Renewing Caravan Tyres
I appreciate that one should renew ones tyres every 5-6 yrs. Whenever one's done this do you buy the cheapest tyre on the market or a dearer one, of the appropriate specification of course?
Comments
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We went with a mid range tyre with a name we had heard of.
We had them changed by the dealer as we have Tyron bands fitted. They do not stock tyres so were happy for us to order them up for delivery to them. I think we used Black Circles.
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I will always opt for a quality branded tyre, backed with the added security of Tyron bands.
I have had a tyre blow at about 60 mph, when decending a mountain pass in the Pyrennes. The tyre shredded immediately, but was kept on the rim by the Tyrons. I will never set forth without them now!
Lessons learned that day! 1. Never exceed 5 years tyre life. 2. Keep an eye on your tyre pressures in very hot weather! 3. dont think that by using engine braking on a long descent that your caravan brakes will not get too hot, - remember that you might well be saving your car brakes from overheating, but the over-run braking system on the caravan will still be applying them - and so the caravan brakes will still get very hot! That factor combined with a hot day can have dramatic results!
TF
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No,- I am convinced that it was the Tyron bands that did that. They did specifically what they claimed they would do. Indeed despite the complete shredding of the tyre, when I examined the wheel itself, there were no marks to suggest that the rim had ever come into contact with the road surface itself.
I appreciate your scepticism but having experienced that, there are no circumstances today that would persuade me to tow a caravan without knowing that they are in place.
Our blow out happened in a fairly remote part of a foreign country. The incident had the potential to be fairly troumatic, yet all that was required was for me to remove one spectacularly disintigrated tyre/wheel and refit the spare. During the actual blow out I was able to retain complete control of the rig, despite the van giving the impression of Concords last take off from Paris. Smoke & flames coming from the caravans wheel well. (Seen in my mirror).
TF
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We went for the cheapest. but there again we had already agreed to sell the caravan, but it was needed for a five hundred mile trip before the new one arrived and the engineer said ours were badly cracked and might not make it. That is the only time we have
changed them though but given the low mileages most caravans do I think cheaper ones are up to the job.We did however keep the Coachman ten years and never changed the tyres and had no problems with them. That was before the current advice came out and at the time no one suggested there waas a problem, which makes you wonder if the new ones are not as resilient
as the old ones.0 -
We went for the cheapest. but there again we had already agreed to sell the caravan, but it was needed for a five hundred mile trip before the new one arrived and the engineer said ours were badly cracked and might not make it. That is the only time we have
changed them though but given the low mileages most caravans do I think cheaper ones are up to the job.We did however keep the Coachman ten years and never changed the tyres and had no problems with them. That was before the current advice came out and at the time no one suggested there waas a problem,
which makes you wonder if the new ones are not as resilient as the old ones.Or is it just a ploy by the trye manufacturers to sell more tyres?
Thanks all for your advice. Looks like it will be a mid range named set for the change.
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The incident described was in 2006 on a 2001 Avondale Osprey caravan, which I had had from new. The tyres were in theory 5 years old, but dependant how long in stock before being fitted may well have been older. But thereafter I would never run tyres that
long again!TF
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We use a middle of the road branded tyre which we will change every 5 years.
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The dealer from whom we brought our 6 year old van fitted new tyres as part of their pre-delivery service because the existing ones were more than 5 years old even though they were hardly worn.
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.... Indeed despite the complete shredding of the tyre, when I examined the wheel itself, there were no marks to suggest that the rim had ever come into contact with the road surface itself.
..... ...remove one spectacularly disintigrated tyre/wheel and refit the spare. During the actual blow out I was able to retain complete control of the rig, ....TF
I've only ever had one 'blow out' (my fault) and that was solo while in the outside lane at 'around' the max speed limit. Despite no band I was able to easily get my car to hard shoulder ... I wasn't sure what the noise was to start with ... with the minimum
of dama. One side of the tyre had completely disappeared with the exception of the bead still holding on to the J lip of the alloy. And like yours, there was no damage to the rim at all ...... all without the use of a Tyron bandIMHO they were designed for a wheel type no longer in use on either cars or trailers.
