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Tue Aug 09, 2005 7:43 pm

Hello all!

I have the measley 14" tires on my Westy (which I hope to upgrade in the future to 16" whenever I have a spare $1100 laying around). So, I have been reading a little bit on correct tires for the 5093 lb. Westy. Right now, the load rating on my tires is 1290 lbs. per tire (which equals a total of 5160 lbs. - which is above the weight of my Westy). So, is all well (for now) with my tire set-up? Well, I guess the weight rating is; however, the max. inflation pressure on my tires is 35 psi. I don't know the exact numbers, but the inflation on the rear tires should be something like 48 (or around there), and the front tire inflation should be something like 38 or 42 (or around there). So, my load rating is ok, but my tire pressures aren't. Where do I stand? I imagine that I am not as ok as I would like to be - tire pressure is important. Anyway, thanks for your input.

Tue Aug 09, 2005 9:09 pm

Well for like $56 each you can get the correct Conti Vanco 8 for your van. Lookie here: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Compare1.jsp?width=1...1&y=11

I am, most likely, going to get the 195/14 at $72 so I don't have to turn such high revs on the freeway. At least, that is my idea.

I have some Copper load range D tires on right now at 50+ PSI and they are rated to like 65 PSI.

Our very old alignment and tire guy always said you can inflate to a good 10% over the printed info. More if you need it. Unless your tires are getting cracked or wearing funny I would not worry much for now. Then again, it looks like you should be able to put on what amounts to OE tires for $260 or so. Busdepot has some Hanooks for like $70 each.

Tue Aug 09, 2005 10:25 pm

If your tires only inflate to 35, you don't have the right tires. They need to be 6 ply rating, or 8, or reinforced sidewall,which means they will inflate to 50, or 65 in the case of the 8ply. Without that you have too much flex, which is not bad on a car, but makes your vanagon unstable. The standard 14" rims are pretty small for a vehicle of that height. Hence the the stiff sidewall requirement. Also, is that the dry weight of your van you quoted? What does it weigh with all your stuff and folks in it? Yes, I agree the tires are designed to not blow up at exactly the stated limits, but they do start not handling right, running hotter, etc, etc. I have 195's Michelins on my gl, and am very happy with them so far. But a bit more than the ones r39o was talking about. I think it was right at $400 mounted and out the door.

There have also been lots of posts on this subject. I have read the 15" rims are a good choice too. I like the look of the South African ones, but I too am waiting for a spare $1100.

Wed Aug 10, 2005 5:22 am

http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/vanagon/All_About_16-Wheels_And_The_CV_900.htm
Check this site out! I bought a set of these and they are awesome. I put on some 195/65/16 Vanco 8, can be inflated to 70psi. A whole new driving experience.
Each rim is rated to 900kg, same for the tires. That well exceeds our requirements!

Wed Aug 10, 2005 7:11 am

Your 14" rims are fine, your current tires are not, they might be dangerous. My current tires are the second best purchase I've made.
I would have gotten them allot sooner if I had known the difference they made. As far as driving, the reinforced sidewalls made it seem like I upgraded the whole suspension! You know that mad wiggling from side to side you get when a semi passes in front of you on the highway?
That Ain't the way it is supposed to work and can be dangerous.
That doesn’t happen to me any more! Plus I got a much quieter ride.
The best reason to get them tires off there now is how much gas I saved after I put the correct tires on. I don't know the mileage but I know I got to the gas station every 2 weeks instead of every week and I drive the same way every week.
I got the Agilis 81, they are special order Commercial Van tires.
You can find them for less than 100.00 a tire.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=M...R4AGILIS81
http://www.michelinman.com/catalog/tires/MichelinAgilis.html
http://www.michelinman.com/assets/pdfs/doc_agilis.pdf

Wed Aug 10, 2005 10:40 am

Best deal for the money out there is http://www.busdepot.com/details/tires.jsp

I am a Michelin guy though so I right behind Art in line at the dealer.

Wed Aug 10, 2005 12:19 pm

I got the Conti Vanco 8's this past spring.

I like them, Tiretrack had them in stock, shipped to my door in 36 hours!! :shock:

Wed Aug 10, 2005 12:20 pm

Wellington wrote: http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/vanagon/All_About_16-Wheels_And_The_CV_900.htm
Check this site out! I bought a set of these and they are awesome. I put on some 195/65/16 Vanco 8, can be inflated to 70psi. A whole new driving experience.
Each rim is rated to 900kg, same for the tires. That well exceeds our requirements!

Wow, nice wheels!!!

Wed Aug 10, 2005 3:02 pm

:D http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/tiretech.jsp

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=35

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=7&currentpage=35

:D :twisted: :twisted:

Wed Aug 10, 2005 6:14 pm

This is awesome information! Thank you! And, yes, the 5093 lbs. that the van weighs is dry weight, so, by adding me (200 lbs.), the van weight increases (not to mention any other things that are in there). So, one could easily assume that the weight of the van going down the road is probably closer to 5400 lbs. So, my tires aren't even rated correctly for load. Man, I sure wish I had the extra $1200 bucks. I love those 16" tires on that guy's Vanagon! I just like the look of beefier tires versus the donuts (16" vs. 14"). Oh, one other thing, if one upgrades to the bigger tires, are brake modifications needed as well? If so, what exactly?

Hey Mightyart, are you ever going to go with a bigger tire or are you content with the 14"ers?

Thanks again all!

