Itinerant Air-Cooled

should I be going by the manual? 18 front 27 rear!

the manual for my 69 was printed in 1969 for tires built then, the only guide on my 2008 tires are max pressure.

18 front and 27 rear is correct. This ensures that your bug handles properly. Useing max pressures is unsafe.

Hiya Bug,

It's important to distinguish between inflation specs for bias ply tires and radials for cars of this era. Bias ply tires were (by far) more common that radials in the USA market during the late sixties and early seventies. Matter of fact, radials were pretty rare with Michelin being just about the only radial option. My dad was a Dunlop sales manager at the time and I can remember him saying that in ten years I wouldn't even be able to find a bias ply tire because radials were going to take over the market. How true.

In any event the specs you quoted are the inflation figures for a 155x15 in 1969. I have a 1970 bug and am running 165x15s. I run mine just a bit higher than recommended, 20 in front and 28 in the rear.

For what it's worth, my '79 bug did come with radial tires originally and VW specified 18 in the front and 29 in the rear. This is what I run with and am very happy with the performance.

thanks guys