Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2010 22:09:53 -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: dumb tire question..Studless snows..
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how strange.
I've never seen a flat for no reason.
I'm very nutty about tires, even mount my own by hand sometimes...
even balance my own tires ..
and fix my own flats..or at least always find it leak before I have someone
fix a flat for me.
Les Schwab sometimes, or used to for sure, fix them free....just show up
with a flat tire, they fix it free no questions - sometimes.
About 6 winters ago I got Studless Winter Tires ..
they are tires specifically compounded to have very good traction on snow
and ice.
it's not just the tread pattern , it's the rubber compound too.
I got Bridgestone Blizzaks,....the WS-50 at the time.. The have the WS-60 at
least by now.
This was for my Turbo volvo 740 sedan .... a demon good fast car.
Those tires are just super fine on packed show and regular winter driving.
I'd never go back to studded tires.
Studded tires in my mind are for where you live and drive on packed snow and
icy roads nearly full time for months at a time, like in the moutains of
colorado say.
They're not better in deep snow, and they have to have much longer
stopping distances on pavement ..and they tear up the roads ..so studs only
in full time packed snow and ice.
I wonder if , since your tires are studdable ..
they are not as ice-tenacias as Studless Winter tires would be.
but for being flat prone ...nah.
I could almost say the only flats I get are from the tire guys screwing up
at the tire store.
It's not much of an exaggeration to say that.
I have some Hakki 205/65 R 15 C .......D Load range studless winter tires ..
a pair to run on the rear of my Adventurewagon .......they're killer.
some people are runnig studless winter tires year round, in vanagon load
ratings. That works really well I believe. 16 inchers on Benz wheels one
van I'm thinking of has.
s.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Don Hanson" <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2010 9:25 PM
Subject: dumb tire question..Studless snows..
> Seems I came into a good deal on some Hakkas that have the holes in them
> for studs but don't have the studs. I've been driving these now for a few
> hundred miles.
>
> The dumb question? Are tires that are molded (drilled?) for studs more
> prone to flatting out? Maybe by getting rocks into the holes where studs
> would go? Or can you just ignore the stud holes? I think I have seen
> tires
> that have the option to be studded or not...pay extra to have the studs
> installed..
>
> Just curious, since I had a flat for no reason I can see on one of these
> pretty good tires today... Plus a flat on my wheelbarrow and another on my
> bicycle...my day for flats..
>
> Don Hanson
