Are comercial tires necessary on a camper?

[Red Westie]

CovKid....I agree with your comments completely but if it ever came down to an accident investigation or claim your insurance company would leave you high and dry and exposed to prosecution.
Not to mention the risk of MOT failure if the tester knows his onions.

Martin

[72BUG]

When I went for tyres on my van the tyre place flatly refused to fit anything other than commercial tyres.

He said he would supply me with car tyres if I wanted to fit them myself, but I didn't think my spoons were strong enough.

[cruising_r32]

I deduced (in my case) that for a vehicle that is empty 99% of the time, car tyres would be fine and thats proved to be the case. I get better grip in the wet and it handles nicely.

As for speed rating, well, like thats gonna be a factor in a 1.9.

That is very true, my camper, as heavy as it may be is no way near the weight of a loaded up van and will sit empty for most of its life, plus i have no intention of bouncing up and down off paths/ kerbs everyday like a white van man.

I seriously doubt the speed rating will ever come into consideration for my camper, mountain bike tires are probably rated to a higher speed than I can manage

[cruising_r32]

CovKid....I agree with your comments completely but if it ever came down to an accident investigation or claim your insurance company would leave you high and dry and exposed to prosecution.
Not to mention the risk of MOT failure if the tester knows his onions.
Martin

A serious consideration to make when modifying your camper- what looks good and does the job may not be legal.....

The car tires are capable of carrying the weight of a camper if bought with the right load rating but it may be a technicality that our vans have to run commercial tires

[kevtherev]

A wheel barrow tyre would carry a camper !!... but it isn't designed to cope with the cornering stresses and heat disapation.

Commercial tyres are stiff so that heat is not an issue and extra lyers of nylon cord hold the shape.. reason is as the load varies the tyre can cope what ever the weight

Reinforced tyres are a modern day compromise, they are reinforced with different density rubber on the bead area and have thicker sidewalls to remove heat as they are more flexible and generally have better traction than a stiffer tyre. these tyres often come in at 95 to 99 load rating

[peasant]

On Irish roads ...C rated tyres any time!

They cope with lumps and bumps and the usual potholes a lot better than lighter tyres ...so they last longer and you don't get a flat that easily.
Another plus for C tyres is that they can take a fair bit of pressure. So when you park up your camper for some months, pump them up to the max value (see sidewall) and they'll stand happily without going oval from parking too long

[CovKid]

Yep, which all tallies with my first thoughts - use commercial. I just choose to drive on what I do for my own reasons and aware of insurance issues although to be fair, my tyres are rated high on just about everything else. The tyres I'm running on are perfectly acceptable for the job they're being asked to perform if not beyond that but I can't (hand on heart) recommend it for all the reasons above. Hope that makes sense.

At the end of the day, 99% of 80/90 members will say commercial, as they drive past on their non-commercial tyres on low profile non-standard alloy wheels Clearly these setups do work - but not by the book. Still prefer steel wheels though

[Aberdeenbus]

Your tyres MUST have a load rating of a minimum of your vehicles gross weight (now called MAM) which is stamped on the plate with your Chassis no and Axel weights.

If you choose to run tyres with less than this rating you will be using the tyres for a purpose for which they were not designed and unfortunately this means POINTS if you get caught not just insurance problems.

In this part of the world we have been using that legislation on Boy racer with stretched tyres, which are stretched onto rims beyond the manufacturers recommendations.
It is also used when works vans with alloys and low profile tyres are stopped.

The correct tyres aren’t expensive and are the safest thing to use.

Si

[Aberdeenbus]

Your tyres MUST have a load rating of a minimum of your vehicles gross weight (now called MAM) which is stamped on the plate with your Chassis no and Axel weights.


DIVIDED by four


ops

SI

[jason k]

try http://www.camskill.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for cheap tyres

[cruising_r32]

try http://www.camskill.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for cheap tyres

I had a look on there last night - very impressive selection and prices!

[sarran1955]

Hello,

Cheapo solution for derusting wheels.

You will need:

A plastic bucket.

A plastic watering can, with sprinkler

A pack of wallpaper paste.

2 or 3 sachets of kettle descaler powder, (the sort you find free with coffee filters) (Sulphamic acid for the chemists)

I sachet of epsom salts, bath salts will do, and you get lovely smelling wheels.

What you do:

Mix up the wallpaper paste with cold water, double strength.

leave 2 mins.

Stir in sachets of descaler, wait 5 mins.

brush rusty bits liberally, (it might be a good idea to have a responsible adult nearby)

Leave 1/2 hour.

Wash off with water.

If all the rust is gone , make up the epsom salts, one handful to 2 litres water, (responsible adults have larger hands.) ,
Water liberally. (this stops the reaction and passivates the metal)

Blow dry with compressor.

Paint straight away.

Hope you have fun,


Cordialement,

[eatcustard]

I have a better way of de-rusting wheels

buy new ones

[CovKid]

Thats a GREAT tip! Might WIKI that one.....

In fact, just did, Thanks for that Sarran: https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Bo ... Y_Approach" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Plasticman]

I have a better way of de-rusting wheels

buy new ones

£$£$£$£$£$£$?
mike