[Vwdiesel] Tires

[James Hansen]

For what it's worth, from a race car guy's point of view:
We have the option of running either DOT stamped tires in 275-60 or 
smaller 8" treadface dirt specific tires (Hoosiers).  Dirt tires are so 
soft, you can almost tear chunks off the tire when you come in (tire 
warm) with your fingers, so they wear out quickly.  Tight beggars like 
me usually run DOT tires, in as soft a compound as we can find (Grand 
am, or Cooper Cobras). This lets me run either clay or pavement without 
carrying twenty tires in stock.
Anyone who has purchased a set of michelin all seasons for the track 
can't seem to wear them out, telling me that they are very very hard 
compound tires, or at least heat cycle very quickly and become very hard 
very quickly.  As a dirt tire, they suck.  On the pavement, if longevity 
is your only goal, they are the best, hands down as the compound is so 
soft. On a race car on pavement, they are 2 seconds slower than anything 
out there, they are that hard and tractionless.

For passenger cars, if having traction on anything other than perfect 
dry pavement is desired, they may not be the best choice.
The michelins on my 97 Golf (came with the car) are going to die from 
sidewall cracking they've been on so long, and still have 50% tread 
left.  They suck in the rain.  I use Blizzak's in winter, but I've tried 
the Michelins on snow, and it's like driving on grease, and they claim 
that these are all season tires.  Yeah right.

so, what I'm saying I guess, is longevity and good traction are pretty 
much opposites.  You need to find a happy medium somewhere in between.
Hakka's are very good as Doyt pointed out, Bridgestone makes a pretty 
good compound as well, which is what I use on the car that carries my 
family (97 Passat).  Quite frankly, I really don't care what tires cost 
if they work well.  Going cheap-ass on tires is false economy if it gets 
you or yours a dirt nap.

Have a look at Tirerack.com, it's very informative and surprisingly 
accurate for opinon based data.
-James

William J Toensing wrote:
> As far as I am concerned, Michelin makes the best tires although there is probably someone who will disagree. If you don't need tires right away, wait till Costco has their Michelin tire sale where they knock $60 off for a set of 4 Michelins. I put a set on my Dasher diesel for about $210 as I recall. I think they were 185/70 R13s but i would have to check to be sure. Costco also fills tires with nitrogen which is better.
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