Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2011 11:05:57 -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: Tires again
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="UTF-8"; reply-type=original
yes...
27 X 8.50 R14 LT is a nice size on a vanagon.
make sure they are LT"s,
which they usually are.
that size is going out of favor though ..
but consider it.
re road noise.
Do notice that the front seats are just inces from the front tires ...
and just one layer of steel between inside of the van and the front
suspension area.
I put lots under the front seats.
in a diesel van I've put sound deadening stuff under the entire front rugs.
or something, forget what it was, under the rugs in front. '
they need all the help they can get.
re the front doors..
the doors in the earlier vans are noticebly 'clangy-er' when you close them,
compared to the later vans.
my 87 Wolfsburg for example, has doors that are more 'thud' than 'clang'.
The early vans need it.
and ..
even in the engine area - I just worked on an early 83 Westy .
the area around the engine cover was bare painted metal, not that tar like
stuff that most vans have there.
well..
road noise..
what you are refering to I would call 'tire noise' .
Not being noisy is just one of about 8 conflicting things you want in a
tire.
Some are noisier than others.
Usually you don't think of regular road tires as being very noisy though.
All the LT's I ever driven ..
pretty quiet.
The logical choice for winter tires is ...
Studless Winter Tires.
for example, the Bridgestone Blizzack WS-60 is the model they're up now I
think.
Mine are the WS-50 model from about 4 years ago on my turbo volvo sedan.
I think they've gone 'off' some by now.
Not as grippy as they were new. But new ..awesome winter tires !~ I've
driven on all kinds of surfaces just fine without chains on those, in 2WD,.
2WD vanagons..
need all the rear weight they get.
they are heavier on the front axle than the rear , so are inherently
challenged rear traction wise.
chains ..........they're only good in some situations..
like going over mountain passes say ..where they are there to make sure you
have them on ( calfiornia ) ..
they're not good for rattling around town or taking off and on a lot.
studded tires ..
I would only want those where it's cold all the time and you're driving on
packed snow a lot.
or on ice.
the studs don't help in fresh or soft snow.
and always ..
the drier the snow the better the traction.
the wetter and older the snow ....there is nothing, snow and ice wise, worse
than old snow. That's some slippery stuff.
New studless winter tires , front and rear ..work well.
with chains along if you need them.
and two sets mounted of course..
one summer set, one winter set.
btw..it is not just the tread pattern on studless winter tires ..it is the
rubber compound that is dedicated to snow and ice use.
some things you can talk about forever ..
tires and wha oil to use , for sure !
my main recomendation for 14 inch tires ..
185 R14C's in C LOAD RATING.
that's what it probably says right on your tire sticker on the van.
that size in C load rating is harder to find.
but those are the correct tires for an 83/84 Westy.
or as I say all the time, D's in the rear, C's in the front.
that is better yet.
VW even says so on late syncro's, right on the tires sticker.
LT's are always C laod rating that I have seen so far.
so ..LT"s front and rear..
that is a decent setup for sure.
I find the 195/75 R14 LT a little skinny ( which is not 'all bad' you want a
narrower tire if you want it to cut through a few inches of new snow say ) .
the 27 X 8.50's are nicely wider, same tread often, that knarly tread that
Les Sccwab sold as the Wildcat for a long time...also ..Cooper Discovery
..some of those are still around.
that is a great all purpose tire tread and compound ..
very smooth riding,
good handling, long wearing ...just a great all purpose tire, with a fairly
open tread pattern , almost a snow tire for all around use.
well, I thought I'd fine an example online and shoot ya the link.
but at tirerack.com I don't see how to search for a 27 X 8.50 R14 LT .
see what you can find. They have to be LT's.
tire fun !
scott
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rocket J Squirrel" <camping.elliott@gmail.com>
To: "Scott Daniel - Turbovans" <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Cc: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, July 05, 2011 8:23 AM
Subject: Re: Tires again
>
> On Sat, 2011-07-02 at 21:36 -0700, Scott Daniel - Turbovans wrote:
>> it was uncannily smooth and steady..
>> 86 Syncro Double Cab ..stock engine ..non-walk through in front, seat
>> 3 in
>> front, 3 in rear.
>> and it had 27 X 8.50 R14 LT tires on .
>> a *super nice * size iun 14 btw.
>> a little hard to find these days.
>> but that's asesome 14 inch tire..
>> 27 X 8.50 R14 LT..
>> that van .......drove like a porche or a mercedes..
>> followed the road by itself I swear,
>
> Wait -- what? I must have been asleep at the back of the class again. Do
> 27 X 8.50 R14 tires fit the rims on my van, which are stock and fit
> 185R14 tires?
>
>> and ..never quite realized this ..
>> with the engine outside of the box the people sit in ..
>> it was super quiet inside.
>
> To my ears, all the sound-absorbing you stick to door panels and
> suchlike does little to reduce the overall noise in the van once rolling
> at highway speeds. Probably 80% of the noise I hear is road noise,
> transmitted into the cabin from the tires through the suspension. Can
> really hear it when moving from one pavement type to another. The
> majority of the energy is in the low frequencies, and is so loud that I
> seldom bother turning on the subwoofer when driving because the acoustic
> environment in the bass range is such a muddy mess. If there are tires
> that are quieter, I'm all ears.
>
> But, of course, for here we need "traction tires" (with the
> snowflake/mountain emblem on the sidewall) to legally drive in many
> places in winter, else we have to put on chains. That might narrow the
> field a bit in terms of searching for "quiet" tires.
> --
> Rocky J Squirrel (Jack Elliott)
>
>
>
