Ok, everyone, thank you for the responses.  I drove the tires today.  They
work well, better in fact than the Nankang LT tires I had on there or the
previous Michlin LT set.  I was on the highway in the Columbia River Gorge
in about 50-60mph swirling gusty winds and they were much more stable that
with the 'proper' but cheapo tires that came off.  However, they don't look
like they support the van especially well at 40psi and max pressure on the
sidewall is marked 44psi.  They look like car tires, too.  Kinda fat looking
with that 205-70 size..I won't expect exceptional traction in snow, but
probably they will be better than Nankangs, and my vanagon sucks in the snow
anyhow unless I load about 500lbs of weight in the back..then it is only
bad, not horrible.
   So I am gonna drive em.  The rated load on these works out to be about
70lbs under VWs stated max GVW load, if you use that 'correction factor'
(knock off 9% of the load if the tires are called Passenger car tires...how
they figure that?) assigned somewhere by someone.  My van is pretty light
compared to a true westie, so I am not too worried that I would ever exceed
the stated load, and they are Nokian brand, which are Finnish-made and well
thoght of in consumer guides, etc.
  And last of all, I can't really afford a new set of 'perfect tires' right
now.  Even though they aren't the appropriate tire, these are sure better
than the baldies I was running yesterday..
  Oh yeah...My speedo/odo checks out now, with these 205-70s at 40psi, at
.6mi optimistic in 17miles, checked with my GPS.
  Don Hanson
On Sun, Aug 29, 2010 at 6:14 PM, Loren Busch <starwagen@gmail.com> wrote:

>  RE: Understanding tire ratings and the Vanagon
> Since no one has mentioned it in this thread so far I'll point you to
> roadhaus.com
> and the tires section threre
> Larry put a lot of research into the info there.  And others have posted
> many reviews and opinions also.
>