What TIRES fit? The ultimate tire thread!

[geodude]

That looks way too close. Is this a 2wd? It looks like you need some spacers to push that out from the upper control arm. Are these the forged CLK rims with offset of ET37 and 7x16 size? Mine have are sitting at ET 31 so 6mm further out from the upper control arm.
_________________
1988 GL Camper
1991 Multivan — the basket case

[hodogg]

2wd 83.5, forged clk, 37 - It's clearing the arm but not by much. Good thing i didnt go 215. Sorry about the massive pics but my pc is down and the phone has less editing capabilities.

[Christopher Schimke]

[MrPolak]

Before, Nokian WRC 205/65R15. These had a correct load rating, but are no longer made. Very, very good tires, if expensive and a little quick-wearing. True 4-season tire handled snow and heat very well. These were quiet and comfortable to the end.

Replacements. Kumho Road Venture AT51 in 215/75R15. Massive 106 load rating, D sidewall for 8-ply construction. Tire Rack has them with a mail-in rebate, making these a bit of a bargain.

After. These look juuuust right and ride very well. I will report back after they've accumulated at least 10,000 miles.

[msinabottle]

Thank you, Mr. P, for the heads-up, that IS a good price on the Kumhos... Reviews are mixed, but they do look very interesting. It sounds as if they are built to last although some of the reviewers dispute that.

Winston's current set of Agilis on his 86 Audi 5000 Turbo 15" alloy rims are, I discover from Samba searches--at least 10 years old. I bought them in 2007 from Dogpilot (anyone remember him?). He had them for at least two years before he sold them to me and went to 16" BFGs on his Syncro.

The Agilis have no cracks, they show (Michelins!) almost no wear in all that time, and are ABOUT stock 14" wheel height, which has speedometer advantages. They are not at all bad on dirt roads. They roll VERY well, steer well, do great in rain and even mud--and HORRIBLY on ice, I got STUCK on my own block from their inability to grip ice.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2783758



I was looking for those Nokian WR Cs... and now you say they are no longer made, which explains the hard time I was having finding them. The other low-cost tires that look appealing right now are the Firestone Defenders, which

1)Are cheap +
2)VERY highly rated on Tire Rack and here on the Samba +
3)Supposedly EXCELLENT on snow +
4)Get flat places if the van sits for a long time--this, from a 2009 post, perhaps that has changed, but AFAIK -
5)Are tall, 27", which actually I LIKE, but which has disadvantages in terms of speedometer and/or mileage. -/+

Thoughts, anyone?

Best!
_________________
'Winston,' '84 1.9 WBX Westy
Vanagon Poet Laureate: "I have suffered in
many ways, but never, never, never in silence."

[msinabottle]

Well, I still WANT to go with the Firestone Defenders, but continue to swiver. The latest anxiety is that they are 29" in diameter, while his current Agilis are 26". I don't know think the extra inch and a half of height will be an issue, although I will check before I commit, but I worry about speedometer readings and mileage. Went back to the brilliant opening page on this thread... Brilliant, but there are a LOT of tires not on it... But I see the formula for calculating all that, and I'll have a whack at it.

The only other tires I've found close in size to the Agilis with similarly good reviews are the General Grabbers, which are a lot more expensive. But... if it's an issue of better handling and more accurate instruments...

Went back to the Roadhaus site on tires, no new news there in some time, I don't think folks are updating. And so I wait, worry, and think...

Best!
_________________
'Winston,' '84 1.9 WBX Westy
Vanagon Poet Laureate: "I have suffered in
many ways, but never, never, never in silence."

[levi]

[kamzcab86]

[msinabottle]

First of all--Thank you for the responses! All it took was for me to be wrong to get information!



You're quite right, it's the Firestone Destination LE2.

[kamzcab86]

[msinabottle]

How I hope that no contusion
Comes from my gender confusion.
Y oh Y, I find complex
No XY, instead, XX!
How my chastened senses whirl,
Boy oh boy, that boy's a girl.
Thus, sincere apology--
The text looked epicene, to me.



Oh, good, so the Vancos are back in contention. THE LIST IS NOT SHRINKING!

Best!
_________________
'Winston,' '84 1.9 WBX Westy
Vanagon Poet Laureate: "I have suffered in
many ways, but never, never, never in silence."

[msinabottle]

More Data...

I had ignored all Michelin Defenders because the consensus was they are too lightly rated. Now I find that there is now a Light Truck rated Michelin Defender RTX in 205/65R15 that has a rating of 1,709 lbs., a diameter of 25.4", a weight of 24 lbs. and rotates 817 times per mile... They sell for $130.31. They would be... lower... than the Agilis.

