New tires, what pressure do you run?

[ArmyLifer]

After nearly four years or rolling on the factory China bombs, I had some Goodyear Endurance ST tires installed.

I had a good conversation with a buddy about tire pressures. I always ran my China bombs at max sidewall pressure, 80psi. He suggested running at the appropriate pressure for the load. I have never weighed my trailer but we went through the exercise anyway. My trailer max gross weight is 8500 pounds, with four tires that gives us 2125 pounds per tire (disregarding tongue weight). My tires are ST225/75R15.



50psi tire inflation gives me a capacity of 2150 pounds per tire...more than enough. I’ve probably never towed at max gross so that’s still pretty conservative.

Running the tire pressure at closer to the recommended pressure should help the tires last longer and save some wear and tear on the camper. I’m going to tow at 50psi for my 1st trip of the season soon to see how it feels.

What do you all do? Max pressure, or adjust for loading?

[RobWNY]

I air mine up to max cold PSI as stated on the tires.

[Cannon07]

I air mine up to max cold PSI as stated on the tires.

Same here but I weight out about 16800

[Second Chance]

If they are the same load range as the OEM tires, they should be inflated to the pressure on the sticker on the side of the trailer.

Curious, though - if you got four years of service out of your original tires, why do you refer to them as "bombs?"

Rob

[ArmyLifer]

If they are the same load range as the OEM tires, they should be inflated to the pressure on the sticker on the side of the trailer.

They are the same load range, and it is 80psi. Why would a tire manufacturer publish a load/inflation table if everyone just inflated to max sidewall pressure?

Curious, though - if you got four years of service out of your original tires, why do you refer to them as "bombs?"

I’m sure you’ve heard that term before. I personally feel safer towing my trailer with a better quality tire that doesn’t have the reputation of the Westlakes that came on the trailer.

Rob

Apparently I can’t just reply within your quote as the “message is too short”.

[Calbar]

After nearly four years or rolling on the factory China bombs, I had some Goodyear Endurance ST tires installed.

I had a good conversation with a buddy about tire pressures. I always ran my China bombs at max sidewall pressure, 80psi. He suggested running at the appropriate pressure for the load. I have never weighed my trailer but we went through the exercise anyway. My trailer max gross weight is 8500 pounds, with four tires that gives us 2125 pounds per tire (disregarding tongue weight). My tires are ST225/75R15.



50psi tire inflation gives me a capacity of 2150 pounds per tire...more than enough. I’ve probably never towed at max gross so that’s still pretty conservative.

Running the tire pressure at closer to the recommended pressure should help the tires last longer and save some wear and tear on the camper. I’m going to tow at 50psi for my 1st trip of the season soon to see how it feels.

What do you all do? Max pressure, or adjust for loading?

I run mine at the pressure listed on the trailer sticker. My GVWR is 9995 lbs and I have 3520 lbs per tire for a total of 14,080 lbs capacity. I run at 9500 lbs with some of that on the tongue. I much prefer the capacity margin and I have nearly 3 years and 24,000 km or 15,000 miles on my "China Bombs". I am a firm believer in running the tires with lots of spare capacity to keep them safe. I will be changing them out way before due to age than wear and if you are doing the same why chance the lower pressure?

JMHO

Rob

[Skilletface]

ArmyLifer, this subject brings out the best and worst opinions. I’ve ran those “Bombs” through some rough stuff for long time without ever being left on the side of the road (yet). Attached is a standard response that IMHO works.

[COLOR="#FF0000"]Keep it simple. As long as everything is OEM, use the coach manufacturer nomenclatures or if tires have been changed to a different size use the tire manufacturers sidewall information maximum cold inflation as a starting point.
Simple visual method:
Get your unit axled out ( individual tire weight is best ) and adjust cargo inside if necessary, inflate your tires to manufacturers max cold inflation, take a short trip, observe how the tread face of the tire is contacting the ground it should appear lighter than the sidewall, make 2-5 psi adjustments down if required, until a nice even wear appears on the tread face.
This is your rigs sweet spot, also you’ll be within + 5-10 psi. of what is published by your tire manufacturer inflation to weight tables.

The Ultimate Tire Pressure Resource - TirePressure.com

Example: My TT has 225/75 15 E max. cold psi. at 80 psi.. Loaded scaled GVW is 9440 lbs (includes tongue weight) divided by 4 = 2360 which means I can run tire pressure as low as 45 psi based on the tire manufacturers inflation to weight tables.

When this picture was taken I was at 60psi at 70 degrees. This is my sweet spot and able to deal temperature and elevation variations. It is suggested by many to increase the recommended tire to weight pressure by 5 - 10 %.
As the abeyant temperature changes, your tire pressure will be effected by 1 psi for each 10 degrees up or down in temperature change.
Tires have been engineered to withstand the increase in pressure as they heat up during transport.

https://youtu.be/_eW2MfspLSQ All About RV’s Jared Gillis

[ArmyLifer]

Ok, after reading everyone’s replies and doing a lot of additional research, I’ll probably just go with the 80psi on the trailer label. The chances of me wearing out the tires before they age out is slim, even if they are technically overinflated. I would like to smooth out the ride some, but I’ll try to do that in other ways.

[Scott'n'Wendy]

While you may have made up your mind by now, I'll just add my 2 cents.
First off I'll say I run my Endurance tires at 80psi. I also understand they don't HAVE to be at 80psi for lower weights than max. But,sidewall flex is a major contributor to heat generation within the tire.
At max pressure the tire is at it's minimum sidewall flex, so least amount of heat buildup. So I run 80psi because, IMO, the tire is most resistant to failure that way.
Goodyear puts a huge "INFLATE to 80PSI" on the sidewall for a reason. The reason may be that very few of us have a way to individually weigh each tire loading?
Just my thought process in inflating my tires. I Also inflate them to 90psi for storage as Goodyear suggests.

[Captcolour]

I always inflate to the maximum cold pressure listed on the sidewall of the tire. Pressure will increase with temperature by 10% or so but this is normal and taken into account by the tire manufacturer. My Sailuns at 110 psi cold pressure inflation will run around 120 psi when they are heated up. Running significantly less than maximum cold pressure inflation will likely cause harm to the sidewall.