Tyre pressure new van stamped at 34psi

Steve

Have a look at this site it is fairly informative. www.peakhillcaravanpark.com.au/Tyre%20Pressuresa.htm

If you look at the tyres on a light 4wd like a Colorado, I know it isn't a caravan, the tyres are rated at more then twice the load they normally carry. At their full load rating that vehicle would be approx 1.1 ton overloaded
Your tyre specs are rated to carry only 27% more weight than the caravan weight you stated.
If the 4wd style has more than 50% safety margin and yours has barely 27% load carrying safety margin, I would think the tyres are too light and underated for the purpose.

IMHO, they might do the job when carefully driven on bitumen roads only, but where road conditions cause more sudden forces and stresses on the tyres I think they are unsuitable for purpose.
If it will take 15" rims and larger section tyres they might be more suited.

Others will be able to cast a learned view on this.

Like vehicles, the van tyre pressure recommendation is provided to give the occupants a "comfortable ride", although in the van's instance, there should be no occupants when travelling.

An increase of several psi is quite normal to give a safe ride and longer tyre wear over the recommendation of the manufacturer.
If the tyres look too bulgy, try increasing the pressures to 38psi and after driving for a half hour or so, remeasure the pressures to determine if the tyre pressure has risen and by how much.
The old 4psi rule is fairly indicitive of whether the tyres are running two hot (not enough pressure) or not hot enough. (Too much pressure)

Steve,
have a look HERE

The pressure they show will be for the tare of the van and the tare is often not correct.

Best way is to load the van then stick it on a weighbridge with only the van being on the weighbridge but with your vehicle still hooked up. That will give the load on the tyres and then you can work out what pressure is correct from the link above.

As stated before I run mine a few psi higher than needed.

Happy travelling,
RA.

Steve,
I don't have the specs for your size G26's but the size 195/70/15 are rated at 980kg at 65psi. Usually 14" size would be rated at about 650-700kg at 55psi (it should be stamped on the tyre) So with this with your van weighing in at 2440kg the tyres ould be at their absolute limit and no wonder they look flat.

If it was my van I'd be looking very closely at the tyres and finding out if they are adequate for a 2440kg van.

As Ross suggested I'd also be running much larger tyres to give an adequate safety margin

Steve

Give Goodyear a ring on their customer assistance number 1800 809 625. If they can't explain it then nobody can.

Chances are the van manufacturer has consulted Goodyear when designing the suspension. There would be a reason why that size and specification tyres were chosen and that pressure was recommended.

The recommended pressures for my car seem ridiculously low. I had a long talk to Goodyear and was told to use them both on and off road. That was just over six years ago and the tyres have performed well in both city and outback driving. They are now nearing the end of their life. They have lasted very well and there has been no overheating or worn outside edges due to under inflation.

Two tyre services told me to use pressures that were 15 psi above factory recommendations. My teeth would have been shaken out very quickly had I done that and the tyre centres would have worn out long ago.

I was told not to use the 4 psi rule. Their own testing has shown there are far too many variables involved for it to be accurate.

I would not worry too much about tyres pressures and just run what the manufacture states.... to many experts!

The tyre you have is a light commercial tyre that can handle 850Kg per tyre.... not a passenger rated tyre.

The speed rating is also reduced to 150 Kph (P) unlike nearly all passenger tyres that have a minimum 210 Kph (H or V) speed rating

And as for pressures if you want to find out why not give Goodyear a call and ask them, thats right what would they know!.... most light commercial tyres can be increased in pressure to carry more weight.

Simple rule.... if they look flat put a bit more air in.

Our service van tyres are running at 65psi cold and we run our MTZ's on our 200 at 60psi cold.... the camper we run 45psi...... (disclaimer before someone with too much time on their hands has a go at me.... these pressures are for high speed black top).

Too may worry about too much too often...... with too little information.

Hi Steve,

My van, also a tandem with 185R x14 8PR tyres and 2440 ATM has a single tyre rating of 925kg @ 60 PSI cold. Allowing for a bit of "weight creep" and if you have "3 gals worth" of gear to cart around you may experience this phenomena (;-)) I would think 34PSI a bit on the low side for highway running.
What I did was work out that if each tyre was rated at 925kg then this came out at a total of 3700kg max load @ 60 PSI. If I inflated each tyre to 45 PSI I should be able to safely carry 75% of their max rating safely. 75% of 3700kg should be about 2775kg which gives me a bit of a safety margin.
I have been running on bitumen with these pressures and have done a few trips into the Pilbara region of WA for quite a few years and so far have not noted any unusually high tyre temps, as in I can put my hands on the tyres and hold there for as long as I like without discomfort. Also the wear patterns on all tyres appears normal so far, without any high wear on the centres or edges. I reduce to about 35 PSI and drop speed to about 75 kph for bad corrugations, I may look at going a bit lower if real bad. I know the "look" of the tyres does not tell the whole story but at 45 PSI cold the tyres appear not to be bulging the sidewalls. The pressures are checked every time we stop and I have never seen any more than 5 to 6 PSI increase even when the road surface is getting far too uncomfortable to touch with bare hands of feet. I usually travel at around 90kph conditions permitting.
Others may be able to pick a big hole in my methodology but has worked for me so far.

Cheers
Pop

All I ask is.............
Why put 14" rubber on a duel axle van????
Surely 15" min or a 16" would be more sensible??

Maybe it all gets down to economics. If the 14" tyres are legal for the van weight and are cheaper than 15" or 16" it gets the total package price down.
I have always believed that if a situation seems unreasonable, follow the money trail.

Cheers
Pop

I'd check what the maximum pressure recommended is, which is written on the tyre wall . I'd then pump it up a lot more until the tyres didn't look like they were bulging from under-inflation. But try to keep at least 5psi under the max rating on the tyre itself (not the tyre rating placard on vehicle). Under inflated tyres drag a lot more and wear badly. Just pack the crockery carefully in the cupboards.