Or you could do like I did. BF Goodrich 185r14, D ply, 1680 or so lbs at 60 psi always rotated and balanced on time and ALWAYS properly inflated. I had 3 tires fail within 6 month with separated belts. All 3 tires failed completely within about 30 miles once the belt started letting go. A less astute driver might have never felt the initial belt failure and had a stupid accident when the tire went completely. What is your point? On 3/14/09, levi hawkins <b1levi@yahoo.com> wrote: > Or, you could just go with passenger tires, like this guy did: > > http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=346550 > > Looks like BFGoodrich 205 70r14, max load 1433, max pressure 35lbs. > It seems one of the back tires split, causing the van to swerve to the > right, putting too much stress on the front left which then blew out, (see > the photo), and flipping the van onto the drivers side. > > --- On Sat, 3/14/09, The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM> wrote: > From: The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM> > Subject: Re: Tires - Why oh why NOT? > To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM > Date: Saturday, March 14, 2009, 7:02 AM > > Chris S., quoting long glowing GoWesty ad for Michelin HydroEdge 15" car > tires, concludes... > >> Yes, 14'' passenger tires are deadly on a fully loaded Westy. >> I'm not talking about 14'' tires. Again, I quote "... > they >> provide WAY better handling and safety." > > > GoWesty's claim directly contradict both Volkswagen and the U.S. D.O.T. As > per VW, using 15" or even 16" tires does NOT eliminate the need for > an > extra-load tire. The Eurovan, for example, has about the same GVWR as the > Vanagon and came factory equipped with 15" and 16" tires. Yet VW > specified > ONLY extra-load tires in both 15" and 16" sizes. The same applies to > the > current model T5 van, and even to earlier Buses that came equipped with > 15" > tires (and weighed less than Vanagons). In fact NEVER has Volkswagen > recommended passenger-car rated tires for their vans, no matter whether > 14", > 15", or 16". If you do the math regarding D.O.T. safety requirements > for > Vanagon tires, as explained at http://busdepot.com/details/tires.jsp, > you'll > see that federal regulations also prohibit the use of standard-load > passenger car tires - regardless of size - on VW vans. > > Volkswagen did not just randomly come up with the minimum specs for tires on > the Vanagon. Such specs are based on solid engineering and testing. The fact > that they continuously tweaked recommended inflation over the years > indicates that they also revisited the issue periodically - but over 40 > years, NEVER ONCE waivered from their insistance that extra-load tires must > be used. > > So, you can rely on Volkswagen's own engineering, or the unproven advice of > a retailer who has a vested interest in your ignoring factory safety > recommendations (they want to sell you their wheels/tires, which don't meet > VW specs). Given that it is possible to buy appropriately rated Vanagon > tires in all sizes, why on earth would you take this risk? Might as well > stop wearing your seatbelt too. If Volkswagen turns out to be right after > all, it will be during evasive maneuvers (when most of the weight is > transferred to one wheel) when you will find out. In other words you'll > find > out the hard way as your van flips over. But at least while you see your > loved ones being crushed or ejected from your Vanagon, you'll have the > comfort of knowing you saved a few bucks on tires. > > - Ron Salmon > The Bus Depot, Inc. > www.busdepot.com > > > > > -- Sent from my mobile device Chris S. Disclaimer: "Death and serious injury may occur" |
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