Date:         Fri, 28 Apr 2006 17:12:03 -0400
Reply-To:     Sam Walters <sam.cooks@VERIZON.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Sam Walters <sam.cooks@VERIZON.NET>
Subject:      Re: 14" spare on 15" syncro?  NO,
              unless they are all the same size,
Comments: To: RobInfante@AOL.COM

References: <230.a0fc910.3183c25d@aol.com>
In-Reply-To: <230.a0fc910.3183c25d@aol.com>
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Rob,

Yes, that is right.  I somewhat assumed that no one would ask the
question if all he or she knew all the tires were the same outer
diameter.  I figured that if a person knew enough to make sure that all
the tires were the same diameter, he or she would already know the
general ideas of VC operation, or would have told us that the tires were
the same outer diameter.  And you said that you were using a 14" stock
wheel with the stock size 14" tire, so I assumed that this meant that
the tire was smaller that what was on the 15" wheel since you made no
mention of the 15" tire's diameter.  It is rather unusual for people to
go down to the lower profile 15" tire to match stock tire size on a
Syncro, so I assumed it was larger and replied based on that.

You have to be using relatively different types of tires to have a tire
on a 14" wheel be the same circumference as one from a 15" wheel.
Nothing wrong with running lower profile tires except that some have
reported them being more likely to cut or pinch a sidewall off road.

So, it sounds like you are in OK shape.  The reported diameters of tires
is often off quite a bit.  The most realistic measure is revolutions per
mile which you can find for almost any tire that Tire Rack sells.
Others also, but the Tire Rack website is pretty easy to mine for data.
So, you might want to check the revs/mile.

There have been quite a number of situations where people have been
driving around in Syncro's with a much smaller spare.

Sam

--
Sam Walters
Baltimore, MD

89 Syncro GL, Zetec Inside
85 Westy Weekender
85 Mercedes Benz 300D Turbodiesel - to become veggie oil powered

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