Earlir this year I purchased a 2015 model Supreme van, from the first owner. On towing it home from Vic to mid north coast NSW I noticed a jerking feeling when the tow vehicle was pulling it up an incline. Tow vehicle Mazda BT 50.
After several checks of tow vehicle, then auto electrician checks of van electrics including brakes and breakaway system, decided to remove wheels and check wheel bearings, adjust van brakes as well. During this I noticed non of the van wheels were balanced. On getting them balanced was told they are slightly elliptical (out of round) all needed condiderable weights with the worst needing 380 grams. That is a large amount of weight.
So thought about replacing the tyres. Huge problems so far trying to buy tyres with same load rating.
The tyres are 235/75 R15 116/113S . The "116" is the load rating and "113S" is the speed rating.
The data plate on the van states "min load rating=1,250kg" and "min speed rating =120klm" These figures match the tyre ratings.
However trying to find tyres with equal rating is to say the least very difficult.
Most tyres have a lower rating of "109 / 110" which is less than stamped on the data plate. Most tyre suppliers asre saying the lesser rating will do the job but .... I am not prepared to risk it.
A question to the group???
Have you purchased replacement tyres and checked lossd ratings???
Sorry for the long winded story but wanted to explain my predicament as I was not the original purchaser ahd warranty claims not an option.
Tony Bev said
10:44 PM Jun 19, 2018
Welcome to the forum, Havinacrackatit
They are out there if you look close enough
Below is the tyre you are chasing 235/75 R15 116 S
I could be wrong, but, I thought that 116 was the load rating for single, and 113 was the load rating for duel I would not worry about the speed rating for a caravan, as very few of them will ever be going faster than the towing vehicle
The link below is to a mob who will send the tyres to a tyre shop of your choice
Thanks Tony Bev for the warm welcome and your reply. The link you posted appears to be the exact same tyres that are currently on the van. Yesterday I took the van spare wheel to get balanced with a view to use it to replace the one that was 380 grams out of whack. It has never been on the road and spun up out of round as well, although considerable less weights to balance. So not keen to get same tyres when 5 out of 5 spun up out of round.
mezza56 said
08:24 AM Jun 20, 2018
They're chinese manufactured , but they've been round for a long time , not sure but the doublestar brand is more recent . I've gotta buy new tyres for the van soon and have been looking at all sorts . Its hard to decide as you read reviews good of cheaper ones and some not so good for more well known brands . Really all I want to know is that they're going to be safe and durable . I think van manufacturers stick cheaper brands on purely for cost control , and because most purchasers don't take much notice and have faith that the manufacturers know whats best .By the way the original tyres on our van are chinese also but no problems.
Havinacrackatit said
11:12 AM Jun 20, 2018
The original tyres are "MPC DS620". A search on the net shows they are distributed by a company in Campbellfield Victoria and they appear to supply the caravan industry with mag wheels and tyres.
The out of round and out of balance issue has caused so much frustration in trying to find the problem.
I have had several vans previous to this, in fact I bought this van prior to selling our previous Jayco van. That was how I narrowed the problem to the current van (Supreme) as when I took the Jayco out for a run it travelled as smooth as. Hook up to the Supreme and this jerking feeling.
After further investigation I found it has started to flog out the tow bar where the pin holds the goose neck in. The hole is now considerably larger than it should be. Sent tow bar to an engineering shop and had extra 6mm plates welded each side with correct size hole drilled through to eliminate the rattle in the goose neck.
Since getting the wheels balanced the jerking feeling when tow has gone.
Anyway back to the issue at hand; in searching for tyres with the correct load rating I can only find the same as currently fitted or another brand made in Indonesia which are what I would term as another cheap import. To date cannot find other tyres with equal load rating.
Surely there are other van owners with similar size load ratings or greater and wandering where they have soyrced their tyres, or are they puting a lower rated tyre on???
My van has a Tare; 2,476kg, ATM of 2,876kg ; GTM 2,784kg. Axle group rating 3,200kg.
Looking forward to some responses ๐ค
Kebbin said
01:26 PM Jun 20, 2018
Well that explains it they came from the caravan factory suburb of Australia 30 odd builders pumping out generic style caravans using chinese bits and pieces.
