We purchased four new Michelin LTX mud/snow all weather tires (235/75 R15) from tirerack.com that are extra load rated. They replace the original tires on the van, which were in relatively good shape, but did not have quite as much weight capacity. Fully loaded, the van is near 6,000 lbs, with 4,000 of that on the rear axle so having appropriately load rated tires is important.
While getting the tires installed at NTB I had the van aligned, and the mechanic pointed out that one of our front shocks was leaking fluid. After they quoted me $250 to replace them, I purchased two Monroe Reflex shocks from rockauto.com and had them installed by Catherine’s Auto Repair, our normal mechanic. They replaced the factory original (1982) shocks, and the handling on the van is a bit tighter now. [When recovering after a sharp turn, the van only oscillates twice, instead of three times.] The previous owner had already replaced the factory rear shocks with air shocks which impressed the NTB mechanic.
