Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2007 10:03:45 -0500
Reply-To: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Subject: Re: Tires (by one reviewer)
In-Reply-To: <A033C92B-1C00-4103-9E0D-3A691B2BA375@mac.com>
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Regards the matter of tires that are used in winter - studded tires and
tires with chains mounted are often referred to. In thirty years of
driving in Alaska under the harshest of winter conditions, on all the
vehicles I owned - a Volvo sedan, a Volvo Station Wagon, a Jeep
Cherokee, a Jeep Wagoneer LTD, a VW Loaf, and an '85 GL. I never found a
need for any other than a standard tires for summer, all weather, or
standard snow rated tires in winter - with one exception. That exception
was the '85 Vanagon GL. In Alaska winter conditions that thing was all
over the road. Get a little Chinook wind to blow in warm air in
mid-winter and it would go from -35F to 40F in 24 hours. The surface of
the ice-pack on the road would get a thin layer of water on the surface
and there was no control. Didn't have the problem with any of the other
vehicles except the Vanagon. It was the weight distribution, primarily.
More evenly balanced front to rear. Bus was rear weighted, and could get
traction on the rear wheels. Not that way on the GL so much. I went and
bought my first ever set of studded tires for that thing. Worked like a
charm. GL handled like a charm in winter from then on.
Regards,
John Rodgers
88 GL Dri er
Kim Brennan wrote:
> One of the problems with review pages (such as Larry Chase's) is that
> few folk have had a chance to directly compare one type of tire
> versus another, except over many years difference.
>
> In the last 2 years I have put a variety of tires on my vanagon
> Syncros. All more than met the specs for Syncro vanagons.
>
> This included the BFGoodrich All Terrain T/A ko tires (215/75R15,
> 235/75R15), Vredestein Comtrac (205/65R15), Vredestein Winter Comtrac
> (225/70R15) and Nokian Hakkapeliitta CS (215/75R16).
>
> The Vredestein Comtrac is the quietest. The Vredestein Winter Comtrac
> is just about as quiet. When new the BFG's are quiet, but as they
> wear they definitely get louder. The Nokian's are distinctly louder
> than the Comtrac or Winter Comtrac, but not as noisy as worn BFG's.
>
> One of my biggest loves about the BFG is the rim protector design of
> the tire. Over the years in various cars, I've scraped my rims on
> curbs. The design of the BFG tire just about makes this impossible. I
> also like the aggressive tread design of the BFG. Less to like is how
> quickly they wear (and get noisy). But they have great traction in
> the snow and are great on dirt roads.
>
> The Comtrac is a van street tire plain and simple. It's not designed
> for winter use, but is a good sturdy tire and nice and quiet.
>
> The Winter Comtrac has noticably softer compound than the Comtrac,
> and really is intended for winter use only (though I've used them in
> the summer as well). In snow and ice they are fantastic. They aren't
> so good on dirt and mud (at least in comparison to the BFGs).
>
> The Nokian Hakka's are my latest tires. The tire compound is harder
> than the Winter Comtrac, and they are distinctly all season tires,
> but rated for snow and ice. I've heard (but can't yet confirm) that
> they are truly excellent in the snow. If they are as good as the
> Winter Comtracs then the added noise factor may be tolerable enough
> to use them all year round. Certainly their load factor is as good or
> higher than the Comtrac and Winter Comtrac at the same tire size.
>
> Both the Nokian and Winter Comtrac are directional tires (a minor
> pain to deal with if you rotate your tires yourself.) The Comtrac and
> BFGs aren't.
>
> The 235/75R15 BFGs are just a little too big for an unmodified 14"
> Syncro (rubbing on compression of the suspension, but no rubbing for
> just driving about.) The 215/75R16 Nokian's are nearly the same size,
> but have no rubbing issues, even under compression.
>
>
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