What TIRES fit? The ultimate tire thread!

[msinabottle]

Thank you, Levi... and at about half the price, that is suddenly a very serious contender. Reviews range to either extreme, but there are repeated comments about wear. That... urges me to the Michelins, but the issue is not decided... It is also vexing that I can't find the width, weight, revolutions per mile on the Entyres ANYWHERE. Michelin was everywhere and I know it's a drop-in.

Growl. Not at you, Levi. I mean, I'm GOOD at searching and JACK SQUAT. That won't do. I think it's the Defender LTX M/S.

For people who want other sizes, ideally, there will be other sizes off the pages we're showing...

And... enter another contender... the Goodyear Cargo Vector 2 M/S 102 BLT, which comes in a 205/65-15. Load rating is 102

http://tinyurl.com/qydjh6n and in Deutsch:

http://tinyurl.com/owqws4n

... where it DOES seem to be an all-weather tire! Goodyear confirms...

https://www.goodyear.com/en-US/tires/cargo-vector-2/sizes-specs

and a Goodyear Dealer wants $202... EACH. Online Tire wants $131, a little less than the Michelin Defender LTX. The product name has the M/S 'Mountain/Snow' rating, so Online Tire isn't right to call it a summer tire.

Amazon's got it:

http://www.amazon.com/Goodyear-cargo-vector-All-Season-Radial/dp/B00QJ6WCJ6

So there's another contender for the 15" --three sizes there, no other radius, though. Apparently they're popular in Europe.

Saturday the 17th I called that Car Radio show I listen to, they said the LTX Defender was an excellent tire and I should buy NOW while oil and thus tires are cheap. I did. I'll pick them up Tuesday, and hopefully get 'em mounted next week. To show you all how much I HATE Discount Tire, I chose Tire Rack even when Discount was offering a $70 rebate card on the purchase of four Michelins. IT'S NOT AS IF THEY'D MOUNT THEM FOR ME!

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 think that the reason even a reputable shop offers a low-cost alignment is that other things... may become apparent when one gets ready to do one.

The first order of business was to pick up the four new Michelin Defender LTX M/S 205/65-15s the Tuesday before, when I was going past the Tire Rack Warehouse in the North Stapleton neighborhood, anyway. A friend had asked me to help him move an air conditioner and help him change the plugs on a Prius, which was... weird, but successful.

A valuable lesson en route! The Saturn felt 'Skittery' on the onramps and offramps, and discussing it with a friend later, I realized that I had left all four of the new Continental True Contacts at 5 lbs. under maximum pressure, and the sticker and manual wanted lower pressure on the rear tires. It was my first high-speed run on them. The next day I bled off 5 lbs. all around and another 4 from the little wagon's rears. I haven't had her up to speed since, though.

Anyway, as they'd been two weeks previously when I got the Saturn's new tires, Tire Rack was on it, friendly, and fast. I got to watch van after van from Dealerships and A LOT of 'Big O' tire shops pulling in to load up while I picked up the Michelins. I would say that if you can buy from Tire Rack and pick them up yourself, you are cutting out the middle man and saving a lot, if you can find someone to mount and balance them.

The Michelin Defender LTX M/S looked GOOD. Great tread, heavy construction, and recently made, May of 2015. I will no longer be terrified at the thought of driving Winston on slick roads. One nice thing about getting a new tire DESIGN is that it's hard to get an old tire that way. From my friend's house, I called this company:

Jeno's Auto Service, Inc.
3593 West Bowles Avenue
Littleton, CO 80123
303-794-6700
http://www.jenosautoservice.com

who had already agreed to mount the tires and give Winston an alignment, and asked if I could leave the tires there overnight so I wouldn't have to unload and load them into Winston. They were fine with that, and had a dolly out waiting for me. A good start, indeed.

I got Winston ready and out of the door before 8 in the morning on the 21st, and got him down there in pouring rain--just the time to do suspension work and tires! I did my best to avoid deep puddles and kept him slow, the 10-year old Agilis doing just fine on our last ride together. I parked him on the crowded lot behind the one vehicle that had to pull out 10 minutes later, which showed some good driving and some 'PLEASE DON'T HIT IT!' anxiety on my part, unjustified.

