Date:         6 Oct 1994 11:04:19 U
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Norman Leong" <norman_leong@synoptics.com>
Subject:      Re: Was- YES-6-ply tires, wh

GatorMail-Q                   RE>Was: YES:6-ply tires, what about 15" wheels
On 10/6/94, Frank E. Terhaar-Yonkers suggests:

>This has probably been beaten to death also, but what about 86ing the
>damn 14" wheels and going to 15"?  The tire options for 15" are at least
>10x ...

>As long as the bolt pattern AND offset are correct it'll work okay.
>I don't think there will be a clearance problem in the wheel well.
>The speedo will be off, but that can be dealt with also.

In terms of performance, this would seem to be a logical choice.  If the
"average" 14" tire being discussed in this thread is a 195/75R/14 mounted
on 14x5.5 or 14X6 rims, then a Plus-1 setup would result in something along
the lines of a 205/65R/15 mounted on, say, 15x6 or 15x6.5 rims.

The benefits would be reduced sidewall flex, and a slightly larger contact
patch (oh, yeah, and increased tire selection).  I don't think the overall
ride would be too harsh (let's see, 205x0.65=133.25mm => ~5.25" of sidewall,
which should still yield a pretty comfortable ride)

I'm not sure that the speedo would be that far off; who's to say that speedo
error isn't greater with the OEM setup vs a plus-1 or plus-2 setup?  The 
important thing is to have the OD of the tire match as close as possible to 
the speedo calibration.

Of course, one reason to stay with 14" wheels would be if you had a set of
those $$$ factory alloys that everyone's lusting after...

Norman