Date:         Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:27:45 -0400
Reply-To:     Walter Houle <whoule@ECSCONTROLS.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Walter Houle <whoule@ECSCONTROLS.COM>
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