Date:         Mon, 3 Oct 2005 12:45:28 -0400
Reply-To:     The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Subject:      Re: Vanagon Tire Guidelines Report
In-Reply-To:  <200510031117.AA4125687884@intrex.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

> >The fact that VW updated these specs
> >throughout the years (i.e. updating
> > inflation specs on Vanagons)
 
> Are you saying that the correct tire pressures for a
> Vanagon are not the ones printed on the sticker? 


No. Starting with the 1989 Vanagon, VW increased the recommended PSI for
185R14's from 39 psi front / 48 psi rear to 43 psi front / 53 psi rear.  (On
Syncros, only the front specs were increased. Larry has a year-by-year
listing at http://www.roadhaus.com/Tires/Silver%20Sticker%20Info.html.)
This change was made despite the fact that the Vanagon's weight and load
capacity, as well as the specs of the factory-equipped tires, had not
changed. 

While VW did not explain their reasoning for making this running change,
clearly it suggests that some sort of further research on their part
determined that optimal performance called for a higher tire pressure than
they had originally specified. This may have been dealer feedback, warranty
reports, engineering data, track testing - who knows. But it certainly
indicates that for whatever reason VW chose to revisit the Vanagon tire
issue in 1988, and the result was a minor upward revision in the specs. 

To my knowledge VW did not go as far as to release a service bulletin
updating the spec for earlier Vanagons that were already on the road. I
would take this to mean that they did not deem this upward revision
significant enough to warrant changing their recommendations for Vanagons
already on the road. 

Of course VW had opportunity to revisit the tire issue again in 1992 when
they introduced the next-generation T4 (Eurovan). At that time they moved to
a 15" tire, but even with the larger tire did NOT remove the requirement for
an extra-load tire. In 2001, VW increased the tire size to 16" - and STILL
did NOT remove the requirement for an extra-load tire.  So over 40 years and
several generations of vans, and despite a gradual increase in tire size to
as much as 16", VW has consistently specified without exception that
standard passenger car tires are inappropriate for use on their vans.

- Ron Salmon
  The Bus Depot, Inc.
  www.busdepot.com
  (215)  234-VWVW

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