Yes!
On my return trip from Colorado after buying my 90 Westy Syncro there, I
ruined a tire and found that the spare had a bubble in it! I was in a small
town out in Nevada that didn't have ANY tires that were right for the
vanagon. So I had to buy FOUR new tires for $200 knowing that they were
'throw aways' (turns out I sold them for half price).
Now I have SIX Michelin MXTs (two spares) and I do a six tire rotation. I
can ruin one tire and still have a spare! It very easy to ruin a tire...
especially off road.... many serious 4 wheeler carry two spares...
especially wise if you're going to remote places.
Good LUck
Bill
90 Westy Syncro
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve <Steve@Schwenk-Law.com>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Date: Thursday, April 15, 1999 8:29 PM
Subject: Re: Tires & Spares & rotating & VC

>Don't sweat it.  There's ne real need to rotate the spare,
>unless you really
>want to cram that last bit of tread out of five instead of 4
>tires....but with a
>syncro, you better be religious about rotating all 5 or you
>will end up with
>differing tread depths which could lead to VC stress.
>
>The reason you don't have to rotate the spare is that you
>can simply repair the
>flat ASAP and go back to the original tire.  The VC is not
>going to wear out in
>that short of time.  If you're off road, with the low
>speeds, it's not going to
>make any difference.  If you're on the freeway, you can find
>a repair place
>within a hundred miles or so 99.99999% of the time.  The
>only time you benefit
>by rotating all 5 is if you ruin a tire and need a
>replacement.  But if you're
>spare already has more tread than the other 4, like mine
>too, you have no choice
>till it's time for a new set of tires.
>
>Anyone out there ever ruin a tire on a syncro and have to
>replace the entire set
>to keep 4 uniform tires?
>
>steve
>
>Brent Christensen wrote:
>
>> Ugh!  Then NOW what do I do???  (I knew about this problem, I guess I was
>> just in denial.  I just brought the car home 7 days ago)
>>
>> Brent Christensen
>> '89 GL Syncro Westy "Klaus"
>> '91 Taurus SHO (For Sale)
>> '95 Cherokee Sport
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Steve
>> To: Brent Christensen
>> Sent: Thursday, April 15, 1999 1:54 PM
>> Subject: Re: Tires
>>
>> I wouldn't rotate that spare into the mix NOW that it has significantly
>> diff. tread depth than the others.  you will stress your VC ... this is
how
>> mine was ruined.  there wasn't much difference, but enough over time to
>> overheat the VC on hot freeway trips.
>> steve
>> Brent Christensen wrote:
>> My "new" '89 Syncro Westy had the following tires on when I bought it
last
>> week.  I only mention it because I have never heard of the brand
before...
>> Jupiter 185R14C LT Radial YP-821 (5 of them) They were purchased from a
>> small tire dealer in Monterey, CA called Tom Long's Tires.  They appear
to
>> be a pretty decent tire - no too noisy on the pavement, fairly
"aggressive"
>> tread pattern (for a 185/14 tire, that is).  They are rated at 1710 lbs.
@50
>> psi.  Can't say much for the handling, since I don't have anything to
>> compare them too.  After about 5,000 miles, they look like they've worn
>> about 2mm or so compared to the spare. (which has not been rotated into
the
>> mix-YET) The PO paid $96 each for the tires. It sounds like the consensus
is
>> that a 195 (or bigger) significantly improves the handling
characteristics
>> of the Westies.  The inside of the driver's door jamb lists these
possible
>> sizes of tires: 185R14C 6PR  (currently installed)185R14C 8PR205R14C
>> 6PR205R14C 8PR205/70R 14 97R Reinforced  (What is this??) I have the 6 x
14
>> alloy wheels. Brent Christensen'89 GL Syncro Westy "Klaus"'91 Taurus SHO
>> (For Sale)
>> '95 Cherokee Sport
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Fitz-Randolph, Douglas
>> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>> Sent: Thursday, April 15, 1999 10:23 AM
>> Subject: Re: Tires (a bit long - some random info)
>>  OK - I still haven't found the *perfect* tires for my '90 syncro, but I
>> love talking about it, so here's my 2 cents...
>> **Locating the Michelin MXT's:
>> I checked on this about 3 weeks ago -  the Michelin MXT's 205/70R14
>> Reinforced tires can be ordered direct from Michelin in SC(?) through
>> EuroTire in Fairfield, NJ @ 800-631-0080 for $96. EuroTire would ship
them
>> to me for something like $7 - 10 per tire. The gentleman I spoke with
said
>> that Michelin did have stock available.
>> **Other "cheap" tires:
>> Uniroyal Laredo AWP 195/75R14's are available from BJ's Wholesale Club
>>  http://www.bjswholesale.com ) for about $48. They're "highway tread"
load
>> range "C" (50 PSI) tires. I bought a set lightly used and they seem
stable
>> and predictable @ 48 psi rear, 43psi front - though they do tend to
hum/buzz
>> at certain speeds. I'm not sure if this is due to a tire design issue or
due
>> to my particular tires being defective, but it really isn't too
bothersome.
>> **Other "truck" tires:
>> Tires like the BFGoodrich Long Trail T/A, Firestone Wilderness HT, etc. -
>> though they are classified as "light truck tires" - are not suitable for
the
>> Vanagon. They are load range B, 35 psi tires, and while many Vanagons I
run
>> across in parking lots, etc. do have "passenger tires" like these
installed,
>> from a safety standpoint, it seems a bit risky all in the interest of
saving
>> a (very) few bucks.
>> **185 R14 D's for a syncro:
>> My winter tires are studded 185 R14 D Nokian
>>  http://www.nokian.com/english/ ) Hakkapeliitta 10 LT's. The size seems
>> fine, as does the stiffness. They are fantastic on snow and ice, though
>> being so narrow, they don't seem as good as my 195's in windy conditions.
I
>> bought them through a local tire chain (Century Tire) and they are around
>> $100 each, but I feel very confident in winter driving situations with
them,
>> so I think it was worth it. If the 185 R14's are your gig, the Dunlop SP
LT5
>> might be a good choice for a 185 R 14 C or D summer tire. Nokian also
makes
>> the NRC - targeted at the "central and eastern European delivery van
>> market" - might be appropriate for our little tire pigs.
>> **Tire Diameters, etc.:
>> If you go to http://powerdog.com/tiresize.cgi , you'll find a neat tire
size
>> calculator. You type tire sizes into a list box, then click "compute" and
>> you get a chart with the actual dimensions of each tire size you've
entered,
>> plus a +/- percentage difference from the first on the list. For example,
it
>> reports that compared to the diameter of a 205/70R14, 185/75R14's are
1.5%
>> smaller, 195/75R14's are 0.9% smaller. I thought it was cool...
>> Hope someone found this interesting!
>> Doug Fitz-Randolph
>> Yarmouth, ME
>> dfrandolph@talkam.net
>> '90 Syncro
>