Itinerant Air-Cooled

Hello everyone long time no post but I am also looking for a recommendation for tires for my 71 Westy. Size and make. I don't daily drive Sam anymore so they don't need to last 50,000 as I doubt I will ever drive Sam like I used to.

I found Hankook Optimo H724 all season tire 195/70R14 90T at Walmart for 62.56. I may get those.

Sylvester wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 28, 2019 7:48 am

I found Hankook Optimo H724 all season tire 195/70R14 90T at Walmart for 62.56. I may get those.

From Google review ...

Beware! Affordable price. Poor quality.
a month ago
Within three weeks of installing a set (4) of these tires, I had experienced a catastrophic failure while traveling at ~ 60 mph on the interstate. I am certain I am experienced no hazard for it was my driver's side rear tire that failed. The driver's side front tire was not damaged. The left, rear tire failure essentially fell apart, having separated from the outer/inner walls. No plausible reason other than extremely poor quality. Hankook representative could only offer 50% credit towards my next purchase, but it required an Hankook authorized dealer which was inconveniently located. I utilized Walmart's 100% guarantee, returned them, and replaced them with Goodyear Wrangler Radial P235/75R15 105S OWL Highway tires which have performed superbly thus far.
CatastrophicFailureAt3wee · Reviewed on walmart.com

Walmart.com ad pictures misleading
5 months ago
The tires themselves appear to be good quality and are an excellent price for the mileage tire that they are but the Walmart.com pictures for the H724 are misleading because they appear to be a black wall tire when they are actually white wall tires. The item description details actually say it but the picture is misleading. Bought two for my dad and he just had them mount them with the black wall side out which is good enough for his old truck, but I would have returned them if they were for one of my vehicles.
Midlander · Reviewed on walmart.com

Sylvester wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 27, 2019 11:53 am

Hello everyone long time no post but I am also looking for a recommendation for tires for my 71 Westy. Size and make.

Nokian Hakka Van D in the correct size (185R14) and load range (102)
https://www.amazon.com/185R14-100S-Noki ... B00VZKJV04

I'm sold on Nokian tires. Have them on all my vehicles. I have the Hakka Van C tires on my Vanagon.

Not sure when they decided to call them 'D'. Of course, with Amazon these days the ones on that link coud be total counterfeits. But see if you can find the genuine Hakka C tire close to you.

are these BFGs also expired now - BFG 02339?
need new tires on my 83AC westy asap. Currently on kumho 857 205/65R14 on alloys. would like something with similar rating/size and THICK sidewalls to prevent sailing :) what are my options? i would not want to step down thinner than 195 and not sure i can go thicker than 205s to prevent extra wear of the drivetrain even though alloys would probably accommodate up to 225s from what i read.

are these general grabbers any good (27/8.5r14) compared to maxxis 751s youre all raving about?
seems they are widely available unlike most options discussed in this thread.

or should i go with smaller diameter tires for better road/sway performance? kumhos are already at 27" and they do suck uphill, i dont want to go with a smaller tire if its not really going to improve hill driving and then get stuck in the woods somewhere on hankooks. i couldnt really find a 16" upgrade thats smaller than 27" in diamater either, so not sure going with 16" rims on an AC vanagon will improve things much.

jerryherb wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 06, 2019 6:38 pm

A) Currently on kumho 857 205/65R14
would like something with similar rating/size and THICK sidewalls to prevent sailing
not sure i can go thicker than 205s to prevent extra wear of the drivetrain

B) are these general grabbers any good (27/8.5r14) compared to maxxis 751s youre all raving about?
seems they are widely available unlike most options discussed in this thread.

C) or should i go with smaller diameter tires for better road/sway performance?

a) All across the internet are many many many misattributions as to the characteristics of tires and their purported benefits. For example, thick sidewalls do not have anything to do with handling dynamics. A hot Mercedes that can blast Mulholland Drive applies more forces to a tire sidewall than any VW bus ever. And it will have thin sidewalls to *allow* a more finely tuned dynamic experience. The thick sidewalls ONLY have to do with the fact that these truck tires are more likely to incur sidewall strikes. Yes, they make the tires feel more directional, but that is subjective.

b) I have no personal experience with the General Grabbers, but I have heard that they are acceptable.

c) Again, there is a lot of misattribution and armchair analyses. Get the size that the car was engineered for, and allow yourself one size up or down or across as necessary. I have been 195 14 for about thirty five years and the damn cars got to where they needed to go without swaying off the road or blowing up the engines. Now I am 8.50X27 on 14" rims for all of my buses and they STILL get to where they need to go without drama.
Colin

what would be your current go to 14" tire that is available if you were getting a new set? i am having a hard time finding anything that has been previously suggested other than RA08 and RA18s.

i was also considering going to 16's. combo of either SA steel 16s and nokian entyre 2.0 205/65r15 (smaller diameter than my current wheels at 26.5) or much less expensive pacer rims off ebay (60683B) which seem they'd fit without spacers (narrower than SA's, though larger offset). not sure ET41 would allow for the big brakes to fit. i consider 16 wheel upgrade mainly so that in the future i could possibly go with big brakes in the front and disks in the rear if i can find the right set of spindles.

any opinions/experiences with these cheapo steelies?

jerryherb wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 07, 2019 8:15 pm

what would be your current go to 14" tire that is available if you were getting a new set?

i was also considering going to 16's. so that in the future i could possibly go with big brakes in the front and disks in the rear if i can find the right set of spindles.