I was ready to wait for hours if I had to, to be there for questions and to watch if possible--John, the Service writer, and Dana, the scheduler, were nice enough, but busy, and I left them to work as I waited. The owner, Steve Horvath, came out and became friendly and a bit chatty when he knew I belonged to the Vanagon, his family goes way back with VW and he knows my main mechanics, the Brothers Blazer, quite well.

My mechanic the first day (THERE'S foreshadowing!) was a nice enough fellow named 'Franz', how appropriate for a German machine, who fairly quickly bade me come out to the service bay to hear the bad news. I hadn't wanted bad news. He took Winston's front wheel as Winston sat on the lift and moved it out and in. The wheel had about five inches or so of play. He said the upper ball joints were completely shot, and the lower ball joints were on their way out. He couldn't align him. He considered Winston unsafe to drive as he was, and what did I want to do?

Well, Jeno's has a good reputation--they'd flushed the Saturn's cooling system with the new Gates pulsing tool, and that had gone well enough. I also appreciated Franz's willingness to let me use his nearby terminal (we live in the age of computerized mechanics!) to come here to the Samba and learn that:

1)Ball joints are ROUGH to do oneself, JoeTiger, local, and a friend, had had A TIME OF IT the week before...
2)Our vans are at the age when the balljoints go,
3)How much the job was costing other people and...
4)That it is hard to find shops with the necessary equipment and know-how, and Jeno's had both. The original owner, Steve's brother, owns a Syncro.

John, the service writer, estimated $1,500.



But... that wasn't too far out of line with what I found here, there's a 2 year/24,000 mile parts and labor warranty at Jeno's and their local network of dealers, and Steve Horvath, the owner, knew Vanagons.

I took the hit. I'd get the alignment with the new upper and lower ball joints, and new control arm bushings, and I remembered also that Jeno's offers an AAA Discount (don't forget that use for your card, folks!) up to $50. John also said that they'd need to pack the front bearings, $80, but, it was, again, the time and place to do that.

Franz also had some other things he wanted to talk about--he couldn't believe I was replacing the Agilis, the tread was VERY deep, until 1)He saw the age on the back side and 2)They CLACKED when he bounced one of them on the concrete floor.



He had no problem with Christopher Schimke's studs, the spacers, or my beautiful Audi TT5000 rims, except that the plastic hub caps were all coming loose--he suggested drilling a screw into place to hold them on, or using removable adhesive to hold them on, we decided to try the adhesive first. So far so good... But it all boiled down to Winston needed to overnight at Jeno's.

I was quite clear that I needed Winston back by Thursday evening for my last usual (stealthy) 2-night camp-out of the year, they committed to that, and John was quite insistent (as the rain poured down) that they lend me a car to get home and back again. I soon found myself in an older Mitsubishi Mirage, instructed in how to adjust the seat, and driving home. It was a nice enough car, but utterly poopless. Yes, I, a Vanagon driver, said that.



No call all day Thursday--from them. I called them twice! The first time was on Wednesday, when I called, got Steve, and begged them (having been browsing the Samba!) to grease all four joints heavily before installing them, Steve promised gently that they would. That evening I e-mailed them the 'How to Align a Vanagon' article from the GoWesty library, to be found here:

http://www.gowesty.com/library_article.php?id=1113

and begged them to give it to Franz if it wouldn't offend him. They did use it, and no one was cranky. At no time did anyone but me use the word 'Pest' or 'Helicopter Vanagonaut.'

I finally called them at 4:30, when I had but an hour to get down there (and I feared it would take that long in the Mirage!) and retrieve Winston. All was QUITE well, they'd just been very busy. John told me that:

1)Franz had taken sick, but
2)Steve himself had done the work and
3)That he had had no difficulty and
4)Had painted my control arms just to be nice and
5)The new tires were on, and looked very good, and so were the old plastic Audi hubcaps, held in place with an adhesive called Tack-Putty or strip caulk.

