"didn't notice his 18-inch wide tires. :(  after about an
hour of digging and lowering the tire pressure, we made it out and ran around just fine. ;) which is a good reason to always carry a tire gauge and a good quality bicycle pump (so you can pump the tires back up when you get back to pavement)! but with watercooled vanagons, tires are extremely important ... you
need more grip. and you also need a very very light touch on the
throttle. :)"
unca joel

Forgot to mention this aspect related to my own experience. On my '91 with auto tranny, I switched from the stock size tires to 225/70R14 and it dealt with snow and offroad conditions much differently. Even with auto tranny, the torque comes on so much slower. Now, I've got 225/70 16's and, although a Syncro, the power/torque comes on so much slower it's much easier to control the tendency to slip.
bob
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