Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2008 18:32:37 -0700
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Door Plate Tire Pressures
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needless to say, I'd think............is the only answer to whether your
front end is tired or warn out, is a proper inspection.
Like on an alignment rack in a real shop, with someone familiar with front
ends.
Another way to answer your question is 'the front suspension has to be in
good condition, and alignment correct, for it to handle and respond to
steering inputs correctly. '
there was one 84 Vanagon I worked on once......of hundreds
basically...........that had Michelin LTX's on it ..........and it was the
best handling vanagon I've ever driven in terms of steering response. I
mean, I wanted to drive that thing in a power slide all the time, if I
could.
Nothing special about it either............just the LTX tires, stock steel
wheels, the shocks were all right............And I wondered if the front and
rear alignments of that van were extra 'spot on' or what.
'it all works together' ..............everything needs to be pretty right
if you want it to respond and handle truly right.
Can't say I trust every front end shop there is either.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Walter Houle" <whoule@ECSCONTROLS.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2008 9:27 AM
Subject: Re: Door Plate Tire Pressures
> I'm finally going to ask this question. I ran passenger car tires on my
> van for years. Since it came with them, I simply just replaced them with
> equal. Never got advice from a tire dealer to do anything different
> either. I've always kept the van bare bones light, so maybe that minimized
> the problem. As far as the handling went, it wallowed and leaned in the
> turns, but it was pretty stable in the wind. I always kept the pressures
> about 8 PSI higher in the rear.
>
> About a year ago, I started following this list and got the correct tires,
> Michelin LTX M/S 195/75/R14. Huge difference in the turns, no more
> wallowing. However, the directional stability is much worse. Crosswinds
> are now treacherous, and getting passed by a semi is a new adventure. I
> tried several tire pressure combos and things got much better using 44 PSI
> all around. Still, the overall stability in the wind is a lot worse than
> it was on the P car tires.
>
> So, why the difference? Is it just that the stiffer sidewalls make the
> handling more sensitive? Or, is it something else, like a worn out front
> end?
>
> Walter
> 85 Vanagon
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