So far they've stayed on. The 80's-vintage plastic tabs that hold the caps on is going the way of so much other 80's plastic.



The best news was that with the discounts on the alignment and my AAA membership, the total came to $1,186.69. I as of now have no complaints at all. They did use Delphi ball joints, but Steve DID lube them, and they ARE under warranty. I would have thanked Steve in person, but he had finished Winston and jetted off to a family event in Iowa.



I returned the Mitsubishi, (It was glad to be home), paid John and drove Winston carefully home. He seemed quite happy with the new Michelins, although the worse thing I had to test them on was wet leaves. He did seem to steer well, which got quite a test over that weekend in a parking garage and when I parked him--not QUITE for the Winter--back in his own garage.

Winston seems to like his new tires.

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

[hodogg]

[Busdepot]

We have received word that the venerable Hankoook RA08 is no more. We still have supply at this time but will not be getting any more once they're gone. This is one of the few high quality all-season highway tires available in a 185R14 and 195R14 size (for Vanagons with stock steel or alloy wheels). Most of the others are either summer-only (the Continentals and Yokohamas), have aggressive off-road tread (BFG or Goodyear) or are of questionable quality (various no-name Chinese tires). In my opinion the RA08 is/was the best 14" Vanagon tire out there, by a pretty good margin. I hope that Hankook will bring in the similar foreign-market RA18 instead, but even if they do it's pricier and there's no telling if they'll have it in this size. Meanwhile I am snagging a set of RA08's to put aside for my own Westy before they're gone.

Links:
http://busdepot.com/RA08 185R14
http://busdepot.com/RA08195 195R14
Either size is $99.
_________________
- Ron Salmon
The Bus Depot
www.busdepot.com

[raoul mitgong]

Looking for advice on a snow tire (or Nokian winterish) that will be narrow enough to still accept chains (or cables) on 15" 6.5"w, ET37 wheels, 2WD 84 westy.
Am I going to need spacers to ensure chains will fit?
I've used chains on the GoWesy 15"x7" ET23 wheels and I think the tires are 215/65s.

Thanks,
-d
_________________
84 Westy with a 2.1 (Groover)
86 Tintop Syncro (Crow)
86 Tintop Syncro to Westy project (Tom Servo)
91 Westy (Only the top 12 inches of this van (a burn victim))

[campism]

[crazyvwvanman]

Right now there are some good clearance deals on certain Nokian tires.
No tax and no shipping, in most cases.
These are on Ebay, Nokian Entyre models
All Season tires they say.

Load 100 XL in 205/70-15.

Load 99 XL in 205/65-15

Load 99 XL in 205/65-16

Load 99 XL in 215/60-16

And in my new favorite Vanagon size, 102 XL in 215/65-16

[davevickery]

Here is a great deal on Blizzaks snow tires - close out deal on Tire rack. 215/70-15
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=B...m=17R5DMV1

[danfromsyr]

check these Comtrac Vredestein snows
http://www.tiresbyweb.com/p-12276-vredestein-comtrac-all-season-tires.aspx

[jstr]

[Team WorldTour]

Just found and installed a set of Maxxis MA-LAS M+S, size 215/70R15.
EIGHT Ply tire, load rated to 2270lbs., with a max pressure of 65 PSI.
They look good, ride nice, and feel WAY different to my 205/70R15 Coopers!
_________________
1990 Feldjäger Syncro AAZ
Click to view image
H6 Subaru Engine Swap Thread
WV2ZZZ25ZFH094138(x)/ WV2YB0257LH057308(x)/ WV2ZZZ25ZLG113270/
"Where am I going? And what am I doing in this handbasket?" -Nicodemus Jordan
When All Else Fails: Lather, Rinse, Repeat!

[JWPATE]

Thanks to all contributors on this most interesting thread; most of all to kamzcab86 for finally getting the essential information together and in one place for all to reference. Beautiful job!