Wal-Mart offers Continental Vanco Fourseason 205/65R15C that have a rating of 1,874 lbs., a diameter of 24.3", weigh 24.3 lbs. each, for $156



and they do not give the revs/mile, nor do I have a formula to figure it and I am tired.

The 205 Yokohama is affordable, but marginal, people, however are getting good results with it. The Firestone is probably too tall. The LTX Defenders are VERY interesting. The Vanco FourSeasons are the very expensive sure thing.

I had no idea this would be so complex.



Best!
_________________
'Winston,' '84 1.9 WBX Westy
Vanagon Poet Laureate: "I have suffered in
many ways, but never, never, never in silence."

[kamzcab86]

[levi]

If you're wanting to stay at 205/65 I'm seeing several choices with good weight ratings ( 99 XL ) for a reasonable price.

Nokian Entyre with a 99 XL rating, 75 $ and free shipping, even cheaper at 71 $ if you were to go up in diameter a little with a 205/70, and free shipping.


The Cooper, sumitomo, and falken ziex all are 99XL , and
are only 57$, 57$, and 65$ respectively. Plus shipping though on those. Do they have bad recommendations from folks?

Seems like better options than 150 $ anyways. ...
_________________
One of these days I'm gonna settle down,
but till I do I won't be hangin round.
Going down that long lonesome highway,
gonna see life my way

https://youtu.be/cSrL0BXsO40

[campism]

Even with all the terrific information in this thread, the confusion just does not go away. I'm looking for tires to fit CLKs now and most local tire places have nothing to fit, and I have been to several looking to spend my money locally if I can. One place can order the Vanco 2 and one other can only find winter tires in the XL rating. Online, looks like the Sumitomo might be the best bet in 215-60/16 99XL. 26.1" diameter and 811 revs/mile. I'd prefer the 205-65/16 in the same tire but it only has a 95 rating. I've found this to be the case with tires from other manufacturers. Madness!
_________________
'87 Westy in Wolfram Grey Metallic

[geodude]

I've been running Hercules (Cooper Brand) Power CV 205/65R16 Load Range D for about a year and like them. The local commercial tire place ordered and mounted them for me. The typical general public oriented stores were clueless and couldn't find anything that had the correct ratings. The commercial truck places turned out to be a great place to go.
_________________
1988 GL Camper
1991 Multivan — the basket case

[dsdunbar]

I wanted to ask for help in searching for posts on the samba for 17 inch tire solutions.

I posted on this thread sometime earlier this year on the results of tires I found that are R17 but I am still uncertain. As such I'm interested in reading what others have done but when I search google or use this forums search function the hits are very scarce and not very informative.

I know some folks use the Porsche twisted 18" rims, and a lot of folks stick to R15 or R16. My 89 full westy is stock (orig motor, shocks, springs). (I mention the Porsche rims because I feel like 17" rims must be too strange...but then others go even bigger)

So anyways, anyone have some advice on how to perform a better "search"? Or if you have R17, what you went with and your experience.

Thanks

[msinabottle]

Thank you for the input, levi, you're kind to chip in.

The Sumitomos do, in fact, get mixed reviews--low tread life. Not much on their snow performance...

Nokian cLine Van Tires are Load Index C, and come in 205/65/15-- for $153 a piece, not much data on them... They are called a 'Summer' Van tire...

No reviews on the Entyre 2, the ones I found were $116... I can find your tires for the U.S. market, but they seem more expensive than your figures...

Discount has the Falken Pro G4 A/S for $95, they get pretty good ratings, but the tread warranty is less than the Michelins. Discount Tire did me one in the eye on Winston, I hate doing business with them:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6254292

I did find the 205/65-15 DELINTE DV2 102/100T BSW for $55, C rating--NO reviews on Onlinetires.com...

Leaning the most pronouncedly toward the Michelin Defender XLTs. The Agilis wore like iron, they just had TRACTION like iron on ice. I do trust Michelin, and I can save on the delivery charges in that we have a TireRack warehouse in Denver that's not hard to get to.

Keeping an open mind, just now, and hoping for a promotion.

Thanks again, Levi!

Best!
_________________
'Winston,' '84 1.9 WBX Westy
Vanagon Poet Laureate: "I have suffered in
many ways, but never, never, never in silence."

[campism]

[levi]

http://www.tires-easy.com/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?dsco=13...p=R-185709
_________________
One of these days I'm gonna settle down,
but till I do I won't be hangin round.
Going down that long lonesome highway,
gonna see life my way

https://youtu.be/cSrL0BXsO40