At 12:51 AM 4/20/99 -0400, you wrote:
>    Hey,
>     Lets put this to rest.

Eric, It would be great to put it to rest. Unfortunately, this tire
discussion is doomed to live a recurring life as long as there are Westys
and people needing to put sneakers on them.

If you need a water pump, ya have to go to a retailer that stocks the
unique VW pump. But, tires are a commodity in our society. VW packed alot
of #@!$ on (4) small wheels. The average Bubba at Tires-Are-Us doesn't
appreciate that and even if their manuals specify the Westy as special, if
they don't have the tire in stock, they'll often try to sell something else
with assurances. So the Westy owner continually gets conflicting info while
wanting to do the suburban thing and get a good deal. So, here we are.

I remember my first long trip in my '91 Westy was to Utah and the NPs. A
fellow Westyite saw me and my Oregon plates and wandered over. He was a
very friendly, animated German-accented guy from Bend, OR. I remember he
was very interested where I was going to buy new tires :-)

Stuart