Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2011 16:27:53 -0500
Reply-To: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Subject: Re: Tires again!
In-Reply-To: <CAAj276wUbQhrDs2rUkRSiuRhNpReUA9PJDFc7fdkeLf6Ssa3oQ@mail.gmail.com>
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My experience with Michelins have not been good either. Tread
separation occured long before the tread was worn down. Happened on
three sets of Michelins. They were all 205/70R14's. The fourth set were
205/75R14's. They were more like a commercial truck tire and they were
good. Even when near flat, there was enough stiffness in the sidewall to
get you down the road if you drove slow. Excellent tire, but the tread
was the pits. Easy to slide on a wet spot. When on a true truck, the
load of the truck would make the tire less like to slide. Good tire, but
not the best for the regular Vanagon. Might have been OK for the Westies
with greater weight. But the tire disappeared from the market as a 14R.
In shopping for tires lately, I can see tht in the not two distant
future I'm going to be moving up to at least R15's which will mean
changing to bigger rims - kinda expensive when you own three vans. But -
advantages are a greater choice in tires, option to put on a big brake
kit - which requires the larger rim to fit. I have a '91 Carat that I'm
restoring and I want to go the route with it. Bigger rims and tires, big
brake kit, rear disk brakes. Some say not necessary - but it's just me.
Good luck on the tire hunt.
John
John Rodgers
Clayartist and Moldmaker
88'GL VW Bus Driver
Chelsea, AL
Http://www.moldhaus.com
On 7/25/2011 1:54 PM, ralph meyermann wrote:
> On my shoe string budget im opting for the 8 ply tires to have that added
> sense of security although all tires can fail.
>
> On Jul 25, 2011 1:49 PM, "David"<dlwilhite@comcast.net> wrote:
>
> I've been using the Altimax for more than a year on my Westy with no
> problems so far. I even tow a Pop Up camper with gear for a family of 5, so
> I know I'm pushing limits and the tires have performed well so far.
>
> I will say that in my Westys life I've had three different Michelin tires
> (supposed to be the best) fail due to belt separation. Two happened within
> 200 miles of each other and one happened on a different set. FWIW, all tire
> failures have occurred on the front axles, never in the rear.
>
> I had some of the Yokohomas, but they had too short of a life span
> (~30,000mi) and didn't seem as stable as my current Altimax 205/70 R14. The
> most stable tires I've had were some Cooper LT tires, but I didn't like
> their wet weather performance and they didn't last long either (~30000 mi).
>
> Not an expert by any means, just stating my experiences.
>
> David Wilhite
> 84' Westy
> Middle TN
>
>
> On Jul 25, 2011, at 12:39, ralph meyermann<ralphmeyermann@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
>> Yea I've got an 82 ...
>> Chelsea, ALHttp://www.moldhaus.com
>>
>>
>>
>> On 7/25/2011 11:32 AM, ralph meyermann wrote:
>>> I've found a local tire dealer th...
>
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