I'm finally going to follow up on this. Since I was short on time and
flush with cash, I took it to to my friend's shop - a BMW tuner / racer
and vanagon owner. The diagnosis was wheel bearings and alignment. All 4
wheel bearings were loose, with the rears were badly worn. The toe in was
also set at 1/2". It should have been 1/8".

So, after new rear wheel bearings and everything adjusted to spec, I have
a vastly better driving van. What a difference! Very stable in the wind
now, tracks around turns perfectly, and no more rattling over bumps. I
will certainly add checking the wheel bearings to my list of things to
check on a regular basis.

Walter - 85 Vanagon 1.9

On Wed, 15 Oct 2008 18:32:37 -0700, Scott Daniel - Turbovans
<scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM> wrote:

>needless to say, I'd think............is the only answer to whether your
>front end is tired or warn out, is a proper inspection.
>Like on an alignment rack in a real shop, with someone familiar with front
>ends.
>Another way to answer your question is 'the front suspension has to be in
>good condition, and alignment correct, for it to handle and respond to
>steering inputs correctly. '
>
>there was one 84 Vanagon I worked on once......of hundreds
>basically...........that had Michelin LTX's on it ..........and it was the
>best handling vanagon I've ever driven  in terms of steering response.  I
>mean, I wanted to drive that thing in a power slide all the time,  if I
>could.
>Nothing special about it either............just the LTX tires, stock steel
>wheels, the shocks were all right............And I wondered if the front
and
>rear alignments of that van were extra 'spot on' or what.
>  'it all works together' ..............everything needs to be pretty
right
>if you want it to respond and handle truly right.
>Can't say I trust every front end shop there is either.
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Walter Houle" <whoule@ECSCONTROLS.COM>
>To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
>Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2008 9:27 AM
>Subject: Re: Door Plate Tire Pressures
>
>
>> I'm finally going to ask this question. I ran passenger car tires on my
>> van for years. Since it came with them, I simply just replaced them with
>> equal. Never got advice from a tire dealer to do anything different
>> either. I've always kept the van bare bones light, so maybe that
minimized
>> the problem. As far as the handling went, it wallowed and leaned in the
>> turns, but it was pretty stable in the wind. I always kept the pressures
>> about 8 PSI higher in the rear.
>>
>> About a year ago, I started following this list and got the correct
tires,
>> Michelin LTX M/S 195/75/R14. Huge difference in the turns, no more
>> wallowing. However, the directional stability is much worse. Crosswinds
>> are now treacherous, and getting passed by a semi is a new adventure. I
>> tried several tire pressure combos and things got much better using 44
PSI
>> all around. Still, the overall stability in the wind is a lot worse than
>> it was on the P car tires.
>>
>> So, why the difference? Is it just that the stiffer sidewalls make the
>> handling more sensitive? Or, is it something else, like a worn out front
>> end?
>>
>> Walter
>> 85 Vanagon