Date: Wed, 5 Mar 97 10:41:06
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: mdstockr <mdstockr@neo.lrun.com>
Subject: Re: RESULTS - Tire Survey
There are only very minor differences between a P205/70R14 and 205/70?R14 tires.
The p-metric tires (P205/70R14) meet US/Canadian Tire & Rim Associan passenger car tire
specifications. The milli-metric tires (205/70?R14) meet European ETRTO (and Japanese)
specifications.
For the milli-metric tires, the ? designates the speed rating. S is adequate for VW buses (T, H
and V are higher speed ratings). A 185R14 is the same as a 185SR14.
I believe that Michelin markets a reinforced 205/70SR14 tire.
A LT205/70R14 tire is for light trucks with higher load capacity. You might want to look for
one of these for your bus.
The five 205/7014 tires in the survey where from 5 different manufacturers and where all name
brand. The results where mixed, as expected.
ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT VS. REPLACEMENT
----------------------------------
Original equipment tires typically wear worse than replacement.
Original equipment tires are optimized for traction, noise, ride, handling and MPG. Some degree
of tread wear life is typically sacrificed to meet these parameters.
I will never buy original equipment tires for the following reasons:
1) You really can not buy the "original equipment" tire for your specific vehicle.
The tire originally supplied on your vehicle was specifically optimized for that
vehicle, and even for just that model year. The odds are against your being able
to get "that" specific tires. For example, you might have a P205/70R14 Firestone
Supreme tire for a Ford Tuarus and a P205/70R14 Firestone Supreme tire for a
Chevy Lumina. These will not be the same tire. You have to be able to read the
codes pained on the tread of the tire to determine what tire you have.
2) Some of the "original equipment" tires that you can buy are actually tires built
to be sold as original equipment, but where rejected because that did not met
customer specifications. When a tire manufacturer builds original equipment
tires for a customer, it knows that it has variations in production. This means
that a certain percentage of the tires it builds will not meet customer
requirements. Therefore, manufacturers have machines that measure the performance
characteristics of tires, right in the production line. The better tires go to the
vehicle manufacturers, and the rest are sold as replacement, rebranded and sold
under a different brand name, or scrapped.
NOTE: I do not believe that this applies to Michelin.
3) I consider tread wear more important that ride and handling on a vehicle with
>60,000 miles on it.
I hope that I have been able to answer your questions?
--- On Wed, 05 Mar 1997 10:22:41 -0500 (EST) KENYON FAIREY <kfairey@oit.umass.edu> wrote:
>Since I am buying a "new" '91 Westy and upgrading to the factory Alloys, I am
>particularly interested in this tire survey info. I would like the specific
>subset of data on the 205/70 R14 tires as this is the size specified in the
>VW brochure as being appropriate for the factory Alloys.
>
>[Actually the brochure specifies 'P205/70 R14 tires.]
>
>In my own searching for tires of this particular size, I went to the TireRack
>online and found 'slim pickins'. Here is what I found - I am interested in
>finding out how this meshes with the survey data and anyone's personal
>experience.
>
>Tire Rack options:
>
>Brigestone: Potenza RE900 205/70 TR 14 $59
> Potenza RE92 205/70 HR 14 $59
> Turnanza QL20
> T rated 205/70 TR 14 call
> 'Orig Eq' S402 205/70 R 14 $47
>
>Dunlop: Sp40 A/S P205/70 SR 14 $50 *****
>
>Pirelli: P400 Touring 205/70 TR 14 $59
> P4000 Super Tour 205/70 HR 14 call
> P700Z 205/70 TR 14 call
>
>Yokohama: A378 205/70 HR 14 $48
> 'Orig Eq" tires:
> A321 205/70 VR 14 $85
> Y372 205/70 SR 14 $48
> Y382 P205/70 R 14 $57 *****
>
>***** Actual 'match' to the VW specs. Only 2 matches.
>
>
>There were NO Sport/light truck tires listed at this size. There appeared to
>be only:
>
> 205/75 SR 14 and
> 215/70 HR 14
>
>tires listed in this catagory.
>
>Another question - I know that 'SR' means 'sport radial' and that 'R' simply
>means 'radial'. I also believe that the 'P' before the id means 'passenger'
>I do not know the meanings of 'VR', 'HR', and 'TR'. I'd rather not guess.
>
>None of the tires state that they are reinforced. And, are the 'Orig Eq' tires
>actually tires that meet specs for being shipped on vehicles from manufacturers
>My local tire man has told me that "original factory tires ALWAYS wear better
>and longer than ANY replacement tires." Is he correct? If so, shouldn't I
>go for that choice?
>
>Any correlation between survey data and the tires listed above would be
>helpful! Any input on what any of YOU would choose for quality and longevity
>would be helpful.
>
>NOTE: The prices are only included for comparison purposes. These were the
>prices listed as of yesterday - and I am in no way trying to promote the
>TireRack. I will probably buy locally for the associated service (mounting,
>balancing and rotation every 10k miles) but I do use Tire Rack as a point of
>reference so that I can ask for what I want with some knowledge.
>
>Thankx-
> Kenyon
>--
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Kenyon Fairey, Re.D. Adjunct Assistant Professor
> Head, Help Desk Services & Human Dimensions of Resource Management
> Software Support Department of Forestry &
> Office of Information Technologies Wildlife Management
> - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> A 117, Lederle Graduate Research Center Internet -- KFairey@OIT.UMass.EDU
> University of Massachusetts Phone -- (413)-545-4366
> Amherst, MA 01003 FAX -- (413)-545-3203
>
-----------------End of Original Message-----------------
________________________________________________
Michael Stocker <mdstockr@neo.lrun.com>
North Canton, Ohio, USA Time: 10:41:06 AM
LiMBO / GASS Date: 3/5/97
1989 Audi 90 Quattro
Wanted: Nice 1968-> air cooled or diesel
Previous VW's: '66-T3, '67-T1 & '70-T2 Westi
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