Date:         Sat, 3 Oct 1998 21:27:46 EDT
Reply-To:     SyncroHead@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Jim Davis <SyncroHead@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Winston Tires?
Comments: To: bryan459@PACBELL.NET, Vanagon@Vanagon.com
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

In a message dated 98-10-03 07:03:38 EDT, Bryan wrote:

> Any reason not to put the two Winston's on instead of the
>  twice-the-price Goodyears?

Yes.  The safety of you and your passengers.  Your Vanagon ('87 Westy) likely
weighs about 4400 lbs.  Add passengers and some cargo and you're up to
4,900-5,100 lbs or so.  That's about 1250 lbs/tire if your are perfectly
weighted, which you're not.  You're left/rear tire probably carries around
1350 with this load.  Using "P" rated passenger car tires on a vehicle like
the Vanagon, their load rating must be reduced by 10%.  This means that you
would be right at the very limit with a passenger car tire rated at 1500 lbs.
I'd make certain that that was the very minumum tire load rating you settled
with.  I believe the best tire for the application is the Michelin MXT size
P205/70-R14.  Around $85 to $110 each.  They're admittedly pretty expensive,
but come with peace of mind.  Three areas I would not try to find the least
expensive parts are tires, brkes, and fuel systems.

Good luck,
Jim Davis