It's not usually the flywheel affect, or increased mass of the tire/wheel
that's considered to reduce breaking effectiveness when going to bigger
wheels and tires - it's the overall diameter.
  The larger the diameter of the wheel/tire the less leverage the brakes
have on the wheel.   
I ended up putting 205/65 R 15's on an SVX Syncro westy due to wanting to
still be able to put an identical spare tire in the stock spare tire
location.   Worked out great that way, and yeah, they do need more braking
power in general, for sure.  There might be a small gain to be had with
different pads.  I should try that - semi-metallics perhaps. 
Scott
www.turbovans.com  

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Jake de Villiers
Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2008 1:48 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Question on Size

No. The Mercedes alloys are very light and the diameter of the tires is the
same as stock, so the flywheel effect is fairly stock-like.  I do plan to
install bigger front brakes, but the Subie transplant is first in line.   :)

On Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 1:17 PM, Allan Streib <streib@cs.indiana.edu> wrote:

> Did you upgrade your brakes as well?  Do you find that the bigger wheels
> degrade braking any at all?  I find the braking performance in my
> Vanagon to be adequate, but barely.
>
> Allan
> --
> 1991 Vanagon GL
>
> "Jake de Villiers" <crescentbeachguitar@GMAIL.COM> said:
> > Harold, I put 205/65HR15 tires on my 15" wheels.
> >
> > They are working very well but in hindsight I would have gone with
> > something a bit taller and trade some 'acceleration'  (ha) for a more
> relaxed
> > highway cruise.
> >
>

--
Jake
1984 Vanagon GL
1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie"
Crescent Beach, BC
www.crescentbeachguitar.com
http://subyjake.googlepages.com/mydixiedarlin%27

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