The stock tire with steel wheels was 185R14 D.  The stock tire with alloy wheels was 20570R14 XL.  The latter is "reinforced," the former is a truck tire.  Pressure specification is lower for the latter tire than for the former.  I have never driven a vanagon with the XL tire, only the D.  The ride is great for me, but I have always preferred stiff over floating.  Really don't like the floating feel of big sedans like my brother drives.  mcneely

---- Kim Brennan <kimbrennan@MAC.COM> wrote:
> The stock tire was a REINFORCED tire. It's not about the size, its about the load rating.
>
> On Oct 12, 2011, at 10:05 AM, Karl Wolz wrote:
>
> > Dennis,
> >
> > Do I understand correctly that you're saying the stock tire size for the
> > Vanagon is not adequate for the standard load?  Something doesn't sound
> > right there.
> >
> > Karl Wolz
> >
> >
> >
> > |-----Original Message-----
> > |From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]
> > |On Behalf Of Dennis Haynes
> > |Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 6:12 AM
> > |To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> > |Subject: Re: New tires
> > |
> > |I wasn't able to locate the load-inflation table for that
> > |specific tire but that size regardless of the C or D rating is
> > |only good for about 1,200 pounds at 40 psi.

--
David McNeely