C36 wrote:road can be hard on tires
Chuck wrote:Thinking of heading there for the first time (!) this summer....
how'd your minivan fare on the drive in, Dave? Standard Road tires/All seasons on the Family Funster, not the20x plus they are recommending over on BWD
....I'll reel in my rally-car desires and stick to a more temperate speed too. Thoughts?
Short version: You should be fine. Take your time, drive according to conditions and consider softening tires (don't carry max PSI).
Long Version: I've done more than a few trips in there starting in about 1992. Even on the first trip a local windsurfer in Sydney suggested we off-load some weight before hitting the gravel logging roads when he saw my van.
Luckily I have never had an incident until last summer (I'd like to think all the time I spent driving gravel roads in Ontario helped me to develop an eye for watching for pot holes and light hands on the steering wheel). Last summer I was taken it easy just cruising (as the van was REALLY loaded) on a section of road 10 km out of Port Alberni (which is typically in better condition than the south lake road from Youbou). It was washboarded, but no big hits and it still shredded the tire and rim. In hindsight the van was really loaded (sailing gear, SUP's, camping gear, bikes, food, water, etc), load rating on that particular set of tires was not what it should have been (always check what is being put on your vehicle and don't assume the people working on your vehicle know what they are doing) all likely played a part in the sidewall failure. I was really impressed how many people stopped and asked if I has everything I needed while I was changing the tire (not easy getting the spare out and on with all that weight in the van with the OEM jack) - more people stopped that zoomed by.
I was also very happy that I carry a full-size spare on the van (wouldn't have wanted to nurse my loaded van out of there on a 'donut').
I have since picked up a set of Nokian M+S four season tires (with deeper tread and a higher than likely required load rating) for summer use.