Norm & Deb
Brown Co. Indiana
Senior Member
Joined: 08/21/2002
View Profile
 Offline
|
While I agree that there are "perfect" ways of handling the matter of tire pressure, what would be wrong with inflating the cold tires to the maximum listed on the sidewall, and keeping them there? Yes the ride may be harsher, and might wear the center of the tire out somewhat sooner than necessary, but would there be anything else wrong with doing it this way? Seems like this would work best for most of the people, most of the time. If I am wrong......I will appreciate hearing why.
Norm
2001 Monaco Knight 38' DP Triple Slide
2001 4WD Blazer in back
"Everything I will ever tell you will be 100% the truth, or would be 100% the truth if it actually happened."
|
dupreet
High Point, NC
Senior Member
Joined: 08/03/2007
View Profile
|
That's what I do. My tire's capacity is not a crazy amount over the rig's weight...it's the KISS method! What scares me is the folks here that run their tires at a substantially lower than max PSI; too low PSI can lead to catastrophic failures!
Todd
Todd
1993 Ford E-350 pushed by a 1988 Wilderness 24' TT
|
crickeydog
Marietta, Ga.
Senior Member
Joined: 01/29/2004
View Profile
|
Norm & Deb wrote: tire pressure; what would be wrong with inflating the cold tires to the maximum listed on the sidewall, and keeping them there?
That's what I've alway's done.
Happy camping!!! See y'all down the road!!!
USAF RETIRED. "EITHER LEAD, FOLLOW, OR GET OUTTA THE WAY"!
PULL DOGS:
2006 GMC 3500 CC DRW D/A LBZ 4X4 SLT "THE SILVER FOX" PRIMARY
2000 DODGE 3500 QUAD CAB DRW CTD LARAMIE "THE ROAD TRAIN LOCOMOTIVE" BACK-UP
2004 HOLIDAY RAMBLER PRES. 30 SCD 5'ER
|
Dick_B
Palos Heights, IL USA
Senior Member
Joined: 07/10/2002
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
Offline
|
It's what I do also. If the pressure drops a few psi during a trip I don't worry about it.
Dick_B
2003 SunnyBrook 27FKS
2011 3/4 T Chevrolet Suburban
Equal-i-zer Hitch
One wife, two bikes (both Electric Schwinn's with motor assist)
|
FormerBoater
South Florida
Senior Member
Joined: 02/08/2009
View Profile
Offline
|
To the OP, please note that the 3 responses above are not running Class A's.
Don't know much about towables but for sure no one is riding in the unit as it goes down the road.
Over-inflation is just as bad as under-inflation IMHO. Tire wear and handling are impacted for sure.
When we bought our coach the tires were over-inflated (120 fronts, 115 rears). Road rough on certain road surfaces and transmitted too much road vibration to the house.
Now running 105 and 90...smooth and supple and per the Goodyear chart for our weights with full fuel, full water, full propane, DW and I +stuff.
Dave
1998 American Eagle 40EVS
|
|
|
Beverley&Ken
Tottenham,Ontario
Senior Member
Joined: 08/22/2006
View Profile
 Online
|
Depends on how much over the recommended pressure it is. On ours, the Michelin chart recommends 65psi, max pressure is 80 but we keep ours at 70. We have found that when the front tires are up to 80psi, the handling is greatly affected, lots of wandering from less traction, can't say about decreased braking performance.
Beverley and Ken
2006 Winnebago Outlook 29B E-450.
2012 Honda CR-V AWD
Blue Ox Aventa LX tow bar and Brake Buddy Vantage.
|
Popsie
Livingston, TX, USA
Senior Member
Joined: 04/04/2003
View Profile
|
As I'm sure you've read on the Forum, you need to get your 4-corner weights, possibly shift some stuff around to get good balance, then use the tire charts to determine the right pressures (same on each axle) plus 5 or 10 pounds overkill if you desire.
Many RVers have reported that one or more corners of their MH is overloaded as it comes from the factory (which can get worse as you stow your stuff), in which case, just putting in the max pressure on the sidewall still could lead to a dangerously overloaded tire.
You may need to do something like changing the ride height on a corner to get good balance.
|
crasster
Dallas
Senior Member
Joined: 07/06/2007
View Profile
Offline
|
I over inflate and have for over 1,000,000 miles in both passenger cars and RV's. I go about 5-10 psi over the sidewall. It increases my MPG and prolongs the life of the tires. Never had a blow out. Never had a problem. My experience and opinion only.
4 whopping cylinders on Toyota RV's. Talk about great getting good MPG. Also I have a very light foot on the pedal. I followed some MPG advice on Livingpress.com and I now get 22 MPG! Not bad for a home on wheels.
|
tahiti16
Camarillo, CA
Senior Member
Joined: 06/23/2008
View Profile
Offline
|
As Beverly & Ken put it, depends how far from max is optimum for your tires and load according to the tire manufacturer.
Over inflation causes handling issues not just rougher ride, also wears shocks faster.
Over inflation will give several handling issues, lack of stability or wandering. harder to steer since the contact patch has shrunk and tire doesn't have the same grip. Longer braking distance due to smaller contact patch. Lower traction in wet conditions again due to smaller contact area.
Ray, Cheryl, Cory & of course Miss Molly the four-legged child
2006 Dolphin 36' F53 V10 5 speed auto 2 slides 7.5 KW genset
|
wolfe10
Texas
Senior Member
Joined: 10/08/2000
View Profile
Offline
|
The real answer is IT MAY BE JUST FINE OR, REPEAT OR, IT MAY OFF BY 50 PSI.
Example: The Michelin 255/80R22.5 on our coach come with a Michelin suggested PSI of 70..... and 110. Recommended PSI depends on axle weight.
If your actual axle weights are close to your tire's carrying capacity, you will be just fine with PSI for the maximum load.
HOWEVER, if you are well under that maximum load capacity, you will adversely affect handling and ride if way over inflated.
Only after you weight it will you know if you are very close to recommended PSI or WAY, WAY over-inflated.
For the few bucks it takes to weight the axles (not as accurate as weighing individual wheel positions) why in the world would you NOT go by your tire manufacturers recommendations. Taking the word of someone here for the correct PSI for tires on YOUR coach vs the word of the tire engineers who designed and built it makes no sense to me.
Brett Wolfe
1997 Safari Sahara 3540
EX: 1993 Foretravel 36' U-240
FMCA Forum: www.community.fmca.com/index
Diesel RV Club:http://www.dieselrvclub.org/
|
|
|