I do a lot of questionable roads/paths/offroad, so I would do either the Maxxis or Generals.

What year is your bus?
In 1973, a VW bus could match a Corvette in 60-0. Seriously. Anybody who doesn't like the braking on their late model bus hasn't gotten the brakes yet correctly set up.

If you have a drum brake bus currently, there are tidy disk brake kits that do not require that you re-engineer what was a very well-engineered car in the first place.
Colin

1983 vanagon aircooled 2.0 westfalia (manufactured aug 82) federal model. much heftier than the type2s with the same engine, no? replaced cylinders/shoes in the rear after cleaning out all the crud, assembled everything correctly in the rear. rebuilt the front calipers completely/installed new rotors when i first got it. front pads are bosch quiet types. stainless braided lines on all four corners. completely drained the fluid and bled 3 times with power bleeder attached to reservoir end just to make triple sure no air in the system. brakes better than when i got it, but still marginal, and i made peace with it. I was able to lock up the brakes only once when hard braking while testing it at local road speeds (25mph). no pulsating pedal, vacuum line to brake booster checked and works. the rest of brake lines have been inspected and appear in excellent condition, no rust spots at all. i take it the power booster and master are original, but i dont suspect they have issues. Unless there is a fundamental difference i dont comprehend specific to the vanagon system i have serviced honda, subaru and motorycle brake systems without issues (all disks, no drums).

jerryherb wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 08, 2019 9:48 am

1983 vanagon aircooled 2.0 westfalia (manufactured aug 82) federal model. much heftier than the type2s with the same engine, no?

The stock air-cooled Vanagon weighs 300 lbs more than a Bay and stops in 154 feet from 60 mph (13 feet shorter than the previous year Bay). It beat every competitor in its class. To this day, that is competitive stopping distance.

jerryherb wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 08, 2019 9:48 am

front pads are bosch quiet types

I have no respect for Bosch aftermarket parts. I just recently lost respect for the (once factory original) ATE brake pads. We are step-children in the parts industry. Our numbers are too low for them to give a half a f**k.

What we need are pads/shoes that have the correct friction coefficient. You know modern pads have more surface area so they require less friction/area. Not us. We have little square blocks that need good grip. But the manufacturers may use the same recipe for the new pads on our old ones, because who cares?

Our shoes for the Vanagon are saddled by plenty of surface area, but the suppliers have skinnied the thickness of the linings (may be true for Bay only here). Then the damn arc misses the radius of the drum!
Do you think people who are annoyed with their brakes are going to find these details before they fall into the marketing trap just waiting for them?

I just ordered some German pads (brand starts with letter "K". I AM your test mule for braking performance.
Colin

seems the shoes are kinda sh**ty and thin, not surprised contact surface area sucks. I put about 15K on them since so will have to take the drums off and see what size friction patch i got.

what bolt on rear disk system would you consider for an AC westy with stock 14 and upgraded 16 rims (mine are alloys)? it does not seem there are a lot of choices in 14 size and the only kit i found had extreme QC issues i know were getting off topic here still trying to decide on keeping stock wheels or going up to 16s

jerryherb wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 08, 2019 10:54 am

seems the shoes are kinda sh**ty and thin, not surprised contact surface area sucks. I put about 15K on them since so will have to take the drums off and see what size friction patch i got.

what bolt on rear disk system would you consider for an AC westy with stock 14 and upgraded 16 rims (mine are alloys)? it does not seem there are a lot of choices in 14 size and the only kit i found had extreme QC issues i know were getting off topic here still trying to decide on keeping stock wheels or going up to 16s

I have not deviated from stock, because stock has never let me down.

OK, so since ebay just threw down 10% ebay bucks i got a set for my 83AC westy of Nokian CLine Van 205/65r16 with a nokian entyre (1.0) in the same size for a spare. Entyre 1.0 appear to be on clearance and much cheaper now that 2.0 is out. I also got 5 of the aforementioned pacer rims to go with 'em. For my other vanilla 87 transporter (currently with PO's SL-rated H724 s**t tires) i got a replacement set of RA18s 195r14s. We'll see how each performs and what set eventually ends up on the westy. each are D-rated 8-plys, not taking any chances.

I made my decision after reading he comprehensive guide i found here, its a must read if one's looking for new tires:

http://oldbluesblog.com/files/VanagonTireSpecs.pdf

jerryherb wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 12, 2019 12:22 pm

OK, so since ebay just threw down 10% ebay bucks i got a set for my 83AC westy of Nokian CLine Van 205/65r16 with a nokian entyre (1.0) in the same size for a spare. Entyre 1.0 appear to be on clearance and much cheaper now that 2.0 is out.

I don't think you'll be disappointed with the Nokians. I have Entyres (1.0) on both of my Volvos. They've been stellar on the S80, as quiet and capable as the Michilens they replaced, and outlasting them by a large margin.

jerryherb wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 12, 2019 12:22 pm

I made my decision after reading he comprehensive guide i found here, its a must read if one's looking for new tires:
http://oldbluesblog.com/files/VanagonTireSpecs.pdf

Thorough read, thank-you. Oddly lacking in flame war riffs ...
Colin