I have a Galaxy 16ft single axle poptop van- weight empty 1360kg. I am looking for a tyre that has firm/stiff sidewalls. The tyres on the van at the moment are Toyo L/T 195 R14C -105/104S 8PR. These numbers don't mean much to me. I run the tyres at 55 psi and the side walls look soft and as if they are just off the road. My concern is that they may become damaged. Any suggestions? - Mike.
-- Edited by mikepam on Wednesday 17th of October 2012 11:33:54 PM
The Toyo's you're running are probably as good a tyres as you'll ever likely to get. I ran the same model van and tyres with air con and battery pack for 7 years and found a tyre pressure of 60psi was spot on. So without an air con or battery pack 55psi would be pretty close to the mark. Also remember that your van (Like many others) has no shock absorbers and thus the tyres have to try and absorb all the road shock. With stiff walls and/or stiff suspensions they can't do the job they're designed for. A bit to much air is better than not enough. Better to wear them out than blow them out. Hey! Safe travels, Ozjohn.
-- Edited by ozjohn on Thursday 18th of October 2012 07:53:41 AM
-- Edited by ozjohn on Thursday 18th of October 2012 07:54:47 AM
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Retired Engineer, Ex Park Owner & Caravan Consultant. Holden 2.8 Colorado - Roma Elegance 17'6" Pop Top. Location: Mornington Peninsula Vic.
radial ply tyres will always have a bulging sidewall, even with the right pressure. If you dont want a bulge in the side wall you will need to fit conventional ply tyres (and you dont want that as they are yesteryear design and old) OZJohn has given good advice. Check pressure cold and then when tyres are warm recheck pressure, there needs to be an increase in pressure of 4psi for correctly inflated tyres. If they are too low in pressure the temp of the tyre will incease as well as the pressure. So if when you do your check and the presure has increased 7 psi you need to put more pressure in the tyre when cold. Once you have done this (a lot of mucking around) you will have worked out the correct pressure for your tyre carry that weight at that time. This will change depending on water in tank and any thing else that will have a bearing on weight. For me I would just pump the buggers up to 55 psi and go vanning. cheers blaze
My tyres are light truck tyres on Myrtle. Well they are supposed to be but my other son says they are not. Funny because they were when I asked and paid for them in Echuca. I run them at 40.
radial ply tyres will always have a bulging sidewall, even with the right pressure. If you dont want a bulge in the side wall you will need to fit conventional ply tyres (and you dont want that as they are yesteryear design and old) OZJohn has given good advice. Check pressure cold and then when tyres are warm recheck pressure, there needs to be an increase in pressure of 4psi for correctly inflated tyres. If they are too low in pressure the temp of the tyre will incease as well as the pressure. So if when you do your check and the presure has increased 7 psi you need to put more pressure in the tyre when cold. Once you have done this (a lot of mucking around) you will have worked out the correct pressure for your tyre carry that weight at that time. This will change depending on water in tank and any thing else that will have a bearing on weight. For me I would just pump the buggers up to 55 psi and go vanning. cheers blaze
I have tyre prerssure monitors fitted to my tug and have found that the 4psi rule is valid only if there is no significant difference (more than a few degrees) in the ambient temperature between when the two readings are taken. For example if the "cold" reading is done early in the morning before heading out and the "hot" reading were done later in the day when the ambient temperature could be 10 to 15 degrees higher there will be a rise in pressure due to this alone and a difference of 6psi or more could fool one into believing the tyre pressures were too low.
I'm inclined to agree with blaze...just pump them to 55 and don't worry.
