Tire pressures...

[lp722]

I just picked up a brand new Sunset Trail 291RK on Thursday, and drove it straight from the dealer to a fairgrounds in Tallahassee about 3 hours away (we live a bit south of Orlando, the dealer is in St. Augustine, and the fairgrounds being in Tallahassee made that one long day for me!) for us to test it out for the weekend at a dog show. And by brand new, I mean the dealer had it on order, but we had to wait a couple weeks for it to make it to his lot. So it's not one that had been sitting for a while. Anyway, before we left the dog show, I checked the pressures in the tires, and they pegged my crappy tire gauge at 60psi. They're 14" 6-ply c-rated tires, and they show 50PSI max cold on the side wall. I dropped them down to about 52PSI showing on my gauge, and when I got home I bought a nice digital gauge, and they were showing at 58-60PSI cold on the digital, which means they were easily close to 70PSI before I lowered them. I dropped them again to show 50PSI on the digital. They do have the green valve stem caps, which I would assume means CR filled them with nitrogen...did I do the right thing by dropping them to the listed cold pressure? And if so, why would CR ship with the tires close to 20PSI over max pressure?

Also...how close was I to dying with them that over-pressure?

[gregtx]

nitrogen pressures aren't supposed to change with temp, that's why they put nitrogen in them. double check the 50 lb max. my cheap china made tires said 65, if i remember right. had blowout between el paso and van horn. replaced all tires with carlile with 80 lb "d" rating when we got home. did a little research and factory tires were famous for low mileage blowouts.
hope u have better luck than we've had. we are on 3rd a/c and 2nd fridge, all covered under warranty (get extended warranty) well worth it. had a blow on new tires and other minor things to many to mention. having said that, have enjoyed the rv ing we've done and gotten good use.

[stormseeker]

Dealers may overfill or underfill tires and do/not do other things. It's a good idea to check everything initially and regularly thereafter.

If you intend to keep the factory tires, check the max speed as well as max pressure. Some trailer tires are only rated for 60 or 65 mph. (Don't ask how I learned this.) Factory installed tires are adequate...barely. They are usually rated right at the unit's weight with a small additional amount for your stuff, water, etc. And they aren't kidding when they say the tire is rated at xxxx pounds. Go over at your peril.

When you do replace, I would suggest doing some brand research and upgrading at least one letter grade. Personally I like light truck tires better than trailer tires for lighter units although the heavy Goodyear tires (125 psi) have served me well in the past. You can't have too much rubber under you IMO!

[lp722]

Thanks guys. I checked each tire just to be sure, and they say 50PSI at 75mph, combined max load of 7400#. Dry weight is 5600, and GVW is 7700. As it sits, we're not over 6k yet on weight. I've been setting cruise control between 60 and 65 on the interstate, so no risk of going over 75.

The manufacture date on the tires is September of 16, too, so we got lucky there that they weren't sitting in a warehouse somewhere for years before being used.

[johnboytoo]

Did I miss where you said the mfg, model, and size of the tire ? with 75mph max, it's probably not an ST tire, but could be...
do a google search for the specs on your tires and it will give you an inflation chart to show you the load carrying at different PSI's.


but, putting 10 psi more than the suggested psi is not a big deal, in fact, some tire mfg say that is what you should do to allow faster speeds and more carrying capacity(to a point )
besides, gauge accuracy, outside temp, road temp, sunshine on the tires, etc... will change the psi just sitting still...

IMHO (and most tire guys), too much psi is MUCH better than not enough PSI !

[Danny Pyle]

I have st tires that have a 75 mph rating on my Z1