Date:         Wed, 20 Dec 95 16:28:13 EST
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Ervolina, Thomas R. (Tom)" <ervolina@watson.ibm.com>
Subject:      Snowtire update (long)

I finally got the Gislaved Nord Frost C snow tires on the vanagon.  Its
an '87 GL (non-camper and non-synchro).  During last night's storm I
took it out and gave it a test.  I had also tested the Michelin MXL's
during last week's snow storm.  Here's what I found:

Conditions: 5-6 inches fresh fluffy powder roads not plowed.  On our block
is a small but steep hill.

I was all excited to blast through this stuff on the new tires.  I've got
4 snows all with studs.  I was quite disappointed when, from a standstill,
I could barely get up the steep section.  What happened was one wheel
would spin and then "dig" itself to the pavement, grab and move the van
forward a bit.  But then the other wheel (or perhaps the same one) would
start spinning.  This situation would be *greatly* improved if it had a
locking differential (can you get these for a non-synchro?).

The van was also empty.  So I went back to the house and put a bunch of
heavy things in the back.  All told I probably added about 275 pounds.
Went back and re-tested.  A *big* improvement but still not what I had
expected.  Conclusion: add weight to the back (of any rear wheel drive).

I also did the test in my Jetta which has Nokia Hakkepellittas.  The Jetta
(front wheel drive) did only slightly better than the Van with extra weight.
This surprised me too.  Today I drove to some local ski trails in the Jetta
was again surprised that it was slipping around a bit (this is on a
variety of "plowed" roads).  Conclusion: Don't get too cocky just because
you have snow tires.

Last week I ran the same test.  The plow had been through once so there was
still a layer of packed snow on the road.  The van with Michelin MXL's
was useless (it was empty, though).  I could easily get it to fishtail.
It couldn't make it up the hill at all.  The Jetta however, cruised
right through the stuff.

Turning and braking are no problem with the Van (with the snows and weight).
In fact, the Van stops much better than the Jetta.  Turning/cornering
in the Jetta (any front wheel drive) is tricky.  If the wheels get
spinning (because you're giving it gas) then you tend to lose you're
steering completely and you need to back off the gas.  Hopefully you're
not winding up a big hill.  The vanagon steers very well (studded snows in
the front).  Here the problem is that if you're rears get spinning you
can easily throw the thing into a fishtail spin.  Without the weight, it
was quite easy to get it to fishtail.  Again, the extra weight in the back
made a big difference.  The MXL's were very bad (these are not even rated
as all-season).

The Gislaved Nord Frosts ride well on the dry road.  They're loud
but not that bad (nothing the stereo can't fix).  BTW, the max pressure
is 65 lbs.  I've got them at 48 (rear) and 39 (front) and they're 185R14,
load range C, 8 ply.

Tom

(sorry for the length)