Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 16:57:48 -0600
Reply-To: roadguy@ROADHAUS.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Larry Chase <roadguy@ROADHAUS.COM>
Subject: Re: 15" Wheel/Tire Report - Caution
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
John,
I'm really sorry ... to challenge this,
but do we really want to encourage folks to
put themselves and others into a vehicle
that has tires that the manufacturer doesn't
feel are adequaltey rated ... just because
"this doesn't meanthat all conditions outside
the rating are inherently dangerous.".
Please I truly do not mean to be combative,
and if we didn't have several good tire choices
available .... perhaps we would need to take such
risks.
But that's not the case ... there are several that
meet or exceed the minimum specs.
Why not simply use those tires.
I really don't get it.
larry chase
roadhaus.com
- - -
Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 08:13:41 -0800
From: jbange <hfinn@INGRATES.NET>
Subject: Re: 15" Wheel/Tire Report - Caution
>I know that GoWesty feels these tire are appropriate ....
>
>They have a detial explanation on their web site that is very impressive.
In case anyone's interested, it's here
<http://www.gowesty.com/tire_wheeltech.html>
>
>But if the Manufacturing of the tire will not warranty it
>for this application ... What does that tell you?
Lucas of GoWesty asserts it tells you that they didn't test it. The fact
that they are applying a "one size fits all, specifics be damned" load
reduction formula indicates this is most probably the case.
>Does GoWesty know more than the tire manufacturer?
In the case of HydroEdge tires on Vanagons, I'd say GoWesty probably does.
As Lucas says, they've got over a million miles logged with those tires
without a single failure. The best test would be true experimental "test to
failure" or "test to maximum possible loading plus [x]%". In the absence of
that, I'd accept continuous long-term real-world usage stats over a
manufacturer's formula-based guess. Tire makers manufacture such a huge
variety of tires that they CAN'T test each individual design, but instead
must make an estimate. The estimate is, of course, invariably conservative
for reasons of liability. With the exception of catastrophic design
screwups (a la Firestone), you can count on everything being fine if you
stay within the rating; But this doesn't mean that all conditions outside
the rating are inherently dangerous.
John Bange
'90 Vanagon "Geldsauger"
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