On Sep 5, 2007, at 10:22 AM, David Kao wrote:

> Andrew, you may be not familiar with Costco. Its tire department
> will not sell
> tires not meeting the requirement to Vanagon owners.

The Kirkland brand from Costco are usually very good quality products
made by a name manufacturer w/ the Costco brand(Kirkland).
I have the Michelin LTX M & S's on my westy w/ 48k on them w/ little
wear, & have them rotated/balanced/properly torqued, regularly as
part of the original purchase price at Costco while shopping inside.

> They used to have one model
> specifically stocked for Vanagons.
> That's when I got the tires. It has the correct
> load index with reinforced sidewall. They have proven to be very
> durable tires.
> I often used my Westy as a truck carrying 500+ kg of load (drums of
> liquid) roaming
> on local freeways. The only problem with these tires is that they
> are more likely to
> skid when braking hard.
>
> Costco's technicians don't really know the requirement for
> Vanagons. But somehow
> the sale person at the front desk knows to say no to me these days.
> They simply
> do not have the right tires for Vanagons any more.

I have the 195's x 14 & Costco sold those to moi after I
printed/.showed the tire guy the Vanagon.com page showing acceptable
tire sizes for a vanagon.

Costco will special order the Michelin Agillis  for your Vanagon,
among other appropriate tires.
> ...........

YMMV,

Tom B.-why do I keep getting sucked into these tire threads?

>>> A couple of year back I put on a new set of tires purchased from
>>> Costco for my
>>> Westy. As soon as the first time I pulled the brake a little hard
>>> the Westy
>>> was like skiing on the freeway. I immediately realized that it was
>>> the new tires
>>> that made it skid. Even today the Westy is still more likely to skid
>>> than my 84
>>> is. It has something to do with the tires. It's a set of Kirkland
>>> brand tires.
>>> The tire's spec met the requirement for Vanagons.
>>>
>>> I believe you will find your Van's traction different if you have
>>> a different
>>> set of tires on it.
>>
>> As I keep saying, the wrong choice of tires can KILL you. What works
>> well on one model may be a disaster on another. Some (read no-names
>> like the above) are there merely to keep the wheels from scraping on
>> the road. Worst-case: Try a set of crossplies on a Split without
>> swaybar, like my 57 panel... the rears have almost zero traction on
>> dry pavement. Specifications be damned; "good enough" ain't good
>> enough! Junk tires might work OK most of the time... but it's just
>> when you need grip the most that they'll let you down, and then it'll
>> be too late for regrets.
>>
>> That cow which just ran out of the scrub beside the road... the
>> bugger who just ran the red light across your bow... hell, not enough
>> grip to slow down in time, or to swerve, much less both... BANG,
>> you're DEAD.
>>
>> This is why you don't fit Barums or Nyetskids to a 911.
>>
>>> 84. When the tires are near the end of their service life the
>>> traction
>>> will turn worse too.
>>
>> Nope, traction increases with wear. That's why racers use slicks;
>> maximum contact area; where there's a treadgap, there's no grip. In
>> the wet however it's the reverse, slick tires are more likely to
>> aquaplane.
>>
>>> All tires are not created equal. Proper tires for
>>
>> Dead right. Put the best tires you can ALMOST afford on. Don't go for
>> LTs, get quality car tires with the right load rating (yes, they sure
>> do exist). For topheavy campers the problem is more tricky...
>>
>> And always remember to bed new tires in carefully for a couple of
>> hundred km... they have a slippery release agent to allow easy
>> demolding. Ask motorcyclists about this...
>>
>
>
>
>
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