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Recently fitted a pair on the van and got the cheaper end of the deals after owner showed the brand on his vehicles. Perhaps I am fitting last years technology? I hadn't heard of Hankook tyres either till recently, but the've been fitted as standard to my
last 2 Kugas.0 -
MM, I respect your viewpoint, and I'm certainly not stupid enough to say that you are wrong. All that I will say is, that following my own experience, I'm not going to take the risk of not fitting them.
TF
Likewise .... if you feel safer with them fitted, then that's OK with me
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Surely caravan wheels are a different design to car wheels!
Why? I don't know. But we have Tyron bands fitted.
Anyway, I fitted Hankook tyres to the caravan earlier this year. The reason was that Swift started to fit Hankooks when there was a spate of blow-outs with the Matador tyres that they had been using.
I believe they've now gone back to using the cheapest available, but I assumed that the Hankooks must have been good......and they do seem to have been so far.
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Surely caravan wheels are a different design to car wheels!
Why? I don't know. ...
Why would they be? They both have the J lip on the outer face, ask to have a look when/if you have a tyre replaced/removed.
Why? .... to keep the tyre on the rim as you try forcing it off as you go round corners
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Ian, Hankooks are a mid range tyre, as are the Maxxis which are at present fitted on our Bailey. I spoke to my tyre supplier today and said that I'd want a "named" mid range tyre rather than a budget set for the caravan. Just waiting to hear which brand
he'll come up with.0 -
Hankook's have been around years, we've fitted them as mid range on trucks for a long while, as mm says most rims these days are designed to hold the tyre onto the beed, i'll be able to tell you begining of next year when I change mine, the problem with
mid range, is certain people think mid range is the high end of budget when there selling tyres0 -
I'm very happy with my Hankook Vantra tyres fitted at the start of this year, they had good EU labelling 'scores' for fuel economy (rolling resistance in other words) grip and noise compared to a lot of others at the same or a higher price level. Having
looked at having them for my car, some fitting outlets claimed they are hard to source, but I got mine from an online tyre retailer, Blackcircles or similar.0 -
Have ended up with Firestones, a well known name I guess. Treads look deep and there are dated (1016) so new enough, and hopefully will last us another 6 yrs.
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Caravan manufacturers fit the absolute minimum tyres in terms of design and price and generally unknown (to me) makes.
I have been advised by tyre dealers (twice) to fit budget brands providing they are to EU standard and change them after 5 years, coming from speople who were selling tyres with no incentive to sell cheap I considered it honest advice
Our 3 year old Unicorn came fitted with Michelin as standard spec. Not sure what they fit now but the spec does say premium brand tyres.
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This1.9 tonnes van came with Goodyear and 6 years on that is what they were replaced with. The new replacement van would cost £36k, so for 2 x £80>90 I don't risk things.
The previous 1.7 tonnes van had Matador, both road wheels had blow outs on one trip in France at 3 years and 9000 miles old, the blowouts were 400 miles apart. The spare was professionally inspected and deemed unfit for purpose with a wire layup fault. All three were accepted by importer to have been defective.
There is no way I will now tow nearly two tonnes at up to 60 mph knowing it is fitted with budget tyres. I can afford to caravan, I can't afford the risks again.
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Caravan manufacturers fit the absolute minimum tyres in terms of design and price and generally unknown (to me) makes.
I have been advised by tyre dealers (twice) to fit budget brands providing they are to EU standard and change them after 5 years, coming from speople who were selling tyres with no incentive to sell cheap I considered it honest advice
Not true, our 6yrs old Bailey was fitted with Maxxis, which are a mid range tyre, not one of the cheap unknown brands.
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Steve
Bailey have been fitting premium tyres and advertising it as a selling point over competitors.
I wouldn't object if my new van came fitted thus but the advice i got was that budget tyres are perfectly safe and made to older designs (of main manufacturers) in Eastern Europe , new tyre designs are more to do with emissions fuel consumption etc
not issues that apply to trailersI was advised by my tyre fitter, a caravanner himself, to avoid the cheaper budget tyres. Doubt that there would have been much difference in profit for him whichever grade of tyre he fitted.
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