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Monday, June 30, 2014

RV Travel Webinar Q&A Part 1

I enjoyed this first webinar on the RV Travel YouTube channel (June 28).



Hope you found the information informative.
 The answers had to be short or I am afraid I would have put some to sleep. I do want to provide as
much info as possible so I am reviewing the comments and will provide a bit more information based on the comments






Buddy Light said "I like RV tires with more plies".
    Well Buddy you may not realize but "Ply Rating" is an old term that is based on an "equivalent strength" and not on the actual number of Ply or layers of reinforcement. You can read the material list of what is actually in your tires as it is molded on the tire sidewalls. It may say something like "Sidewall 2 Ply Polyester, Tread 2 ply Polyester + 2 ply Steel".  If you have a large RV with 22.5 wheel diameter you may be surprised to learn the sidewall of many of these tires has only one Ply of Steel in the sidewall with an additional 3 or 4 Ply of Steel in the Tread area. These tires may have a "Ply Rating" of 12 or 14 but in reality there is only 1 ply in the tire.

Astrid Bierworth said "if a truck tire is the same size as the trailer tire, could we get better service from a truck tire?"
    When I heard and answered the question I was not thinking about "Light Truck" tires as when someone says "Truck Tires" to me I immediately think of Heavy Truck tires that have wheels of 19.5" or larger. Reading your question now I think you meant to ask about using Light Truck or LT type
tires on a trailer and replace the ST or Special Trailer tires that came on the trailer originally. On my blog I started a multi-part post 6/23 "Can I change from ST to LT tires on my Trailer or 5ver?" that
addresses your question specifically. The second part will be published next week. If you subscribe to my blog you will get a notice when a new post goes up.

David Lee asked a similar question. "What's the advantage/disadvantage of using light truck tires over trailer tires?"
     Sorry David our set-up didn't allow me to see the comments live. I hope you find the answer you were looking for in my series on this topic.

AaronzDad "Roger are there any tire treatments that will add back the oils and chemicals tires need to stay flexible and extend the life of the tire?"
     No the treatments mostly remain on the surface much like Sun Tan Lotion does when you spread it on your arm. They may give the tire a "New Shine" look and may provide a little UV or Ozone protection but too often many of the treatments and their application can end up doing more damage than good. Sometimes there is "Petroleum Distillate" in the treatment and this can actually attack the tire rubber. Other times the application of the treatment removes the chemicals originally put in the
tire for protection. I suggest you limit your tire "treatment" to the same wash, sponge and soap you use on the painted surfaces of your RV or car.

Lori Singels said "The highly recommended TPMS system I bought constantly leaked. They're now a paperweight on my desk."
      I don't know who gave you the recommendation but if you bought your TPMS from a reputable dealer there should have been a warranty available that would have addressed your problem. I did a post on "What is the BEST TPMS" and in it I tried to provide the features I felt were the most important to look for in a system. Remember that just having a big advertising budget so your product name is most recognized does not mean your product is the best on the market. After some research, I bought my TPMS from TireTraker and have run them on my coach since 2012 and am very pleased.


Saturday, June 28, 2014

Quick Summary here

I have been following a number of RV forums and want to do a bit of a summary for those that don't have the time or interest to read a number of posts on this Blog: Remember more than half of the thousands of RVs that have been checked have been found to have one or more tire and/or axle in overload. So nect time you camp you can be pretty sure that one or both of the RVs parked next to you are overloading a component.

- You should have a Digital tire gauge. I have posted the results of my tests of dozens of gauges that RVrs were using and the bottom line is that about 15% were off by more than 5 psi which  IMO makes that tire gauge a good door stop or tent peg. I have provided information on how to do your own gauge "Calibration Check" to confirm the accuracy of the gauge you use daily and how to maintain your "Master Gauge"

- If you follow the advice from the two Tire Engineers on this thread you will be setting the pressure based on the appropriate method here:
     - On your TV inflate to pressure based on the Door sticker and Owner's manual for "Fully Loaded" operation. BUT get on a scale at least once to confirm you are not overloaded.
     - If you have a multi-Axle trailer you should be running the pressure on the tire sidewall. I have written in my Blog and provided the technical justification and need to follow this advice. You should still go across a scale and calculate the actual tire loads to confirm you are not overloading one or more tires
      - If you have Motorhome you need to confirm your unit's "corner weights". Use one of the worksheets I have provided links to. Use Load/Inflation chart from your tire manufacturer, to confirm you are not overloaded and identify the heavier loaded tire on each axle. Using the pressure for that load add 10% (without exceeding the wheel max) and that is your Cold set pressure for all tires on that axle.
      - If you follow the above there should be no reason to be chasing your tire inflation around unless you have a major change in Morning temperature ( More than say 30°F ) as you would only need to "Top Off" the air once a month at most.

- Don't be too anal about inflation. Variations of 1 to 3 psi day to day are normal. You should not need to make adjustments unless the Cold pressure is 4 or 5 psi away from your goal. (Multi-axle trailers might try and get no lower than 3 psi below tire sidewall pressure)

- TPMS are a WARNING device and like Insurance we should all be using them. Also just like Insurance they cannot "Prevent" bad stuff from happening but with luck they may give sufficient advance warning to lessen the impact of the bad stuff that does happen.

- If you are parked for more than a day you need to cover your tires that will be in direct sunlight with WHITE tire covers. This protects against both UV and higher temperature damage which can shorten tire life.