Having read the thread, I didn't think any contribution I would have made would be of interest, so didn't post. More importantly, it's good to see the later post from the OP in which he showed a clear understanding of the whole matter. An educational thread for future readers
Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't! But I do notice that it's different every time.
I do
My wife has a habit of putting very heavy things at the front of the caravan, just after i think we're all done!
Parksy
Moderator
I carry a nose weight gauge but I only check it if we change the payload.
I tend not to carry heavy items at the front of the caravan apart from the gas bottle.
That would be me.
Always surprises me when we're people watching on site, how many people don't check the nose weight when leaving nor adjust their tire pressures after arriving or when leaving.
I always do both.
I always checked the noseweight before leaving home. On short trips I did not recheck it before returning but when abroad it was checked before departure fir the return trip. Tyre pressures would be adjusted if required for solo driving after arrival on site and vice versa.
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Parksy
Moderator
Ah! Took me a while to get there but I see what you mean.
It sounded better in my head.
Checked mine before the off on Thursday, new full gas bottle installed and as the van is fairly new to me, still getting used to it.
Tres bien Sam😉Ah! Took me a while to get there but I see what you mean.
It sounded better in my head.
I checked mine before we left home 6 weeks ago. I doubt whether it has changed more than 10 kg since then. If anything it will be less than when we started as the two gas bottles are slowly being used up.
I check the tyre pressures before going away but I have never had a problem with them dropping when touring. There was one incident where we had a flat tyre when we were about to leave but that was obvious.
Cannot argue with checking the nose weight though as that can be affected by tings used and new things purchased although if the loading is right it should not be a problem.
Not so much a question of the pressure dropping when touring but more a case that the pressure needs to be different when towing compared with driving around when not.
Sam beat me to the short answer,
The reason why tyre pressures often need to be increased when towing, is partly due to the significant static nose load that is added to the car - especially the rear axle load, but also when the car accelerates, changes directions, or brakes, the caravan does impart much higher loads through the tow bar, which places considerably higher and loads in different directions through the cars rear tyres and can cause them to squirm.
The higher pressure not only helps to support the static loads, but it also stiffens the tyres side wall to reduce the squirming effect that additional side loads can produce.
As far as I can remember car manufacturers have always quoted two pressures depending on load. I hope no one has forgotten😉
My recent Subaru Forester had three specified pressures. One for up to four passengers including driver, second five passengers and luggage, third for towing.
But like most things it could lead to questions such as what is the towing pressure without passengers and minimal load. IE you are collecting van unloaded caravan. What about three passengers, they have luggage but not towing. What pressure is used. So like a number of things caravanning you have to try a few things out to get what feels right. For the Subaru rear pressures at Stage 1 were 220 kp, and for Stage 3 towing 290kp. So I had a wide span with which to work over most loading situations.
It depends how long you are touring for. I checked the tyre pressure of the caravan tyres the day we left home 25th August and they were 4.5bar (65psi) and today, not quite 9 weeks later, they were 3.6bar (52psi). Could be that back in August the ambient temperature was a good deal hotter than today.
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