Tyres & Tyreband

[HOVIS1]

Advice please.
What is the prefered make of tyre used for caravans- 185/15.?
Tyrebands - Are they worth the cost involved and fitting etc?
I have just reakised that my caravn has 2 road wheels Alloy, and
1 spare steel!!! The Alloy wheel fits with some difficulty on the spare wheel
carrier.
All this has come about after a "blow out" in France.

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

What is the prefered make of tyre used for caravans- 185/15.?

Any make that fits the specification, as all makes should be made to meet the standards.

Tyrebands - Are they worth the cost involved and fitting etc?

The jury is out on that one.

I have just reakised that my caravn has 2 road wheels Alloy, and
1 spare steel!!!

Nothing wrong with that, as it is usual. Beware that in some cases different studs/nuts are required between the two types of wheels and that the studs/nuts need different torque values.

 

[PaulT]

Sorry to hear about your blowout hope there was no danger involved.

It's not unusual (even with cars) for the spare to be steel (it's cheaper). Tyre bands - you either love them or loathe them. I believe some tyre fitters won't change a tyre if it's got bands fitted. I've never had them but I do have tyre pressure monitors fitted. Naturally these don't protect you against a sudden, catastrophic failure but do tell you if you've got a "slow" which otherwise you might not notice.

Tyre types - get whatever you're happy with but they must be caravan, not car, tyres.

 

[DrZhivago]

All this has come about after a "blow out" in France.

Goes to show how essential it is to rehearse a wheel change on any car or van while at home. Typical problems I have found include :-

1) Some or all of the changing tools missing

2) Wheel nuts so tight (previously fitted by Rambo with an air tool) that a 4ft scaffold pole is needed on the wheelbrace. [Hint : AA/RAC men usually carry 4ft scaffold poles with them]

3) Spare wheel flat/wrong size/unservicable

4) Spare's cradle mechanism seized up.

5) Jack won't lift high enough or cannot start low enough (in a rehearsal you must imagine the tyre being flat so the vehicle being lower). This can be a problem with second-hand vehicles where the previous owner has kept the nice jack and and the dealer perhaps tosses in a random spare jack he has.

6) The van has lost height due to the puncture so you cannot get the spare out from under it. And if you first jack the van up it would mean reaching/crawling underneath with it only on the jack - bad idea. You might want to carry a proper axle stand with you.

All things you don't want to learn about on a dark wet night by the roadside.

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

6) The van has lost height due to the puncture so you cannot get the spare out from under it.

I had a practice when I bought my new van (4 years ago) and I couldn't even get the spare out WITHOUT a flat. Off came the carrier (also saves weight) and the spare now travels on the floor just inside the van. How I miss my previous Avondale van which had the spare in a recess just inside the door. Brilliant idea.

 

[PaulT]

It always beats me why chassis manufacturers don't make it so the spare wheel carrier is accessible from the back. So much safer especially on Continental roads.

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

It always beats me why chassis manufacturers don't make it so the spare wheel carrier is accessible from the back. So much safer especially on Continental roads.

Dare I say it, it would affect the nose weight that far back behind the axle. The side one as much closer to the axle.

 

[JamesH]

WoodlandsCamper wrote :- Dare I say it, it would affect the nose weight that far back behind the axle. The side one as much closer to the axle.

I am not disagreeing with you as I think generally it is a sensible statement but, my van, a Swift Corniche, has a dedicated space/fixing for the spare wheel in the rear locker. The front locker carries two gas bottles and the fridge and gas fire sit over the axle. In addition to the spare wheel being at the rear, the kitchen and toilet are also across the rear of the van.
The van tows like a dream. I've never had so much as a twitch. There always seem to be exceptions to any caravan rules.

 

[brian_c]

6) The van has lost height due to the puncture so you cannot get the spare out from under it.

I had a practice when I bought my new van (4 years ago) and I couldn't even get the spare out WITHOUT a flat. Off came the carrier (also saves weight) and the spare now travels on the floor just inside the van. How I miss my previous Avondale van which had the spare in a recess just inside the door. Brilliant idea.

I have an Avondale which is the only one that I've had that has got the preformed well accessible from within the caravan for the spare wheel. My spare has never been fitted and is on probably its third tyre.
The condition of the wheel and tyre is virtually as new.

Why manufacturers of all vans have never universally adopted this idea is to me one of life's mysteries.

My previous van had the under slung sliding carrier and I too removed it immediately after having a practice "Dry Run" on a sunny day and this was when the van was only about a month old. I am unable to imagine the process on a cold wet day in February along side a busy road.
Brian

 

[Woodentop]

Sorry to hear about your blowout hope there was no danger involved.

It's not unusual (even with cars) for the spare to be steel (it's cheaper). Tyre bands - you either love them or loathe them. I believe some tyre fitters won't change a tyre if it's got bands fitted. I've never had them but I do have tyre pressure monitors fitted. Naturally these don't protect you against a sudden, catastrophic failure but do tell you if you've got a "slow" which otherwise you might not notice.

Tyre types - get whatever you're happy with but they must be caravan, not car, tyres.

No such thing as a 'caravan' tyre - these days they are all van tyres.

I recently changed mine and got Avon AV4-75. They are 8-ply extra load rated and I have to say I have nothing but praise for them - the 'van is just so much more stable.

The OP quotes 185/15 - near enough. If the existing tyres are 185R15 or 185R15C (as mine are - ignore the C) it will be necessary on most tyre supplier sites to enter a profile of 80, i.e. 185/80R15 as 80 is 'standard' size. The speed rating on the existing tyres will probably be H or N - but on a web site enter R as this is by far the most common rating even if you will never reach that speed.

However most important is the load rating. Most modern tyres will be something like L102/100 which means that the maximum load for each tyre is 850Kg when used on a single axle or 800Kg when used on a twin axle. You should aim for a rating that is at least 10% higher than the MTPLM of the caravan and preferably rather higher if you can find them (there are ratings in van tyres as high as 108.)

I would recommend Just Tyres - they didn't have the tyres in stock but got them very quickly and fitted them at their depot by appointment. You buy and pay on line - www.justtyres.co.uk