Yes, absolutely. I wish people could see the like new passenger car tire that
came on my westy that I ruined just by making cranking the wheel all the way to
the left and stepping on the gas, apparantly. There was no other major trauma
like a big pothole or anything, we just turned in to a gas station, and when we
came back out the front end shimmyed so bad at low speed it I had to really hang
on to the wheel with both hands. Just that side thrust totalled that tire. There
was no shimmy whatsoever before making that turn.
   It was so bad that I thought the steering box had broken. My wife said it
felt like a bulge in the tire, but I could see no bulge. After jacking it up and
checking wheelbearings, tierods, rack and pinion, balljoints, etc., we were
totally mystified. Then someone else was looking at it, had me spin each wheel
while it was jacked up, and looking at it from the front you could see the tire
was totally out of shape when it spun. These were Goodyear tires -- I've never
seen a tire so badly damaged so easily.

On Sun, Aug 18, 2002 at 09:41:17AM -0700, Bill N wrote:
> Of course, insane is a legal term, not a medical term, however...
>
> When you are on the E-way moving 75 MPH or more, your life is literally riding on your tires.
> For some of us, a more important consideration is that the lives of people we love and
> strangers we don't even know who happen to share the roadway with us that day are also riding
> on our tires.
>
> There is no such thing as an "all purpose" tire.  Tires are rated as to load capacity, max
> speed, and max pressure, among other things.  If the tires do not meet the vehicle
> manufacturer's specs, they must be considered unsafe.  I don't care what the tire "expert" at
> Sears or wherever says.
>
> Sure, you may be able to get by with ordinary passenger car tires, and maybe nobody you love
> ever rides in your van.  In my case, my wife, children, and grandchildren all ride in mine from
> time to time.  Because of that, I will happily go to the little extra expense to get the best
> tires I can find.
>
> That doesn't make me insane, just careful.
>
> Bill Nolan
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <JordanVw@AOL.COM>
> >
> > anything with a sidewall rating of 2 ply or more.   you can get them
> > anywhere. i got a set of 4 at sears, all purpose tires for $49 each.   people
> > who spend $100 each + on tires are insane..

--
Harmon Seaver
CyberShamanix
http://www.cybershamanix.com