Check your tyres
Caravan tyres are usually fairly cheap and are expected to last five years. They are prone to cracking around the rim inside and out and also between the treads. Two years ago at my annual service I realised that a four year old caravan actually had tyres that were five years old and seriously dangerous. I had them changed, and put what I thought were 'better quality' tyres on. They were Avon. On Friday when having my caravan serviced we discovered that there were cracks in these tyres and these were definitely TWO YEARS old!
I am in the process of buying new ones and the dealer is going to take up the issue with Avon, but there has been a suggestion that as the van has been standing throughout 'lockdown' because the Caravan Club chose to interpret the rules to completely deny me access this has been a contributory factor. Normally during the winter I visit the van about every 2/3 weeks and roll the van back and forwards to get the air moving and also put it back so it does not rest on the same spot.
SO PLEASE GET YOUR TYRES CHECKED OVER IT MIGHT SAVE YOUR LIFE
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Couldn't agree more. I fell into the trap of not paying close attention to the van tyres since I had Tyrepal TPMS fitted and as long as the pressures were OK, didn't really look at them. Until........ 2 days before setting off on a long trip to Cornwall, decided to have a look and to my horror found one of the MIchelin tyres, at just over three years old (confirmed by the date stamp), had serious cracks and a split in the sidewall. Managed to get it changed in time but now check them before every trip.
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Too true. And this is a timely reminder to ensure that you 'move' the caravan during long periods of non use, such as is happening now, to spread flat spots before using your caravan. My caravan has been on axle stands since March but wheels back on next weekend
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Dammit, DragJohn ~~ for a moment there I thought you were getting personal
.Seriously you have hit the nail on the head there -- many years ago I bought a used PVC based on a Renault Trafic and the whole vehicle sparkled, even the rear door mounted spare . but when it was removed and we could see the 'other side' it looked just like an over sized chocolate bar ! It went down quite steadily after we replaced one of the fronts to see what that one looked like !! The devils own job to put the jack under to raise it, so we had to put the other, removed, wheel & drive onto that to get clearance !
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Agree with you and previous poster , always on axle stands and covers . You can buy a new tyre which could be 2 years old , but still classed as new . Now my spare on back of disco , no cover there are two thoughts on this one which i wont bore you with.
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Just had cvan svcd and was shocked when the mechanic showed me just how badly cracked my 2014 tyres were, not on the side wall, but mainly in the centre of the tread making it difficult to spot.
Mechanic says he has seen a lot of tyres in bad condition this year and believes it is a result of cvans not being used and remaining static for long periods, so although it is unusual to see flat spots using modern tyres, they do crack, tread is just fine and i do spin the wheels once per month. As we probably wont be using cvan until next year will delay buying new tyres until we know if we can go overseas next year.
As i said in my previous post i always use wheel covers to reduce the effect of Ultra Violet and i guess 6 years is not too bad but to think that i was out and about in the cvan in September is a little bit frightening.
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Whilst on tyres, remember to check the torque on the wheel nuts, our new caravan has taken 5 trips out with retorque before each journey before the nuts have bedded in and are not coming loose.
just to have peace of mind I check every journey.
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