General Grabber ATX2 14-inch tire question

[Krumby]

Aloha ,
I’m having a hard time finding a 27x8.5 14 inch general grabber at2 tire for my 84 vanagon. Has anybody ever tried atx as a replacement ? I have 3 good at2 tires and really don’t want a different tire. I live on Maui and the shipping is insane from some suppliers I found a at2 from Morris off-road but they want 199 to ship f that !
Mahalo for the help

[4Gears4Tires]

I wouldn't run 3 and 1, but you could order 2 and put the 2 newer ones on the front (or back if low traction driving is a regular thing for you.)

Keep the 3rd used good one as a spare tire.
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'87 Syncro
Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition

[smd333]

https://simpletire.com/hankook-vantra-ltra18tires I purchased these this year and I have been very pleased. I kept checking the price because it fluctuated from as low as 60 to 115. I think I bought them at 76/apiece and had them installed at a firestone location.

You can see if the shipping is high to Maui, I had a good experience with simple tire
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Dona and Mike
1986 Wolfsburg Weekender

[0to60in6min]

General Grabber ATX is very similar to AT2, some difference in the design of shoulder and sidewall, may be rubber compound but not sure.

I have a 2WD tintop van with AT2 all around, on a trip one tire had a severe damage on the sidewall and replaced it with an ATX (can't find AT2)... no problem since 2 years ago... I run a match pair in the front...

[912 outlaw]

Costco doesnt have them

[Krumby]

Aloha,
Ended up just getting a pair of grabber atx. 14 inch off-road tires are getting hard to find. May have to go to 15 inch tires next time around. Got free shipping from amazon and signed up for the credit card and got 70.00 off the price. I think I paid about 75.00 a tire.
Mahalo
Dave

[SCM]

It seems quite a few volks are running some version of Grabbers on their 14" rims. The current version has a load rating (1,520) that's less than what I've read from different sources as being the OEM or preferred spec (1580 or even way more). Has anyone noticed driving issues or even problems with installers refusing to put them on a Westy?

My BFG KOs are nearing the end of their life and I'd like to get one more set of tires on my 14"s before moving to a larger wheel. I'm considering upsizing the wheels now but there's really nothing available that I would be completely happy with - so I want to buy more time to shop and figure out spacers, re-boring, etc.

Thanks.
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'91 Westfalia GL Automatic (GTA "Turbo" Rebuild w/Peloquin) and 2.3L GoWesty Engine

[dobryan]

[fishgo]

[crazyvwvanman]

There is a bit of propaganda to the Vanagon tire "info" on the web.
27x8.5R14 are LT truck tires that can carry their maximum load at all times.

Look at the driver door sticker.
See what it says for maximum axle load.
Rear should be 2866 lbs (2wd vans)
So each rear tire could be 1433 lbs
The Grabber LT tire rating of 1520 lbs EXCEEDS that.

SL and XL or RF tires are different and are NOT allowed to carry their maximum rated load except occasionally.
Their weight rating must be reduced when used in truck applications like Vanagons. The reduction is 9%
VW fitted XL/RF tires on the factory alloys to many later Vanagons.
The tire was rated at 1580 lbs but after the 9% reduction that became only 1437 lbs.

So in fact the Grabber capacity is rated HIGHER than the tires VW actually used on many Vanagons.

Mark

[SCM]

[quote="dobryan"]

[korfmach]

I put studded 14" ATX's on my van for hunting and skiing season. They work fine, load rating is adequate (my '89 Westy is 3850 lb empty, according to the local landfill scale), no trouble getting around in snow or mud.

BUT...they have a >20% fuel consumption penalty. Mileage bottomed out at 13 mpg this past winter (mostly short in-town trips) and the van feels noticeably more sprightly now that I've got the Hankooks and alloy wheels back on for springtime. The ATX's on steel wheels feel like they're at least 60 lb each.
_________________
1989 Westy
2016 Golf TSI

Gone, but not forgotten:
1974 Dorper Baywindow, "The Bleeding Trout"
1998 Jetta TDI, "Trixie"
1987 GTI, "Heike"
1974 Thing, "The Luftwaffel"
1974 Ghia
1966 Ghia

[dhaavers]

[korfmach]

35 front, 44 rear
_________________
1989 Westy
2016 Golf TSI

Gone, but not forgotten:
1974 Dorper Baywindow, "The Bleeding Trout"
1998 Jetta TDI, "Trixie"
1987 GTI, "Heike"
1974 Thing, "The Luftwaffel"
1974 Ghia
1966 Ghia

[0to60in6min]

I put 42 Front - 46 Rear on empty

I put 44 Front - 48 Rear on loaded

[dhaavers]

^^^ Similar for me...front never below 42; rear never above 48; front always 5psi lower than rear.

Q: Would 35psi fronts be enough reason to cause a drop in mpg by maybe ~25%...???

<shrug>

- Dave
_________________
86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS>

[Wildthings]

I just run approximately the specs given for the stock 205/70r14's in my 27x8.5r14s. 32 psi front & 40 psi rear. Seems to work well. I do add a few extra PSI when I am doing sustained long distance highway driving with a goodly load.

[dobryan]

[MuzzcoVW]

[MuzzcoVW]

The ATX is the updated replacement for the AT2. Any AT2 you find now is old stock