Date:         Thu, 13 May 2010 11:44:11 -0400
Reply-To:     The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Subject:      Re: Tires in Canada
In-Reply-To:  <A85FAA6D-512E-48C7-9BF9-EE23C949BDE5@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

> I would agree we should be carful of what we roll on. that
> being said i have put a few of the wrong tire and wheel
> packages on my vans. with no failures to mention.


Here we go again...

Yes, I'm sure you haven't had any failures yet.  And some people never wear
their seat belts, and have not yet had a serious accident where the seat
belt might have saved their lives. Or drive home drunk and don't get
arrested or total their car.  Or smoke and don't get cancer.  That does not
make these good decisions.

Please read the archives and http://busdepot.com/details/tires.jsp
thoroughly before considering putting underrated tires on your Vanagon.
Even if the underrated tire "seems fine" under normal driving conditions -
and most will not handle nearly as well as a properly rated tire even then -
that means nothing. An accident avoidance situation is nothing like day to
day driving. In the split second of a sudden swerve, a tremdendously higher
proportion of vehicle weight is transferred to a single tire. You cannot
replicate this in day to day driving. Both VW's engineers and the D.O.T.'s
safety experts say that tires below a certain rating may fail
catastropically under those conditions and NOT TO USE THEM. If you thumb
your nose at the experts, you are playing Russian Roulette with the your own
life and those of your passengers. It only takes one time.

I really don't get it.  We're not even talking huge money here; properly
rated tires aren't all that expensive.  Is this risk really worth taking
just to save a few bucks or have "kewl wheels" on your ride?

- Ron Salmon
  The Bus Depot, Inc.
  www.busdepot.com
  (215)  234-VWVW

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