I had the original Conti which was used as a spare for around 300,000 miles.
Had to use it last summer,and it lasted about 10 miles before it started
throwing off chunks of tread.  In looking at it later, we determined that
the tread had all been thrown off of the side of the tire which had been
nearest the radiator.

Not sure what the moral of this story is, but I wouldn't trust the spare for
a long haul.

Karl Wolz
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rico Sapolich" <JKrevnov@AOL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, March 17, 2000 3:43 PM
Subject: Re: slashed tires, used tires

> In a message dated 3/17/00 6:23:26 PM, bchristensen@INFOGENESIS.COM
writes:
>
> << As to using mix & match tires, there's really no big problem  >>
>
> Douglas:
> From the experts in these matters, I have always heard NOT to mix tires on
> the same axle.  The logic behind this is that one of them may break
traction
> before the other causing all manner of handling weirdness if not an
accident.
>  Sounds reasonable to me.
>
> I have 1 Continental RS771 which was the OEM tire on one of my vans.  It
has
> always been a spare and you can have for the cost of shipping if this
matches
> the one you already have.
> Rich