Rainer, than you for the great report on the
Vredestein.  I need new tires and cannot afford the
upgrade to 15" (R&P + gearing change) right now, so i
have to get 14" tires.  It is either the Vredestein
transport snow or the michellin agilis.  Having driven
on neither, it is a tough call.  I would like to try
the Vredestien, though.
Thanks much, Rainer.
Steve

"Dr. Rainer Woitok" wrote:
>
> Steve and Syncronauts,
>
> On Thu, 2001-06-21 10:20:15 -0700, sxs@concentric.net wrote:
>
> > Anyone have any experience with the Verdstein Transport
> > Snow.
>
> Just for the record: the tire is named Vredestein Transport Snow in most
> sizes and  Vredestein Grip+ in  size 205R16 (don't ask  me why, but it's
> otherwise definitely the same tire).
>
> It was one of the tires I recently asked this group about,  and I got an
> answer from David Marshall,  who had driven  them on a customer's Syncro
> for a short drive, and who seemed really impressed.  And it was the tire
> I finally decided on in my recent hunt for new Syncro tires.
>
> Basically, these tires
>
>   - are light truck snow tires (M+S rated, of course),
>
>   - have spike holes (in case you need spikes in winter),
>
>   - are  cheap (just for comparison, here  in Germany an Internet-dealer
>     wanted some DEM  180.- for the Vredestein,  around DEM 220.- for the
>     Goodyear Wrangler AT (both in 205R16) and about DEM 240.- for the BF
>     Goodrich AT (in size 235/75R15).  I shopped around a bit in my local
>     neighbourhood and got the best deal -- you'll never believe me -- at
>     my friendly local Volkswagen dealer: some DEM 120.-),
>
>   - have a really awesome tread pattern.
>
> You can view these tires and find out more about them at
>
>    http://www.vredestein.com/page_tyres.asp?BandTypeID=25&taalid=3
>
> Well, what's my personal experience with these tires  after some 800 kms
> of driving  them?   Like David  Marshall  I'm impressed.  Almost  all of
> these 800 kms were on paved roads, and most of it on our good ol' German
> Autobahn.  With  respect  to noise I don't   think these  tires are  any
> louder than the Semperit  HiGrip I had mounted  before.  With respect to
> handling they're superb.  The Syncro runs as if on rails, and even heavy
> crosswinds are a piece of cake.
>
> And off-road?  Well,  only this much  up to now:  last weekend, Thursday
> trough  Sunday,  we attended a  come-together  of 4x4 tourists,  most of
> them, but not  all, with a preoccupation for  Africa (in  particular the
> Sahara), and some of them with really impressive  trucks (even 6x6).  In
> the night from Friday to Saturday it  started raining, and the meadow we
> were camping on  rapidly turned into  really nice black muck.  Those who
> were there  with normal  2WD mobile   homes tried  to leave  the  meadow
> Saturday morning,  before  things turned  too bad, but  for  them it was
> already too late.  LandCruisers, LandRovers, and Unimogs had to tow them
> out.  Nice to watch, and since it continued raining, we anticipated more
> to come on Sunday.
>
> We  were not disappointed,  rain and meadow cooperated.  Sunday morning,
> even big 6x6 trucks  (but with road tires)  simply refused to move,  and
> even two   Unimogs with good  off-road tires  couldn't  persuade them to
> change their mind.   Finally the farmer who  ownes the meadow  came with
> his big tractor  with the big agricultural  tires and started to tow out
> everything which refused to move on its own.
>
> After having had a helluva time watching other  people getting stuck and
> also watching other people conquering the  mud more or less effortlessly
> (apart from some drivers being better than others, it really boiled down
> to what tires  you  had mounted), we finally   packed up and   got going
> ourselves.  And  the Syncro simply drove  out, looking  neither left nor
> right.   Of course I  locked both diffs,  but there was  almost no wheel
> spin, the   tires just toothed  their way  accross what was  left of the
> meadow and up to the paved road ...
>
> This weekend I plan  to  do some more off-roading,  I  want to test  the
> tires a bit more and also  to test my  new ground anchor  ... but it may
> turn out a bit difficult because it has dried  up since last weekend and
> I might run into problems finding the appropriate mud ... :-)
>
> Have a nice weekend, all of you.
>
> Sincerely
>  Rainer
>
> '89 Caravelle GL Syncro 16"
>
>  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> | Rainer M Woitok                  | Phone: (+49-9131) 85-27811,-27031 |
> | Regionales Rechenzentrum         |                                   |
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