Date:         Sun, 21 Mar 1999 19:04:53 -0800
Reply-To:     Ari Ollikainen <Ari@OLTECO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Ari Ollikainen <Ari@OLTECO.COM>
Subject:      Re: Tire question..
Comments: To: Kent Christensen <lkchris@USWEST.NET>
Content-type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

At 7:46 PM 3/21/99, Kent Christensen wrote:
>re: "... brings up the question of why VW states that the
>205/70x14 tires need to be reinforced, and the 185x14 do
>not."
>
>On my '81 door sticker says 184-14 need to be reinforced.
>
>BTW, my Michelin MX reinforced 185-14s are load index 94 and
>a brochure for a similar Michelin (Rainforce MX4) lists load
>index 90 for the same size in a nonreinforced tire (this is
>the Volvo 240 station wagon size).  Now, will someone point
>us to a link where these indices are explained--I think this
>could prove more useful than discussing C vs D.

        What's the SpeedRating (Letter after LoadIndex number) on the
        MX 185R14 reinforced?

        90 is 1323 max/tire for a gross load carrying weight of 5292.

        From http://www.internets.com/tirenets/glossary.htm

Maximum Load: This is the maximum load per tire with the inflation set at
maximum recommended:

Load  Maximum
Index Load (lbs)
  71     761
  72     783
  73     805
  74     827
  75     853
  76     882
  77     908
  78     937
  79     963
  80     992
  81    1019
  82    1047
  83    1074
  84    1102
  85    1135
  86    1168
  87    1201
  88    1235
  89    1279
  90    1323
  91    1356
  92    1389
  93    1433
  94    1477
  95    1521
  96    1565
  97    1609
  98    1653
  99    1709
 100    1764
 101    1819
 102    1874
 103    1929
 104    1984
 105    2039
 106    2094
 107    2149
 108    2205
 109    2271
 110    2337

        As far as load index goes, a ServiceDescription includes the load
        index and the speed rating of a tire. Thus the Michelin MXT
        205/70R14 99S is rated capable of carrying a maximum of 1709lbs at
        112mph.
        (Service description == LI + SR == 99 + S => 99S)

        Considering that *I've* never driven my vanagon faster than 90mph
        loaded to GWVR, much less ~6000lbs...I think I have sufficient
        safety margin.


      OLTECO                    Ari Ollikainen
      P.O. BOX 3688             Networking Technology and Architecture
      Stanford, CA              Ari@OLTECO.com
      94309-3688                415.517.3519