I myself have been running the Michelin HYDROEDGE tires in 215-65R15 on my "84 Westy. In spite of their being just the earlier name for what now is the DEFENDER, they have been on the road for exactly ten years this month, and without any issues. I have been lucky! Over those years I have put over 45 thousand miles on them, and actually they look as if they would be good for another 45. I started looking into replacements simply because of the age, and not the wear. All the milage has been in the desert southwest from my home in Las Vegas, so they were never subjected to ice or snow. But oh my, they certainly ran over long days on hot, hot conditions.

After reading this thread over, I shall move up to the Michelin AGILIS in 205-65R15 now, and plan to go over tomorrow and order them

[oceanair]

I found some sweet wheels -- will they fit? Will I need anything to get them installed? From an A4.

5x112 Bolt pattern 225/50 R17

Will these be practical for my 1.9 tintop?

Many thanks --
_________________
84 Vanagon Pop Top Conversion from Tin Top, 1970 Ghia - all sweet rides! Love em!
Previous: Green 72 Tin Top, White 72 Westy, Blue 64 Beetle, Yellow 71 Squareback, 2014 Jetta TDI Wagon - wish I could have them all back!

[Team WorldTour]

Stamped on the inside of the rim, will be the letters "ET", and a number. This needs to be 'thirty-something'. As in, 'ET-32'. This is ideal...
_________________
1990 Feldjäger Syncro AAZ
Click to view image
H6 Subaru Engine Swap Thread
WV2ZZZ25ZFH094138(x)/ WV2YB0257LH057308(x)/ WV2ZZZ25ZLG113270/
"Where am I going? And what am I doing in this handbasket?" -Nicodemus Jordan
When All Else Fails: Lather, Rinse, Repeat!

[oceanair]

Thanks WTT -- I'll have a look -what about that tire size and my 1.9 auto -- too big, will lose too much power? Thanks again -
_________________
84 Vanagon Pop Top Conversion from Tin Top, 1970 Ghia - all sweet rides! Love em!
Previous: Green 72 Tin Top, White 72 Westy, Blue 64 Beetle, Yellow 71 Squareback, 2014 Jetta TDI Wagon - wish I could have them all back!

[Team WorldTour]

http://www.1010tires.com/Tools/Tire-Size-Calculator/185-70R14/225-50R17
_________________
1990 Feldjäger Syncro AAZ
Click to view image
H6 Subaru Engine Swap Thread
WV2ZZZ25ZFH094138(x)/ WV2YB0257LH057308(x)/ WV2ZZZ25ZLG113270/
"Where am I going? And what am I doing in this handbasket?" -Nicodemus Jordan
When All Else Fails: Lather, Rinse, Repeat!

[levi]

The diameter of the tire is actually pretty close to stock, but there are other potential issues...

The weight load of that size tire is kinda marginal, even in the XL designation.

If the et is ok you still need to check for lug hole size and the center hole size, along with maybe different lug bolt shape.

The 9.1 section width of those on 17s may interfere with the slider door opening.

Just some things to check
_________________
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

[oceanair]

Thanks -
_________________
84 Vanagon Pop Top Conversion from Tin Top, 1970 Ghia - all sweet rides! Love em!
Previous: Green 72 Tin Top, White 72 Westy, Blue 64 Beetle, Yellow 71 Squareback, 2014 Jetta TDI Wagon - wish I could have them all back!

[raoul mitgong]

[tarandusVDub]

I just got a set of 215/65/16 BFG KO2s for my van from online Walmart. I know how many people feel about Wally World, and I am right there with you.

BUT, the guys in the shop said that BFG and Michelin are parting ways with Walmart because they insist on selling their tires too cheaply and demanding more inventory.

If you want a decent deal on this expensive tire now is the time!

And, I have absolutely NO affiliation with Walmart. If I did, I'd be retired instead of working until I'm 100.
_________________
1990 Syncro 16" DoppleKabine 2.1 DJ 112i
________________________
Sold: 1972 Bay Campmobile; 1984 Westy, base model, 2WD.