A 215 or 225-60/16 should do the job just fine.  The 225 is slightly larger
than the 205-70/14 and has a higher load capacity.  You may have trouble
finding this size in a snow tire but a lot of good high performance tires are
available.  These sizes are now standard equipment on may vehicles including
Caravans,(YUK).

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From:   Vanagon mailing list  On Behalf Of David Marshall (by way of Ron Lussier
<coyote@likeminds.com>)
Sent:   Tuesday, September 23, 1997 2:58 PM
To:     Vanagon@GERRY.SDSC.EDU
Subject:        Vanagon weights?

 Hi,
I'm trying to find some winter tires for my Transporter, I'm going to try to
keep the 16" wheels, but it there are no 16" tires that qualify as a light
truck tire that will come to the same rolling diameter as a 205R 14".  So,
off to the truck scales to weigh the Syncro.

Front = 1000 kg
Rear = 930 kg

This is with 70L of gasoline and 100L of Natural Gas.  The only thing
missing was the driver, the passenger (wife doesn't want to be weighed :) ),
and the boarder collie...

So, at this point I look at the tires that are on the truck 225 / 50 16"
with a 620 kg maximum load at 44 psi.  The spare 225 / 60 16" is rated at
730kg.

Doing the math 620*4 = 2480 kg.  So this give me  2480kg > 1930 kg.  So, am
I wrong at assuming that the tires are OK for my Transporter?

The only think on my door is a tire diagram showing 205R 14" tire pressures
and the paint/engine codes.

I did sneak a peak at a Westfalia parked in a parking lot, the 185R 14"
Contenental Tires in it were rated at 800kg max load.  I'm assuming that a
Westfalia is heavier than my Transporter seeing how I don't driving with
everything and the kitchen sink (tee hee hee).

What are some of the weights of the Vanagons out there?   That I can compare
things too?

Thanks!!

-- David Marshall        Email: david@volkswagen.org --
-- 80 VW 2.0L Caddy, **WANTED* Audi 4K or 90 Quattro --
-- 85 VW Cabrio, 88 VW Double Cab Syncro Transporter --
-- Volkswagen Homepage http://www.volkswagen.org     --
-- VW Caddy Homepage   http://www.abccom.bc.ca/caddy --