Craig1 said
05:17 PM Jun 20, 2018
we rejected chinky stuff and ended with Hankook brand, perhaps try them for your specs which are fairly serious.
Aus-Kiwi said
10:08 AM Jun 21, 2018
Some use 2 year old tyres off their tow vehicle ? This way the tow vehicle keeps good tyres . If tyre size is the same ?
travellinglew said
08:01 PM Jun 21, 2018
I am guessing here but if your van is a 4 wheeler then a tyre with a 1250kg rating would indicate that your van weighs up close to 5000kg ie 4 x 1250. A 3000kg van would need tyres that can handle at least 750 kg each ie 750 x 4 = 3000. Unless you are pulling a 5 ton van, I would suggest that you may be able to downgrade the weight rating of your tyres. As mentioned above, I would also not be so worried about speed rating, anything at 100 k will be good as it is very unlikely that you will tow above this speed.
JBDUBBO said
08:05 PM Jun 21, 2018
I have these Doublestar Tyres on my 2012 single axle Billabong Van I know Lotus and others also use them. I had an axle problem and wore the edge off mine and after a wheel alignment G & S Chassis replaced both. Unfortunately I took a chunk out of one on a trip and decided to replace both again. After many weeks of trying I had no choice to fit the same as no where could I get the load rating needed.
All in all I have done 65,000klms on Doublestar tyres.
-- Edited by JBDUBBO on Thursday 21st of June 2018 08:06:19 PM
Havinacrackatit said
09:11 PM Jun 21, 2018
Since reviewing the data plate have found a covering statement at the bottom saying combined trye load rating must not be less than gvm of van which makes sence as well contradicting specified load rating field on plate. Have now purchased a set of tyres with a load rating of (110) 1,060 kg per tyre and light truck classification. The original tyres had a LT classification. Hope this sorts my issues.
Havinacrackatit said
09:13 PM Jun 21, 2018
Thank you one and all for your comments. Cheers, Gary
Tony Bev said
10:17 PM Jun 22, 2018
Glad to see that you got it all sorted, Gary
Greg 1 said
01:44 AM Jun 23, 2018
Glad you got it sorted.
You must have got a bad batch of tyres as we have the MPC brand on our van along with their wheels, and they are fine. Have done about 30,000k's on them now with no issues. Very little weight on the wheels to balance them and wearing well. Will probably need to replace them due to age before they are worn out.
I have seen bad batches of product from major common name brands that have had worse faults than out of round, so I guess it can happen to anyone.
Welcome to the forum, Havinacrackatit
They are out there if you look close enough
Below is the tyre you are chasing 235/75 R15 116 S
I could be wrong, but, I thought that 116 was the load rating for single, and 113 was the load rating for duel
I would not worry about the speed rating for a caravan, as very few of them will ever be going faster than the towing vehicle
The link below is to a mob who will send the tyres to a tyre shop of your choice
Hope that this helps you out
https://www.tyresales.com.au/buy/tyre/doublestar/ds620_all-terrain/235-75r15/117093?q=4
They're chinese manufactured , but they've been round for a long time , not sure but the doublestar brand is more recent . I've gotta buy new tyres for the van soon and have been looking at all sorts . Its hard to decide as you read reviews good of cheaper ones and some not so good for more well known brands . Really all I want to know is that they're going to be safe and durable . I think van manufacturers stick cheaper brands on purely for cost control , and because most purchasers don't take much notice and have faith that the manufacturers know whats best .By the way the original tyres on our van are chinese also but no problems.
I have these Doublestar Tyres on my 2012 single axle Billabong Van I know Lotus and others also use them. I had an axle problem and wore the edge off mine and after a wheel alignment G & S Chassis replaced both. Unfortunately I took a chunk out of one on a trip and decided to replace both again. After many weeks of trying I had no choice to fit the same as no where could I get the load rating needed.
All in all I have done 65,000klms on Doublestar tyres.
-- Edited by JBDUBBO on Thursday 21st of June 2018 08:06:19 PM