fitment.
In-Reply-To: <Pine.SUN.3.96.1021221202844.1658A-100000@grex.cyberspace.org>
Content-type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=us-ascii
>Well, not everyone wants to upgrade to alloy wheels. (They're too
>expensive to own where I live -- the potholes bend them.)
That's a valid concern. But you COULD fit custom-made steel wheels or
Mercedes steels.
>And I've driven
>VW vans with passenger car tires on the stock wheels, and the handling is
>much, much worse -- the non-reinforced sidewalls fold under too easily,
>making the van squirrely.
Cheap car tires will do this on any vehicle, especially if they are
too wide for the rims. Performance tires have lower and stiffer
sidewalls, which is in part why they are PERFORMANCE tires... not
just grippy rubber.
>We also get snow here, and wide, fat tires are no good in snow.
>
>Besides, I'd rather have tires that will slide before the van
>traction-rolls. ;)
Roll? Doubt it... unless it slides sideways and hits a curb or
pothole, which will flip ANY vehicle. Even splits won't roll under
the hardest cornering. They'll spin first (or understeer off the
road, depending on the suspension setup).
>High performance tires tend to have poorer handling in rain, don't they?
>Seems like all that surface area would make them hydroplane pretty easily.
Quite the opposite. The genuine ones have huge rain channels designed
to pump water away from the contact patch. Also added silica is
increasing grip. Soft rubber compounds also (though these days they
don't waear at a horrendous rate, as earlier performance tires did).
The only problems might be with aquaplaning with WIDE tires on deep
water... this won't happen unless you hit a decent puddle. But then,
even narrow tires wil aquaplane on a puddle... as I have experianced.
A genuine performance tire gives hugely better performance in every
respect (except ride, and even this doesn't necessarily suffer). BUT
they are admittely more prone to being pinched between the rim and
curbs or sharp-edged potholes.
>The guys with the 12" wide ghetto chrome rims on their Hondas all seem to
>slide around pretty bad in poor weather, here.
These guys are probably fitting low-end low-profile pseudoperformance
tires (budgets, you know... save money for their 24000W ICE
systems...). They are boy-wonders who have ZERO undertanding about
handling and don't care. It's all about image, nothing else. Lowering
a Corolla or Civic, whatever, until it scrapes the ground actually
degrades the handling severely, inducing terrible understeer
(skating) even in the dry. Suspensions are often rigid... the worst
of these morons remove the dampers and install steel rods in their
place!!). I've followed a hot KE70 Corolla on a flat road... its
tires were hopping off the road surface on tiny irregularities. Zero
grip. Imagine this happening on an irregularly-surfaced corner. The
cops hate these characters. At least they give themselves away with
wierd haircuts and/or back-to-front baseball caps!
Anyway, I am not suggesting WIDE tires. A 205 or 215, perhaps 225 at
most is FINE for performance handling. Bigger tires are really only
needed for higher engine outputs, to curb wheelspin.
--
Andrew Grebneff
165 Evans St, Dunedin 9001, New Zealand
<andrew.grebneff@stonebow.otago.ac.nz>
Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut
