tyre upgrades and pressures
a few weeks ago i had my ace supreme twinstar serviced at home by a mechanic who is very well known in the area [ he does a good job and reasonable price ] he advised me that my tyres were over five years old and needed changing as tyres tend to break down over time i took his advice at having the tyres upgraded from the usual 4 ply to 6 ply as the van would sit better on the road and ride a little better he duly fitted them and away he went he had told me that the pressure should go from 33psi up to about 50 psi as the tyres were stiffer and would take more weight etc - on our first trip out the van seemed to bounce a lot more than normal so i lowered pressure to 40 psi it still seemed a little harsh on the road but much better than when they were at 50 psi however this weekend we were away and towing still seemed a little harsh to what it used to be like so i have contacted the tech people at the caravan club -- five minutes later the very nice lady told me to lower the pressure to 36psi and guess what the van handles very nicely thank you while the mechanic was in no way wrong at the pressures he set it does pay to some times ask a second opinion from another expert as i wouldnt have lowered pressures any more than i had without some one who knows more than i do telling me it was ok thank you to the technical team for your advice it just proves we can all learn some thing new about caravanning even after 20 years
Comments
-
Sorry but this story could be taken a bit out of context! I have had occasion to ask a manufacturer what tyre pressure was needed for a particular type of caravan and the response was 61psi.
Some years ago I changed tyres on the van I had at that time and was told that 'van' tyres were appropriate and 50 psi was the recommended pressure.
I now have a 2012 Challenger Sport and that has tyres rated at 62 psi. I would say that the van tows beautifully but perhaps there is a little bounce there but I put that down to the addition of shock absorbers on this model.
So anyone taking what has been said in one particular case that pressures recommended by an apparent expert are incorrect could be making a bad mistake.
Perhaps we could ask the 'experts' to give us some firm advice?
This is no critism of the OP but this is such an important subject that I felt that something should be said.
0 -
I have since checked on my Swift Challenger Sport and a pressure of 62psi is actually stamped on the plate attached to the van giving the various weights etc.
0 -
sorry gentle englishman but are you saying i should take my pressures back up over fifty psi or that each van has a specific pressure no matter what tyres it has -- on the old tyres my psi is stamped on the van plate is at 33 but with the new 6 ply tyres
the mechanis pushed them up to 50 - after checking with the technical dept they advised me to reduce this to 36 psi -- my van ran on the normal 4 ply tyres when purchased new and the mechanic advised me to upgrade as a lot of people are now doing so for various
reasons -- also my caravan is a twin axle which is probably why the pressures are lower than your caravan which i think is a single axle hope this explanation puts right any confusion i have caused0 -
Thank you Spit3030 for your kind words for the information Technical gave you. We do ask members exactly what tyres are on the particular caravan, this enables correct tyre pressures are recommended for the MTPLM. The tyre pressure tables Technical use come
from BTMA (British Tyre Manufacturers Association). If you are in any doubt of what the pressure should be for your caravan, please call Technical and we can advise you, we just need the exact tyre size e.g 175 R13 97N and what make of caravan you have.0 -
On our previous 'van, I dropped the tyre pressure three psi, and it towed a lot better than when new. We had this 'van for 14 years, and never had any problems. Our new 'van has twin axels, and I run at the pressure as supplied new. maybe more rubber on
the road makes the differance.0
