Date:         Wed, 5 Oct 94 15:03:00 PDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         macklow@sybase.com (Jim Macklow)
Subject:      Re: YES:6-ply tires

> 
> On Wed, 5 Oct 1994, Tim Smith wrote:
> 
> > Over the last 23 years I've gone through lots of tires on lots of vans. The 
> > only ones I will use now MUST have an LT or C6 rating, and take a maximum 
> > pressure of 50psi. ANYTHING else is too squirrelly (ie all over the road, 
> > dead/alive) on corners. The tapioca effect was a good description. BUT you 
> > don't need to follow the VW specs and run at rated (by VW) pressures. I 
> 

Gerald Skerbitz adds:

> Just a heads up here -- the Trailhandlers ARE LT and C6 rated, and they 
> are horrid.  50 psi too.  I think the 185 is a good bet too, but they're 
> tough to find around here and expensive.

Does anyone have a (subjective) list of tires they've tried, with some
informative comments about each (great, horrid, bad traction, wear
quickly, etc.)  I'm not so concerned about price, because I can call
around and get the prices if I know a good tire to buy.

I recently bought some Michelin MXL 205/70R14R, which may have been a
mistake, because my old ones had their belts separating and were bulging,
and there was still a quite a bit of tread left ( on the non-bulging parts).

Anyway, at $74 a pop, I figure I could spend a few more dollars the next time
around and get either an all-weather tire, or nice big fat off-road tire
so my Syncro will get stuck in the mountains farther away from civilization.

Does anyone have comments or favorites to add to this list:

					Plies/
					Load Range/
Tire			Size		Max psi		Comments
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michelin MXL Reinforced	205/70R14	6/B/40 		Good
Sears Trailhandler	?               6/C/50       	Horrid


-Jim Macklow
macklow@sybase.com