Gary,

A couple of things,

Obviously a typo,  Our beloved Vanagons run a stud diameter of 5x112
not 113 as you typed out in your note.

So the TSW brand was the 15" rims - just some South African replica?
Does it have the Mercedes emblem or what?

Do you have a picture available to share with the list, possibly post
on Vanagon.com tire and wheels section.

OK what was the final out of the box cost for this great upgrade?
(although I would probably get 99+ rated tires like the Michelin
Agelis sold and fitted on the Eurovan)

Thanks for any further info, but this sounds like a great upgrade.

Joel
89 Syncro Westy with only 14" Alloys ready to trade up

Rochester NY where the snow will fly early

--- Gary Stearns <gstearns@SPRINTMAIL.COM> wrote:
> Hi-
> I finally did it.  15" alloys and tires for our '88.  I really
> wanted to go with a larger diameter tire, but not a wider one.  The
> reason was that I wanted to bump the gear ratio a little for less
> rpm's at cruise.
> The size that I wanted was 205/70-15 on a 7" wide wheel.  I could
> not find this size in light truck tires, seems most 15" tires are
> the 245/75's etc. monster meats aimed at Range Rovers and Toyota
> Land Cruisers.  I started the process by asking Discount Tire
> Direct http://www.discounttiredirect.com/ about the Mercedes
> Replica wheels that they sell.  Intitially they came back saying
> that they had done this on a Vanagon before, and in fact showed
> these wheels on their website as a Vanagon application.  When I
> pushed them for details, I heard from a manager that they had
> figured out that lugs nuts and studs would not work correctly.
> Within a couple of hours the Vanagon app.disappeared from their
> website.  Heard again from them.  They could get a TSW (better than
> oem quality, made in South Africa!!)  5 hole Mercedes replica wheel
> that would work.  15x7,  5x113 bolt circle, 23 mm ET, correct
> strength rating to carry Vanagon loads.  I said OK.  Now for tires,
> this got interesting.  I learned that on passenger car tires the
> weight capacity is found in the tire sizing info ie: 205/70-15 95V.
>  The key is the "95".  Most car tires are either 92 or 93 (I think
> a key for these numbers is in the archives). D.T. said that the
> only tire that they could recommend to me in that size was a
> Michelin "Energy" MXV4.  The "V" rating was not suggested for speed
> capability (obviously), but because a V speed rating also means
> greater carcass strength. These tires are intended for the big
> Mercedes and BMW's that have to be as heavy as my Vanagon.  Made
> sense to me. Not particularly cheap at $105 ea.
>
> The mounted wheels and tires arrived, and I began to install.  Had
> to take care of a couple of things.  The small bolts holding the
> rear brake drums had to go, and the speedo cable on the l/f hub had
> to be filed to shorten it a bit.  My oem nuts and studs (had
> original alloys before), fit the seats in the wheels perfectly.
> They are a bit short though, and I will replace. What a
> transformation.  Ride quality is amazing, handling amazing, wind
> stability vastly improved.  The apparent gear ratio increase is
> exactly what I was looking for.  Cruising with fast traffic now
> keeps RPM's under 4k.  Went through a measured mile, and found that
> my formerly optimistic speedo is now spot on.  The wheels are very
> well made, similar in basic design to the originals, with gorgeous
> silver epoxy paint.
>
> A very satisfied customer.
>
> Gary
>

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