Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997 10:05:51 -0400 (EDT)
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: KENYON FAIREY <kfairey@oit.umass.edu>
Subject: Re: Twiga has new shoes [Tires]
I would like to comment on the recommended psi your tire guy recommended:\
According to my tire guy - who I have used for some 12 years, with tires on
2 Westies and 3 toyotas (2 of the 4 x 4s) you should never inflate front and
rear the same. Front tires (and the vehicle specs) require lower inflation
than rear to prevent "over steer." That is, loss of control in quick moves
especially! This could cause you to loose control and . . . .
Just offering this info for what it is worth - but if your tire people say "40
psi all round" I would have to question their expertise!
Kenyon
>
> Hi Volks,
>
> Just an update on the tire situation. I had chosen to get the Yokohama 370
> LT tires recommended by several on this list, but found them
> unavailable---as previously posted, either back-ordered wth a delay of 6-8
> wks; or superseded by Model Y356 LT, supposedly the same as Y370 except for
> a change in tread pattern; or, to be replaced sometime soon by a completely
> new tire.
>
> Well, as mentioned before, the tires I had were so inadequate that it seemed
> to me too risky to wait, so I decided to take the Y356s. America's Tire Co.
> in Sacramento had to order them but had them in in 48hrs, and charged $69.95
> each plus stems, balancing, etc, which includes lifetime rotations and
> balancing. They gave me some trade-in for the one tire I had that was new,
> so the total, with warranty, came out to about $358.
>
> btw, while listees recommend inflations of approx 45 psi front and 53 rear,
> the guy at America's Tire insisted that 40 front and rear was best for daily
> driving, and recommended going up to 45 & 50, *maybe*, "if you really load
> it up for a camping trip." I mention this because he also pointed out that
> the warranty would not apply if the tires werrn't used as recommended, "for
> example, if they were overinflated." I don't know how seriously to take any
> of this. It seemed to me that the specs allowed for higher inflation to
> correspond with weight load. One thing he seemed to be implying was that
> running front and rear at different inflations might have some implications
> for differences in tire wear, which might then have some significance
> related to rotation.
>
> If anyone wants to shed any light on this, I'd appreciate it. Otherwise, I
> thought I'd just share my experience as a kind of update.
>
> Happy vanning,
>
> Gail
>
> __________________________
> Gail Fitzpatrick
> '87 GL Westi, 117k [Twiga]
> Sacramento, CA
> <redwood@speedlink.com>
>
--
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Kenyon Fairey, Re.D. Adjunct Assistant Professor
Assistant Director Human Dimensions of Resource Management
Office of Information Technologies Department of Forestry &
Help Desk Services Wildlife Management
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
A 117, Lederle Graduate Research Center Internet -- KFairey@OIT.UMass.EDU
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Amherst, MA 01003 FAX -- (413)-545-3203
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