So I bought some Snow Tires

[jlrftype7]

I won't be installing these for another 2 months in all likelihood, it's still Fall around here for a good number of weeks..... 205/65/15"

Specs were def. in the ball park for our Vans. Once I get some Real World Experience with them with Snow on the ground, I'll post my thoughts about them. For now, I'm running my brand new Michelin 3 Season Defender tires, same size.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=...mpare1=yes
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'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[campism]

Fall for weeks? We don't have fall yet.

Awaiting the tire report.
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'87 Westy in Wolfram Grey Metallic

[danfromsyr]

mounting up my new Nokian snow tires before my Columbus weekend trip
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8885139#8885139
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[jlrftype7]

[IdahoDoug]

I run studded snows on the Vanagon in the winter. We're farther north than the northern tip of Maine here. And in the USA (heh - a little geography lesson).

So you'll like them. A dedicated set of winter tires is a really effective tool. The advent of modern tire compounds and the gross tonnage of all season tire marketing have the herd thinking the gap has narrowed and winter tires aren't all that much better. They'd be wrong. These same technological, material and design improvements have made dedicated winter tires even better and if anything it has widened the gap in my purely anecdotal observations.

Are you putting them on separate rims? If so, it's a fun exercise to wait until the first snow, go out and do donuts and find a slope its hard to get up. Then race home and bolt on the winter shoes and 30 minutes later go attack the same slope.

With your drive wheels under the weight of the engine and trans you'll be amazed at how well you get around. With so little power, sometimes I can floor it on the right snow conditions and hardly spin a tire. Not much to brag about with 95 horsepower, but there's one thing!!

The biggest difference you'll (hopefully not) notice is full on panic braking on ice or the icy snow you find at stop signs where others have skidded it into a polished surface you can miss on your approach. Nothing can defy physics, but these will save your butt when you totally screw up.

Don't forget to have them reset your tire monitoring system or you'll be looking at that stupid light all winter. Oh wait - yet another advantage of having a 30 year old vehicle!!

Doug
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1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[jlrftype7]

Oh, I understand the value of great Snow Tires. I totally tamed my first BMW, a rusty 1980 733i with 4 speed manual trans- 4 Blizzaks ( they had just come out and we were getting a nice discount on them)
Suddenly, my Seven Series no longer had to be pushed out of Parking Spots near work when it was time to go home.....
Did the same for my next Seven, Automatic 4 Speed ( my first Automatic car that I ever bought)
We bought Blizzaks for my wife’s 528e as well.

My Range Rover wore Aggressive Dunlop’s, no need for Snow Tires with it, my ‘92 Montero had equally capable Yokohama’s.

Snow Michelin’s for the next 5 Series that my wife drove for years.

And both our All Wheel Drive Minis have separate rims with Snow Tires on them. You’re only worried about being high Centered with them....

If I could afford 4 or 5 more 15” rims right now, I’d mount the Snow Tires on them for the Vanagon, but Rim Money is better spent on a whole new exhaust system at this time .......

I’ll have plenty of time and warning to deal with incoming Snow, since the Vanagon isn’t my Daily Driver.
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'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[IdahoDoug]

My buddy's DD is an awd Mini Cooper. His driveway is soooo steep it should be outlawed up here where we have snow. But that thing gets around like an Audi almost. He has separate rims and dedicated winter tires.

Yeah, I have winter tires for 5 of our cars and it's nutty to store them. However, around here if you have to have the tire shops swap them for you (no separate rims), it is common for people to have to sit at the tire shop for 4 hours and more. Everyone here is weather savvy so when the first storm is coming they all head in to get their tires swapped. Mostly its retired folks who will just sit there reading a paper half the day, but I've heard of busy people paying teenagers to drive their car in and wait, etc.

Looking forward to a report on them. I put new Vredesteins on my vanagon last year and drove them for most of the winter just to see how they did. Deep, aggressive tread for a 2000lb 14" commercial tire, and the newest compound. They did great but it was a mild winter and my winter activities were down a couple notches. Hope to change that this time around though the forecast is for a mild winter here.
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1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[jlrftype7]

Okay, we got snow AND ice yesterday and into this morning , so I was able to drive on a mixture of Winter Road Conditions today for a bit. Packed Snow and Very Crusty Ice, great Traction, predictable handling and response.
Salted Wet Roads with patches of really flattened ice and snow, same good handling . Braking seems fine , but really too soon with the tires to know for sure.
The ride IS stiffer than my All Season Defender Tires, but the Load rating is also higher than them as well with these Dunlop’s ( 100-102), so that’s not unexpected either.

No deep Snow or Virgin Snow to tryout yet, will have to wait for that later this Winter. I’ll report back when I’ve got a few thousand miles on these tires next year
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'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[danfromsyr]

for deep snow you'll want a few sand bags in the back hatch. like cars of old days.
the vanagon has a 50/50 weight split that does impair some deep snow traction.

just an extra hundred or2 should do it

I do shudder to think of that nice van subjected to salt and brine..
but it is just transportation afterall right.
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[jlrftype7]

[calo1956]

I picked up two brand new rims for my snow tires, that match my summer wheels, running 215/60R16's. im going with the Bridgestone Blizzak Snows. I haven't put them on yet, though we did have 5 in of snow already here on Long Island. But yesterday was 60 deg and sunny, so it might be 3 or 4 weeks till i mount them, ill post my findings when i do, and see how they perform in the snow whenever that comes!
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Enjoy the ride....
72 bug
80 westfalia