Date:         16 May 1997 15:15:35 -0600
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Carl Hansen" <Carl_Hansen@ATK.COM>
Subject:      tires

 BatSubject:     tires                                  5/16/97    2:59 PM
Somewhere yesterday I saw an old (1994) disertation on the subject of tires. 
Since I recently strugled with the subject myself, I thought it would be
interesting.  To my dismay, it was too old to be of use, and I'm not sure I
agreed with some of the ratings.

So hee's the result of my search for tires for my '89 Syncro

Michelin MXL 205/70-14   Junk.  Waaay Too slippery in the rain, terrible in
snow, probably the main reason I rolled my '90 Carat in the winter of 95.  OK,
they wear forever, but dry weather performance only isn't enough.  At one time
I had 10 of them cause the Carat had 5 and the '89 Syncro had 5.  Yuckkkk.

Brigstone Desert Dueller.  27 x 8.5 - 14      YES - EXCELLENT TIRE
I bought the smallest light truck tire available.  This works excellent.  It's
1.75 inches taller (6.7%) than the stock 205/70-14, but my odometer was off
that far anyway.  This tire works well in the dry, works well in snow, works
well in hte wet.  It doesn't seem to be wearing out, so I expect a good long
life, just like the stock Michelin.  I bought mine mail order from the Tire
Rack on the east coast.  The only drawback is that the agressive tread I got
is a bit noisier on the highway.  I think this would be solved with one of the
other choices of tread in the same series.  I went with the tread I did
because I principally drive the van in the Minnesota winters.

Ch