Date: Fri, 20 Oct 2006 11:08:35 -0700
Reply-To: Buffalo 66 <ss180ss@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Buffalo 66 <ss180ss@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: speshul tires for the vanagon
In-Reply-To: <04dd01c6f46c$7cad8630$0a0ba8c0@RON>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Just my .02-
I have driven quite a few vehicles over the years,
and the vanagon is one of my favorites-
as far as tires go, yes, I agree, you want a stiffer
sidewall, to help prevent sway from buffeting winds.
I'm going with 16" rims with lower profile tires to
"solve" this issue. that, combined with some lowering
springs, will make for a nicely handling vanagon (for
what it is anyway)
however, as far as a load capacity, our vans don't
weigh 5 tons, and will never see that amount of
weight, unless you are towing a huge boat, which we
all is just plain silly.
I think the main reson for the load requirements is a
carryover from the european style, in which they are
notorious for overloading their vehicles, and tow
things in which we would never consider. Europeans
also have equipment attached to their vans/trucks, so
I'm betting VW put a "universal" load rating
requirement so they would cover themselves in case of
an incident, or the worst case scenario.
It's never going to hurt putting high load rating
tires on your van, but IMHO, it's not necessary unless
you will actually be putting that much load on the
van.
you are much better off putting lower profile tires on
slightly larger rims.
Percy.
--- The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM> wrote:
> > lets see. expensive unobtanium "load C rated"
> > tires.. Sidewall ply = 2 ply. 2 ply is 2 ply.
>
> > it means double ply reinforced sidewall.
> > like i said, all you need to look for is the 2 ply
>
> > sidewall rating. "reinforced sidewall" means '
> > 2 ply sidewall. its just an fancier and more
> > expensive name for it. marketing scheme.
>
>
> Reinforced tire round and made of rubber ...
> standard tire also round and
> made of rubber ... Must be the same thing! :-)
>
> I'm being facetious, of course, but still, what you
> are saying is just plain
> factually inaccurate. It is true that all tires
> that meet VW specs (that I
> know of) have 2 ply sidewalls, but the converse is
> not true - not all tires
> that have 2 ply sidewalls meet VW specs. They can
> differ siginficantly in
> load and inflation capacities, and may or may not
> meet VW specs. Read the
> load and inflation capacities that are printed on
> the sidewall - that, not
> the number of plies, will tell you whether the tire
> is suitable. (See
> http://busdepot.com/details/tires.jsp for details on
> what the minimum safe
> rating is; it varies depending on whether the tire
> is passenger-car or
> light-truck rated.)
>
> Of course it should also be pointed out that
> choosing a tire that meets
> these guidelines does not guarantee that it's a good
> tire; only one that
> meets the minimum requirements. As with any tire,
> there are of course better
> and worse tires on the market within the application
> (in terms of handling,
> road noise, wear characteristics, etc.). Start with
> tires that meet VW specs
> and then make your choice among those.
>
> - Ron Salmon
> The Bus Depot, Inc.
> www.busdepot.com
> (215) 234-VWVW
>
> _____________________________________________
> Toll-Free for Orders by PART # : 1-866-BUS-DEPOT
>
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