Want better traction, add sand bags. Adding weight over or just forward of the drive wheels will work nicely, especially with the Nokian's. The local VW dealer uses a 2 wheel drive vanagon for parts delivery and adds sand bags to increase the down pressure on the drive wheels(an old cold country trick). Never put the weight behind the drive wheels though, it will turn them into a fulcrum and leverage the front ones up reducing steering ability. An obvious no no.

Mark in AK
87 Westy Syncro
90 Audi 200 Quattro Turbo Wagon
90 Jeep Cherokee 4x4
Do you see a theme here?

 have the studded Nokians on my '89 Westy.  Don't expect anything even resembling Syncro performance.  Even with the studs and extra weight in the rear during the winter, I still have to put on chains to get up the snowy/icy driveway many days (my driveway is 1/4 mile long on an incline).
If you plan on driving icy roads, be very cautious even with Hakkas on.  The 2wd Westy just doesn't have good weight distribution which causes the wheels to spin on slick surfaces.

Grant Braddish
Peru, VT

----- Original Message -----
From: Mike Collum <collum@MFX.NET>
Date:         Sun, 21 Sep 2003 13:07:56 -0400
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject:      Re: Best winter tires for 2wd ?

I highly recommend Nokian Hakkapeliitas.

My 7 passenger has C2 tires.  185 R 14, M&S, max rating 1873 lbs @ 65
psi, and they came "studable" (little holes from the factory) though I
didn't have them studded.  They do really well in snow (northern Maine),
rain,
and on dry pavement.  I run them year round (2 winters and 2 summers so
far) and have made several long summer trips with no noticeable wear.
They are very smooth riding and, even though they have a fairly
aggressive tread, don't make a lot of noise.

The Westy has "C" tires (no number or letter following the C).  Same
size, same load rating and the tread is "almost" the same as the C2
minus the holes for studs.  I have put over 25,000 miles on them and
they still look like they did when I put them on.  They handle the same
as the C2s.

I first started driving in the '50s and have gone through a BUNCH of
tires over the years of many different brands (I've always used
Michelins on the frogeye Sprite).  The Hakkapeliitas are the best tires
I've owned so far.

Mike

'84 GL 7 pass
'85 GL Westy
'58 Frogeye (Bugeye) Sprite