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Date:         Mon, 2 May 2016 10:31:12 -1000
Reply-To:     Scott <SCOTTDANIEL@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Scott <SCOTTDANIEL@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject:      Re: Tires! 15" or 14"?
Comments: To: vw_van_fan_Mark <madvws@COX.NET>
In-Reply-To:  <57274684.70502@cox.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed

ditto that !~ DO NOT....I recommend, run D load rating 14 inch tires in the front on a Vanagon !!!

addtionally, as I've said many times.. check out almost all more-modern rear wheel drive cars .. the rear tire and wheel combo is ALWAYS ..'more' than the front .. wider, lower profile, stiffer etc.

Vanagons respond to this treatment nicely ! I'm not sure how deeply tuned into handling nuances 'most drivers' are .. but .. between 'chronic oversteer' ...a condition that regular 2WD Vangons can suffer from really badly .. and oversteer ( just lower rear tire pressures a lot sometime to feel what that's like )

..there is a sweet spot of neutral handling .. where 'turn-in' is reasonably crisp, steady-state cornering stability is sweet , and straight line tracking is quite good.

The recommended 4 to 6 psi tire pressures in the rear tires compared to the fronts helps.

14's ..the 205/70 R14 XL's ..help some I"m sure, I like 15's myself, 16 inch wheels I'm sure are fine ... although ..

what I am looking for is ...reasonable laod capability, a non-harsh ride, and good straight line tracking ability, decent 'turn-in' ( look it up if need u to ) .. and nuetrual handling. plus decent ground clearance ... this is all in summer/rain tires...Winter Tires are a whole other ball game

the combo I run on my favourite Vanagon .. 15 inch steel South African wheels, Micheline Agilles 205/65 R 15 LT in the front ...a Demon tire ! ...slap 5 of those on your rig and it will feel just awesome compared to running any kind of 14 . That partiuclar tire is a little hard to find, costs about $ 160 ..but man ..love 'em !

in the rear I run one size larger ...215/65 R 15 ..those happen to be H rated ..a speed rating .. and nomrally I find ANY H rated tire much too stiff and harsh ..though in the rear it doesn't matter.

same for DE loat rating 14's ..rear fine, front, just Forget it !

My van set up like that... for regular road cures...I just gently guude it. No need to actually 'steer' it through a corner. It'll go straight by itself on the free way ..stay in one lane, for quite a while. It is not deflected from the assigned path by bumnps in the road !

this is a good example of something to look for in terms of 'good handling'. A good car ........Just goes where you point it .. with no fuss at all, and is not thrown off at all by bumps and irregularities in the road etc. Shoot for that.

anyway ..it's all good. for shocks ..I loke Heavy Duty Bilstiens ... and they didn't seem 'magic' like they did on my other cars, until I went from 14 inch wheels to 15's on my vanagons. Scott

On 05/02/2016 02:22 AM, vw_van_fan_Mark wrote: > The harshness is largely due to Load D 14" tires IMO, with very stiff > sidewalls and high pressures needed to carry the rated weight in that > small size. > > If you go to a 15" or 16" you can get tires rated to carry that weight > but with softer sidewalls and lower pressures. > > I like 215/65/16 as there are MANY tires in 98 and quite a few in 102. > To get 102 they need to be XL in that size. That is what I have on 2 of > my vans. These XL tires reach their max weight rating at only 41 or 42 > psi, but can usually hold up to 50 or 51 psi if desired. These are about > 5% larger than stock rolling circumference. Both the vans I have them on > have stock wbx engine 2.1 and I find that increase in tire size > acceptable. > > I wrote a bunch more but then decided it was too much. > > Mark >


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