Date: Thu, 2 Sep 1999 20:09:13 +0000
Reply-To: Derek Drew <drew@INTERPORT.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Derek Drew <drew@INTERPORT.NET>
Subject: Re: Taller tire size comparison, and a question...
In-Reply-To: <C1A47AF64D80D01198AC00A024CC3499964F86@TA_EXCHANGE1>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
1. It would be helpful to see how the tires would fit into here that would
carry the alternate light truck sizings that you always see in the off road
magazines. For example I have tires 27 x 8.50 x 14. Adding in to this list
the tires that are expressed in that sizing might increase the apparent
choice of height times width.
2. I notice that there are no tires in the list below that are, say, 30
inches tall on 15 inch wheels. I am fairly sure that such tires exist.
Possibly the reason is that they are only available in the alternate sizing
format.
3. It would be helpful to know if there was anything inherantly different
about the tires that bear the alternate sizing designation or if either
sizing methodology is essentially the same provided that the number of plys
in the sidewalls is the requisite number (what do we always say, three, six?)
4. If I had to choose tires below I would like to see if there was a way to
get the tires in size 235/75-16 (29.9" tall; possibly a good match for the
6.14 final drive ratio gears that are available to us syncronauts.) But I
suspect a narrower tire could be located than this, and that there is no
particular reason to go to a 16" wheel. It seems to me that a 15" wheel
might be preferable to a 16" wheel, given the same ultimate rolling
diameter because then there would be more rubber to squish out when you let
the air out in bad terrain. But there could well be an alternate argument
that starting with a 16" wheel would be preferable given the same ultimate
tire height.
I have long suspected that some list members are attracted to the idea of
16" wheels over 15" wheels simply because they know there is a 16" vanagon
and the idea of having 16" wheels sounds more cool or radical, but that
there may be no real benefit to having a 16" wheel. I would like to know if
someone has some illumination on this issue to offer us.
At 05:20 PM 9/2/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Hi all. With all the talk of taller tires and different wheels, I
>thought the following chart might be of interest. Use a fixed-width
>font to line up the columns, or import to your favorite spreadsheet
>or database program. Tires with sufficient load ratings are available
>for all sizes listed - whether the tires would be appropriate for or
>even fit on the Vanagon is another matter...
>
>Spec Wheel Tread Sidewall Diameter Circumference Rev RelativeMPH
>--------- ----- ----- -------- -------- ------------- --- -----------
>185/75-14 14 7.2 5.5 24.9 78.3 809 70
>195/75-14 14 7.6 5.8 25.5 80.2 790 71.6
>205/70-14 14 8 5.6 25.3 79.5 797 71.0
>205/70-15 15 8 5.6 26.3 82.6 767 73.8
>205/75-15 15 8 6.1 27.1 85.2 744 76.1
>215/70-15 15 8.4 5.9 26.9 84.4 751 75.4
>215/75-15 15 8.4 6.3 27.7 87 728 77.7
>225/70-15 15 8.8 6.2 27.4 86.1 736 76.9
>225/75-15 15 8.8 6.6 28.3 88.9 713 79.4
>235/70-15 15 9.2 6.5 28 87.8 722 78.4
>235/75-15 15 9.2 6.9 28.9 90.7 698 81.1
>205/80-16 16 8 6.5 28.9 90.8 698 81.1
>215/70-16 16 8.4 5.9 27.9 87.5 724 78.2
>215/85-16 16 8.4 7.2 30.4 95.5 664 85.2
>225/70-16 16 8.8 6.2 28.4 89.2 710 79.7
>225/75-16 16 8.8 6.6 29.3 92 689 82.1
>235/70-16 16 9.2 6.5 29 91 697 81.2
>235/75-16 16 9.2 6.9 29.9 93.9 675 83.8
>235/85-16 16 9.2 7.9 31.7 99.7 636 89.0
>
>Dimensions are in inches. "Rev" is revolutions per mile. "RelativeMPH"
>refers to the speed you'd be going at the engine RPM required to go
>70 MPH with the "stock" 185R14 tire. "RelativeMPH" is simply a
>calculated value based on "Rev". Dimensions are calculated, not
>observed and will vary in real life based on wheel width, psi, etc.
>
>And now the question...does anyone know *for sure* if 15" Mercedes
>steel wheels will fit a Vanagon properly without modification - i.e.
>not need to be milled to clear the hub, correct offset, etc? If they
>do fit, I think I'm off to the junkyard!
>
>Doug Fitz-Randolph
>Yarmouth, ME
>'90 Syncro
________________________________________________________
Derek Drew New York, NY & Washington, DC
drew@interport.net
'90 Syncro Westfalia...
...seen off-road at http://www.tiu.net/~des/vw/drew/index.html
Also seen at: http://www.pipeline.com/~tforhan/swrange.htm
http://4wd.sofcom.com/VW/snow.html
http://www.pipeline.com/~tforhan/swmassn.htm
http://4wd.sofcom.com/VW/Campers/Campers.html
Note: most valuable Vanagon sites on the planet (for owners) are:
http://gerry.vanagon.com/cgi-bin/wa.exe?S1=vanagon
ftp://gerry.vanagon.com/pub/
