Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2012 20:08:55 -0700
Reply-To: Anthony Egeln <regnsuzanne@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Anthony Egeln <regnsuzanne@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Interesting Tire Info - Discount Tire
In-Reply-To: <20120426005056.GPUCN.603207.imail@eastrmwml106>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Dave's experience with Discount Tire got me looking at their website, and they do seem to have good prices.
What I found odd was that they list Bridgestone tires, but not Firestone. Odd, because Bridgestone/Firestone
is one company.
Dave.....did this every come up in your dealings with them?
I like Bridgestone/Firestone and usually buy at Tires Plus, which is owned by Bridgestone/Firestone.
Thanks, Anthony
'89 Syncro GL (Hidalgo)
________________________________
From: Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@COX.NET>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2012 12:50 AM
Subject: Re: Interesting Tire Info
The Kumho 857 has been discussed on this list on several occasions. I believe I was the first to bring it up. I bought Kumho 857s for my 1991 Vanagon GL Campmobile in April 2009 immediately after I bought the van and investigated the tires available for it. I have the tires in the 195R14 size.
When I first mentioned using these tires on this list, several list members immediately objected because of the Tire Rack statement. But I had investigated the tire and learned that the reason it is advertised in the U.S. primarily as a trailer tire is that almost all the vehicles that use truck 14 inch tires in the U.S. are trailers. In Australia, England, Europe, and several other localities the tire is advertised and sold by Kumho exactly as you mentioned for England and as its secondary application in the U.S. mentioned.
After independent investigation, one of the persons who had objected to the Kumho 857s acknowledged on the list that it was a good tire for use on the Vanagon. I do not remember who that was, but as I recall he had a personal acquaintance with a Kumho engineer.
Each time someone makes a tire inquiry and I mention these tires, there is another rash of "That's a trailer tire." Lately, I have just not bothered to mention them any more, because people generally seem incapable of learning or understanding, or have such short memories that they completely forget that we have been through all this before. I have on a few occasions mentioned the tire with the suggestion of checking the list archives, and checking the Kumho web pages for other countries, but mostly I have just quit mentioning it.
With regard to my experience with the tires: First, they are not treaded for snow, but do have a deep, wide tread with a pattern that clears well. They would not be winter legal in jurisdictions that require the snowflake. I have had them on the van for 3 years this month, after having bought them from Discount Tire in Oklahoma City. I have five identical tires, and use a five tire rotation every 4K miles. They now have 19K miles on them, and appear about 1/3 worn. I have driven in town, on highways, on level land and in big mountains, and on back country roads including some pretty rough ones. I load my van about average for camping, I believe. I do not have an accessory roof rack or a rack on the rear hatch. I run the tires at 53 psi rear, 43 psi front as recommended by VW, and have not adjusted that for load. To me, the van does not ride rough. It steers well, tracks well, holds the road in wind. On the highway, I run at 60 mph.
Generally, I do not drive the van in snow, since I do not use it for local driving. It is strictly a camping vehicle for us. But, December 2010 I drove it to Dallas with the intention of going from there to the Big Bend country in Texas. That was the year of the great Christmas Blizzard in these parts. Dallas was inundated with snow on Christmas eve, and I had to drive across the city during the height of the storm. It was the only officially recorded blizzard in Dallas's history. The van did fine. The day after Christmas we headed out for Big Bend, but due to some personal matters that came up, we had to abort the trip and head home from near Ranger Texas. The route was north through Wichita Falls, which had experienced a greater storm than had Dallas, and the freeway through the city was paved with ice. For those who don't know, Texas's snow removal plan outside of the Panhandle is generally to let nature handle the job. We drove
on snow packed and iced roads until we reached the turnpike and Interstate 44 at Lawton, Oklahoma. Plows had worked that road up to Oklahoma City. Once we left the turnpike and the interstate, we were again on snow packed and icy roads. My home town of Edmond, Oklahoma generally practices the Texas method except on specific "snow routes," and the magnitude of the storm was such that the city would have been hard pressed to clear the roads even if it had tried. Edmond had had 15 inches of snow with 60 mile per hour winds. There were still drifts on neighborhood streets.
We never had a problem on the snow and ice with the Kumho 857 tires, though we saw literally hundreds of SUVs in ditches and parked beside the roads in the OKC and Edmond areas.
All in all, the Kumho 857 has proven itself to me.
As always, I highly recommend Discount Tire. They will match internet prices, and if they have to have the tire brought in, they will not charge shipping. I have no interest in Discount Tire other than that of a satisfied customer, with three vehicles all running on tires from Discount.
David McNeely
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