Brian,

According to VW the diameter of your tires cannot vary by more than 2mm
without damaging your Viscous Coupling.  You can kill your VC in less than a
mile driving on different sized tires.

It is up to each Syncro owner to decide how much credibility they give to
Volkswagen's warnings.  I myself follow them to the letter. As do most of
the informed Syncro owners I know.

Following them to the letter means that you have to do a 5 tire rotation
every 3000 miles.  If you only do a 4 tire rotation than before long your
unused spare tire is over 2mm larger, and therefore unusable without
damaging your VC.

So before you decide to use a steel wheel as the 15" spare consider the fact
that you will either have to be re-mounting and balancing two tires every
3000 miles, or 4/5ths of the time one of your rolling wheels will be a steel
one.

My advice is:  A) Buy a 5th alloy wheel, do a 5 tire rotation. B) Keep a
spare tire of whatever size you like..in the garage;-).

HTH,

Cory
----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Butler" <bbutler@PRODIGY.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Monday, February 17, 2003 12:20 AM
Subject: 15" steel/spare options and storage???

> I bought a set of 15" alloys for my Syncro and,
> afterwards, the spare tire issue hit me.
> I know you need to be very particular about keeping
> the circumference of your 4 tires as close as possible
> on the Syncro. But...
> How much damage do I risk driving a short distance,
> (to get the flat repaired), with my stock 14" spare
> and  three 15"'s, in case of a flat.
> If that idea is completely out of the question, what
> is a cheap source for vanagon 15" steel wheels for
> spare usage?
> Also, I haven't had a chance to check yet, but does a
> 15" wheel with a 205/65 fit in the spare tire tray up
> front?
>
> Thanks in advance for the advice,
> Brian