Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2012 21:25:27 -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: Commercial tire?
In-Reply-To: <0MB70033Q2SZYGE0@vms173021.mailsrvcs.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Hi,
Basiclly you are correct.
And ...185R114 C's come in 2 versions , C load rating, and D load rating.
If you look at your tire sticker on your vanagon, driver's footwell
area., and it lists
185 R14 you'll see it says 6 PR ( or C load rating ) for front and rear.
However, C load rating 185 R14 C's are hard to find.
What you'll usually find is 8pr ( D load rating ) 185 R14's for sale.
many people run D's front and rear.
Personally, I can't stand D load rating front tires.
You feel every little ripple in the pavement, If you lower tire
pressures to ease the ride, then steering response ( 'turn in' response
) suffers.
so ..if you want it stock per VW ...C's ( 6 PR ) all around.
if you really want the best combination of ride and good handling...
run D's in the rear and C's in the front.
I am about the only person in the entire VW online world that says this
about vanagons.
I have raced cars and motorcycles, have driven at least one million
miles, I know what I am talking about.
Additionally, on some late model syncro vanagons it specifies 6PR's ( C
load rating ) and 8PR's ( D load rating ) for tires front and rear ...
which would be impractical since on a Syncro you really want to rotate
all 5 tires on a regular basis because having identical size and worn
tires is quite important for the viscous coupling ..
and, I have looked at those tire stickers several times...and that's
what is says .......8PR's in the rear, 6PR's in the front..
or ....D's in the rear, C's in the front.
*all* rear wheel drive 2WD drive cars benefit from 'more' in the rear tires.
Tire pressue is the first thing to adjust there ....roughly 4 to 6 psi
more in the rear, compared to the fronts.
Many people think Vanagons are just a Bus ....and they have to live with
'terminal understeer' ...
pig-like handling during cornering.
They do not have to e that way. 14 inch tires, in general, on vangans,
can't be made to handle all that well on vanagons, compared to 15's and
16's ..
dedicated front and rear tires, ( by size ) also help a lot ....outside
of this discussion though.
Iff your van happens to be an 85 Weekender or Westy that's too hign in
front ..
those really corner poorly until the front is gotten down where it belongs.
Even ....if running the common Mercedes 14 inc alloy wheel ... when f
running 6 inch wide ones in front, and 6.5 inch wide ones in the
rear.........there's a few percent improvement in handling and cornering
stability and that's with the same front and rear tires too. It always
helps to have 'more' in the rear.
C's in front with D's in the rear is worth about 10 % improvement over
the same load rating tires front and rear.
And as I said earlier .....D's in front suck in my opinion.
We should set up some handling course ...
say nice sweepers in the 40 to 60 mph range ..
then drive each others vanagons . People might believe me some then.
my own personal 85 Adventurewagon with 15 inch wheels and dedicated
front and rear tires ..
205/65 R 15 Michelin Agilles front..
215/65 R 15 rear tires in another brand...
I was driving a Westy the other day with D load rating 14 inch tires
front and rear ..
constant small correction to keep going dead straight, tended to deviate
slightly on bumps.
My AW tracks perfectly ....just needing gentle 'guiding' and no steering
correction really.
Tires and wheels are 'the thing' that affect right and handling more
than anything.
Good shocks and carefully fine-tuned tire pressures are important too.
scott
www.turbovans.com
On 9/30/2012 8:24 PM, Pat wrote:
> Sorry if we already covered this..
>
> I saw some listings for 185R14C tires.
>
> I gather the "C" is for commercial use.
>
> What exactly does that mean? What would be different from using this on a
> Vanagon?
>
