Just thought I would post to the list another tire option for the vanagon.  Greendiamond tires are kind of new to the scene here in the US, but are gaining popularity up north.  The tire is "retread" or remolded tire, but is of very high quality, not your typical low buck retread.  Molded throughout the rubber tread are granules of carbide.  These things grip in all conditions,  they are better than studded tires on ice and snow with none of the studded tire problems and you can run them all year long.  My brother has been running a set on his Subaru WRX in the winter, and a set on his Saab 99 for ice racing.  These tires cant be beat on the ice, its amazing how much better they are than the other high dollar snow and ice tires.   They have a 6 ply truck tire with very aggressive tread at this link, wish I had know about them before I put new tires on the Westy last year.
http://www.greendiamondtire.com/productsny2.html
David
1982 westy

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