http://www.amazon.com/NEW-CAPITAL-SPORT-70R14-2057014/dp/B00ATVEC4U?ie=UTF8&keywords=205%2F70-14%20tires&qid=1462665175&ref_=sr_1_59&sr=8-59
This was the size and rating (actually 97 load index) VW supplied for all the alloy equipped and many steel wheel equipped vans beginning with the 87 model year.
Dennis
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Jon VonOhlsen
Sent: Saturday, May 07, 2016 10:44 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: hankook ra-08 copies
The GoForm G520 185 or 195r14 tire has a load index of 86(195) or 88(185), or a capacity of about 1250#. I'll stick with a real tire...unless there is some other version from Tires Easy.
Jon
On 5/7/2016 8:23 AM, Don Hanson wrote:
> I, too, was skeptical when I bought a pair of these to make it home
> from the desert one spring...being short of cash, though, I had no choice.
>
> They've surprised me by consistently performing just as well as the
> higher priced tires they claim to have copied... Thanks to Ron for
> taking the time to look up the back round info.
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, May 7, 2016 at 6:41 AM, The Bus Depot <vanagon@busdepot.com> wrote:
>
>>> what is the name and where can you
>>> get the chinese copies of the hankook tires?
>>> Go Form
>> I looked into this claim after it was repeated here several times (by
>> the same individual, I believe). I also spoke to Hankook about it.
>> The GoForms come from a company called Qingdao Gloryred International
>> Trade Company, whose advertising headline is trade publications is
>> (not kidding) "Sell cheap tyre." Qingdao Gloryred has no affiliation whatsoever with Hankook.
>> Hankook has not shared any technology with them or licensed any
>> technology to them. Their claim of using "Hankook technology" is
>> based solely on the fact that their technical engineer used to work
>> for Hankook. Given that employees often change jobs, by that
>> standard almost any company could claim a connection to any other
>> company. It is not uncommon for off-brand Chinese companies to make
>> false claims of affiliation with or endorsement by name brands in
>> order to lend legitimacy to their products. For example there are
>> several other off-brand Chinese companies that claim to use "Michelin
>> technology" but have no actual connection with Michelin. Laws
>> against false advertising are not the same in China. Interestingly,
>> these companies don't make those claims in the U.S., where they would be forced to retract them immediately.
>>
>> Consumer Reports tested several off-brand Chinese tires (although not
>> GoForms) a couple of years ago and found that they all performed at
>> the absolute bottom of the pack for safety and for lifespan, even
>> though some had copied the tread pattern of better known tires. They
>> interviewed Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for
>> Auto Safety, who explained this disparity by pointing out that “the
>> composition of the tire is more important than the mold.” In other
>> words you can make the tread look the same cosmetically, but if the
>> rubber compound is different, it's a different tire. The tires they
>> checked were also "iffy" in other ways, such as using counterfeit
>> date codes on the sidewall. Consumer Reports - whose goal is to find
>> bargains and "best buys" - concluded by advising its readers to stick
>> with the name brands, which were actually better bargains in the long run even just based on treadwear alone.
>>
>> I have not tried the GoForm tire so I can't comment on it specifically.
>> For all I know it may be a decent cheap tire on its own merits. But
>> it has no more connection to a Hankook RA08 than any other cheap
>> Chinese tires does, except perhaps skin-deep.
>>
>> Ron Salmon
>> The Bus Depot, Inc.
>> www.busdepot.com
>>
