Correct tyre pressures are vital for getting the best performance from your car and caravan.
But what pressure should we set our tyres? Unfortunately, there is no single answer, as it depends on the size of your tyres, the weight of your vehicle and the surface you plan to travel.
There are many different tyre sizes and configurations, and each tyre size must have a certain tyre pressure.
The difference between a caravan and a car, is that caravan tyres aren’t for traction, they’re for trailing, so if anything you need them a little bit over inflated so you’ll get less roll in your tyre wall making it trail a lot better. You will get a much longer life out of your tyres and you will also find it will be a lot more fuel efficient.
Load rating is important also, as with each individual tyre there is different load rating or how much weigh they can carry. For example, on our single axle, 18 ft Wild Child, our big off road family van, they have to have about 60 – 70psi in the tyres, as anything less than that on a highway, the tyre isn’t actually rated to carry the weight that you have put on it.
Another thing to be mindful of is to differentiate your tyre pressures from when you leave the bitumen. If you go off road with high tyre pressures you will shake the van, putting a lot of stress on your internal cabinetry. You need to decrease your tyre pressures as you would with your car tyres, so by dropping them down to about 25psi, will allow roll in the tyre wall, giving you more cushioning and make your travel a whole lot smoother and then down lower again to about 20psi if you are travelling on the sand heading up the beach.
With your smaller standard trailing tyres, it is recommended to go down to about 50psi, and once again you need to go down by the same differentials when heading off road.
The correct tyre pressure is vitally important as maintaining the correct inflation pressure in your caravan wheels will maximise the lifespan of the tyres, reduce shock to the caravan and improve towing stability.
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