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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