Date:         Sun, 10 Mar 1996 07:56:14 -0500 (EST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         RGOLEN@umassd.edu
Subject:      Re: Has anyone put Aquatreads on a Eurovan?

Trace,

We had the first "Eurovan" tire discussion about a year ago..prior to your 
arival here on the list. As I recall the major part of the discussion 
centered around the "reinforced wall" tire required by VW (as well as 
equipped by VW). At that time I don't recall Good Year being mentioned as 
making a reinforced tire for the EV. I could be wrong.

I replaced the orginal Contis (which were basically crap in all but dry 
conditions) with Michelin MXLs (which were also original equipment on the 
EVs. I bought the MXLs thru either Tire America or Tire Rack (one of those 
mail order places found in R&T). They cost about $80/ea, but took about 10 
days to get because they had to be specially ordered from Michelin.

The Michelins are far superior to the Contis. They are quieter, have good 
whet characteristics, and for those of us in the snow belt, are actually 
quite good in the snow (and god knows we've had our share here in New 
England this year).

One point I do want to caution you on is the reinforced tire wall. Not one 
of the tire dealers I contacted could explain why I SHOULDN'T put on another 
set of reinforced tires. Their explanations ranged from "Doesn't 
matter"...to "use a higher speed rating tire"....so I chose to stay with the 
reinforced tire. I really don't want to find out why I need/don't need them 
with a load of kids in the van.

Three things I don't skimp on for my cars....tires...brakes...oil...and good 
toys...oops four things I don't skimp on...    :-)


Ric