Good Evening Linda and Bernie Miles here in Suffolk. We've caught the T2 bug having seen one advertised roadside on the A1120. By the time the bug really took hold it had gone, but at the Stonham Barns VW Campervan rally was another one (RHD and 74 registered Devon), in the car-park for sale. Having caught more infection from those enjoying the weekend we decided to jump in and negotiated with a nice guy who sold us Tigger to enable him to concentrate his efforts on a 1967 split-screen. At the time we knew nothing about T2's, T4's or T25's but are learning fast!!! - and isn't there a lot to learn. We have had a Triumph Stag for over 30 years, and how different, but hopefully more practical as we head towards retirement. The guys at VW Heritage and Custom and Commercial have also been extremely helpful. First question - Tigger has a right mix of tyres at present from Road Champ (05/09), Matador Master (11/06) , Michelin 34/08) and a Federal Maha Steel 25/04). All have 50%+ tread but the Maha has to go as it has cracked wall, and probably the Road Champ, to be replaced by two new tyres for the front. Any recommendations? My instinct is to pay the premium and go for Michelins 185/65R14 86T currently £69.10 ea on Etyres. Any suggestions would be welcome. Second question. No thermostat is fitted at present. Am I right in thinking that whilst this enables engine to reach running temperature quicker that like a water-cooled engine the is no adverse effect in running without? When I can work out how to load images to the forum we'll post pics of Tigger - we're fairly pc illiterate!
Welcome aboard guys, enjoy your stay! First off swap your old tyres for a set of four decent tyres such as Falken 195/70 x 15 with the load rating to suit (these are 104 rated). What engine is it, a type 1 (1600) or a type 4 (1700, 1800 or 2000) - they should have the thermostat fitted ideally to ensure the motor warms up correctly!
Hello and welcome from Bolton. A fellow Devon owner. BTW I got Hankook from a company called Camskill seem to be popular on here
It's a 1600, with 14inch rims - is this standard? I haven't had any experience of Falken - are they OK?
Ahh 1600, Id suggest that you do need to reinstate the thermostat! Yes, 1600 and 14 inch rims is standard, I quoted Falkens as an example with the appropriate load rating, there will be equally as many options with that rating. Falken are good tyres, her indoors has them on her Fox
Thanks for that. I'll check out Falken's - My experience with Michelens is that they last, give good ride and hold the road , but not on a bus we're thinking? Load rating of 100+ is advisable then? Does anyone keep a register of T2's? Morris register keeps records and Gaydon Heritage Centre have history on BL products - Land Rover, Stags etc. It would be interesting to track history of Tigger. The guy I bought it from acquired her in 2012, and from what I can see she was restored in 2011.
Good morning from Cheshire , Another shout for Hankook from here! There's a how to post photos in the stickies at the top of the General Discussion section, but the easiest way is with Tapatalk on your smartphone
Hello from Kent. Suffolk is my fave county btw. Took my van to the Latitude festival in July and met scores of other music loving VW owners. Fab weekend.. Make sure you get the tracking done when you change the tyres. I also inherited a positive jumble sale of different tyres and they contributed to throwing the tracking way out - van just drive round in circles. Now she drives nice and straight..
Good morning and Welcome from The Cotswold Contingent. 185-14C tyres are what you need. I have recently bought some Nexens (a division of Bridgestone) and can report that they are so far very good. Going on a 2000 mile to France, Andorra and Spain, will report again when I get back.
Thanks for a great welcome from all you guys!. We already feel at home. And thanks for info on tyres!. Just in the middle of first job - new discs and pads to front. Off-side done, now crack on with near-side.
Welcome from We(s)t York's. We're running Dunlop Econodrive van tyres, fitted a few months back by Event tyres. Made a noticeable difference to how the bus handles
Thank Jack - beautiful sunny day here - sorry! Dunlop's sound interesting - I've used them on my Stag
Greetings from Medway in Kent! Lots of tyre options. The original standard tyres were 185R14C as Top Banana Racing mentions above. The "C" stands for Commercial (van) tyre, which is an 8-ply construction (standard car tyres are 4-ply). Since no width ratio is given in the above, 80% is assumed - so that's the same as 185/80 R14 8-ply van tyres. The load rating ought to be over 90 (for the max permissible rear axle load of 1200kg) and ideally over 100. I'm running around on a newish set of Goodyear Cargo G28 195/80 R14, which are slightly wider than standard - simply because that size was fitted when we bought the van. If I were buying now, I'd probably go for the same again or the Hankook RA08 which gets good reviews on here. I think the RA08 has been superseeded by the RA18 now.