Wed Aug 10, 2005 7:40 pm

DanJReed wrote: Wellington wrote: http://users.rcn.com/derekdrew/vanagon/All_About_16-Wheels_And_The_CV_900.htm
Check this site out! I bought a set of these and they are awesome. I put on some 195/65/16 Vanco 8, can be inflated to 70psi. A whole new driving experience.
Each rim is rated to 900kg, same for the tires. That well exceeds our requirements!

Wow, nice wheels!!!

Ha, I just read through that and hes right on the money about Gary from Ronal USA. I just talked to him yesterday about straightenng out my wheel situation.

Thu Aug 11, 2005 3:58 am

pocvw wrote:
Hey Mightyart, are you ever going to go with a bigger tire or are you content with the 14"ers?

I have the correct size stock tires on my stock steel rims. I'm keeping this way cause it's a camper, And I don't plan to stay on the road. Steel wheels take much more abuse than alloys, get a chip or scratch, just paint over it.
Your speedo won't work right with bigger tires, and where do you put your sixteen inch spare? The Maxi-westies had 16" tires and you had to buy a seprate swing out rack(like a jeep) for the spare. I splurged and bought 5 agilis at 97.00 a pop. I had a few things where the money would be better spent, plus now I'm done with tires for a few years, I can worry about other things.

Thu Aug 11, 2005 2:36 pm

Man, that is a good point about the spare. Only a 14"er will fit under there, huh? Alright, time to rethink the situation. I wonder, Mightyart, how those tires that you have perform in the snow. Anyway, your tires look really good.

Thu Aug 11, 2005 3:39 pm

Where'd ya get the tires for $97? What size? I read Walmart seems to be able to get the Michelins extra cheap. For me, at the moment, I am thinking of Conti Vanco 8s in 195/14 at $72 each from the Tirerack. I can use my factory alloys I acquired (got 8 of them now) I want the slightly bigger size to turn less revs with my automatic and the speedo will read closer to real life. Recall Conti made the OE Vanagon tires, if I am not mistaken. Then again some 16s with the right Vanco size of 2x5/6x-16 (???) can be bought too, I think.

For bigger spares: http://www.volkscafe.com/vanagonparts.jsp?pa=ip&ip=764380099

Thu Aug 11, 2005 5:47 pm

Discount tire stores is where I bought them for 97.00 each which included all the B.S. like mounting and balancing. They have to special order them. I didn't think of trying Walmart, I did try Sears first, but they wanted 130.00 a tire :shock:
I printed off the spec sheet for the Agilis and took it in to the tire store the guy looked up the part number and found to his amazement that he could indeed order something called an "Agilis".
size is 185/14 with a load rating of D
here's the specs:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Spec.jsp?make=Michelin&model=Agilis
As far as snow I've only read that they could be a bit better, that was about the only bad thing anyone had to say. I really don't worry about snow here. I wouldn't worry about it unless you live where you get a bunch of snow, but then you'd probably switch the rear out with snow tires anyway. :wink:

Thu Aug 11, 2005 8:52 pm

Yeah, I was wondering what to do with the spare too, with my 16" ronals....So with 225r55 I got almost identical tire height as stock 14". That meant I could use the stock 14" for a spare, although I could have used another 16 as long as I carried it deflated.
By the way any speedo shop can calibrate your speedometer to any size tire.

Thu Aug 11, 2005 9:08 pm

Hey Levi, could you post a pic of your tires (and the spare)? I would love to see your set-up. So, you do have a 16" spare? I really like the look of the bigger tire on the Vanagon; however, Mightyart's set-up with the 14" Michelin Agilis doesn't look bad at all (compared to my donut tires [look in my gallery]).

Thu Aug 11, 2005 9:53 pm

Okay,
My Michelins are the LTX 195/75 14. Just for fun I read the specs between them and the Agilis 185/75. Can someone explain to me, why in the specs, the 195 turns 824 at 45mph, and the 185 only turns 813? Since 75 is the percent of the width that is the height of the sidewall, shouldn't 75% of 195 be slightly larger in diameter than a 185 on with the same rim size???

And in the specs, the 195 is actually 0.1" smaller in overall diameter, but does that really translate into 11 more revs at 45mph?

What am I missing? I thought I was a little bit good at math!

Thu Aug 11, 2005 10:25 pm

pocvw wrote: Hey Levi, could you post a pic of your tires (and the spare)? I would love to see your set-up. So, you do have a 16" spare? I really like the look of the bigger tire on the Vanagon; however, Mightyart's set-up with the 14" Michelin Agilis doesn't look bad at all (compared to my donut tires [look in my gallery]).
http://community.webshots.com/user/levi1109
as I said, these tires (225r55 16") are almost identical in height to the stock tires on 14" rims, therefore that is what I kept as the spare. Perfect match until you can get the flat fixed.......

Fri Aug 12, 2005 7:04 am

H-four wrote: Okay,
My Michelins are the LTX 195/75 14. Just for fun I read the specs between them and the Agilis 185/75. Can someone explain to me, why in the specs, the 195 turns 824 at 45mph, and the 185 only turns 813? Since 75 is the percent of the width that is the height of the sidewall, shouldn't 75% of 195 be slightly larger in diameter than a 185 on with the same rim size???

And in the specs, the 195 is actually 0.1" smaller in overall diameter, but does that really translate into 11 more revs at 45mph?

What am I missing? I thought I was a little bit good at math!

185/75 is the WRONG size tire. The CORRECT size is 185R14. No middle aspect number. If a tire shop tells you there is no such size, walk away.
He/she is an idiot. No middle aspect number means it is a 82 series tire.

Go here: http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

Put in 185/80 14 on the left and 195/75 14 on the right [80 is as close to 82 as you can get] Look at the figures.

Now change the left number to the wrong 75 size........