Exploding tyres

Vanroyce
Vanroyce Forum Participant Posts: 2
edited August 2017 in Your stories #1

My wife and I have owned a Vanroyce caravan (535EK) for the last 15 years. We love the caravan, but there was one aspect that troubled us for the first 7 years. During the first 7 years we experienced 3 blow outs of the tyres, two on the off side, one on the nearside. The blowouts were quite frightening, as the tyres went with a loud bang, and on one occasion the flap of rubber created by the blowout caused quite alot of damage to the wheel arch. Fortunately we had Tyron bands fitted so the tyre never left the rim.

I wrote to many "experts" and none could give me an explanation as to why this was happening. It was only whilst talking to a technician from Michelin that the cause of the problem became clear. The recommended pressure given by Vanroyce was 61psi. This is apparently far too high. It causes the layers on the tyre fracture as there is no give in the tyre. The technician recommended I run at 50psi. This gives the tyre more flexibility when running at high temperatures, especially on motorways. Since taking his advice, I have now travelled for thousands of miles on the same set of tyres for 6 years. Only this year have I changed them, due to the age of the tyres. I hope this experience will be of benefit to other Club members who have suffered similar problems.