caravan tyres

[robobone]

i have just had the annual service done on the caravan and the guy advises me to replace the two tyres

can anyone tell me are they special as he says i need 8ply?

any idea where the best place to get them from

[Rick1956]

Don,t be tempted to put on normal car tyres, they are not up to the job and would be dangerous if fitted to a caravan. Caravan tyres carry much more weight and therefore are made to much higher load carrying strengths,
8 ply is normal for a caravan tyre, they are available from most tyre dealers and fitters, they tend to be a bit pricer than a car tyre but they do work harder.
General thought is that caravan tyres need to be changed at the 5 year mark sometimes a lot earlier. :smile:

[(RIP) PLANK]

they are nothing special mate just van tyres! what size are they?

13/165?

i would assume you only need 6 ply not 8 as its not that large a van and lunars are light, it you go for 8 they arent very flexible and make the caravan bounce a bit.

Myself I would prefer good quality part worns to cheap new tyres as the most wear to carvan tyres is from the sun on the side walls and more exspensive tyres tend to take it better, and they never seem to wear out on a caravan just perish! but the choice is yours.

[theduck]

Hi robobone,

I think you will find normal cartyres are 8 ply :? I have a spare wheel that is a 13" and across bolt holes measures 4" £10.00 but I'm inhuntingdon BUT i do come past your area if you are interested but it would be ay night and I would ask you to come to the M5.

Regards duck

[(RIP) PLANK]

in adition to my last it is worth noting that only realy heavy caravans or twin axels really need 8 ply as they they cause more cornering stress, but having said that even big bucanner showmans trailers etc usualy only go for 6 ply!

normal car tyres are usualy 4 ply, light vans, (small transits etc). and carvans 6 ply and larger vehicles (including many 4x4's) like transit pick ups and lwb vans 8 ply. bear in mind they have a gross weight of 3500 kilos and your average caravan is less than a 1000 or not much more!

[wildbri]

I use van tyres but change them at 5 years as I have found that alhough the wear is little the tyres start to perish and are unreliable....bri

[dinky]

Change mine every 4 years due to mileage and going down lots of tracks.Use 8 ply an tyres cost about £70 for the pair good quality not foreign rubbish.

[(RIP) PLANK]

as you know i have quite a bit of experience caravan wise but as an example, our caravan has a max weight (or mass in running order for you new euro types) of 1440 kilos and according to the manual it runs on 6 ply tyres as should most.

A thing worht considering though if your looking for extra safety is tyro safety bands, but to be fair i have had one tyre fail in all my caravaning miles and years, that was on a huge buccaneer with wood burner cut glass mirrors etc weighing in at 2 inperial tons unladen.

I had the tyres changed (all 6 ply) and the tyre fitter mixed up and put one the same make and tread pattern on the off side rear that was a nornal car tyre, we took a sharp turn under the railway on the road from bewdly to kiderminster and the stress on the sidewalls cause the tyre to drasticaly fail!

so we pulled on to the verge and i went home to get the spare i had forgotten ops:

I htink the biggest cause of tyre failure as has been said is incorrect tyres, incorrect pressures and deterioration by sun etc. this is made worse by wrong pressures.

But resist high pressures and syres to high a loasd rating for the caravan as they can lead to a lot of bouncing around on the road.

[theduck]

I htink the biggest cause of tyre failure as has been said is incorrect tyres, incorrect pressures and deterioration by sun etc. this is made worse by wrong pressures.

But resist high pressures and syres to high a loasd rating for the caravan as they can lead to a lot of bouncing around on the road.[/quote]


This probabley the cause of a lot of accidents

[(RIP) PLANK]

i agree i htink once they start bouncing they become unstable, tyr it with a small trielr put and extra 5 psi in the tyres and take it down the road and watch it bounce over every manhole cover you will be suprised

and for its size a caravan isint really that heavy!

your fisrt line of suspension should realy be a little bit of give in yout tyres otherwise we would all still be on solid cart wheels :

add to that the extra stress it causes on chasis and body seams, not to mention you tv dvd and china!

While on the subject of safety, next best thing is make sure you have it loaded as close to max nose eight as possible, and all heavy items low down in the caravan ie under the bunks etc.

also make sure you tow bar i set up for it to run level, or slightyl nose down


I have fond if you take all these basic safety measures into account you dont realy need a satabiliser.

[Rick1956]

Good sound advice, however one point That I have to raise is that made by Plank, Heavy items really should be stowed over the caravan axle(s) as much as possible, if you load heavy items at either end of the caravan it will make the caravan Very unstable and could cause the dreaded "snake"

[(RIP) PLANK]

carefull positioning of heavy items can even sort out your nose weight :wink: