over inflateing tires on camper

[pwr2tow]

A guy once told me that it is a good measure to increase the tire pressure 5 psi over what the tire states if you are towing extremely heavy weight.



Is there any truth to this statement??



Ron

 

[roadranger]

I don't know if that's recommended, but here's what I had to do;



Picked up new camper, when I immediately weighed it there was 7080 lbs on the rear axle. The load range E 16in. tires were good for 6830 lbs at 80 psi top rating, so the tires were overloaded by 250lbs.



Aired them up to 95 psi to make the 800 mile drive home from the dealer. Kept the speed down to 60-65 mph and frequently checked rear tires- they ran much warmer than the fronts.



Made it home OK, but now I've got 19. 5 wheels tires at load range H.

 

[Midnight]

Over inflating tires is never a good idea. A tires air pressure will climb as the tire gets hotter. Over inflating even by 5psi when cold will be significantly higher once the tire warms up, and it onlt takes about 6-10 miles for this to happen. This doen't even take into consideration the temp change in the weather. A tire's psi measured say in the spring will be lower than when measuerd in the heat of the summer.

 

[HBarlow]

Tire industry literature and experts will tell you that truck or Light Truck (LT) tires can be safely overinflated by 10 psi without harm. Passenger car (P) type tires should not be overinflated.



Maxium tire inflation pressures molded into the sidewall take heat expansion into consideration. That is why the tire industry always advises checking and inflating tires when cold or before they've been driven more than a couple of miles. Tire pressure in a hot tire will always read in excess of maximum inflation if it was properly inflated when cold.

 

[Okie-Go]

On my trailer tires it says max pressure 80 cold. In a little while they will be up to 85 or so because of the heat build up.

 

[MLee]

tire inflation

just run them at the max stated on the side wall. they will run cooler and the main thing is that they flex less, causing less heat build. but check them every 100 miles and check the temp, buy touch is how i do it, and check the condition, or just look them over for defects starting to develop.

just my penny's worth.



Marv.

 

[Hogan]

Read Load Range E sidewalls closer...

If you read the sidewall on an LR-E tire closely they say:



Max load XXXXlb (At 80 PSI COLD)



If you read a P or LR-C tire it says:



Max load XXXXlb (At XX PSI MAX COLD)



The difference here is that 80psi isn't the max pressure for load range E tires, that is the psi *required* to handle the max rated load. If you have a cabover camper, the docs tell you it is ok to increase tire pressure by up to 10psi above the pressure listed on the sidewall for added stability.



So, if you put 90psi in a cold load range E tire you're not overinflating it at all, it's part of the DOT standard for that load range tire.