Motorhome/Camper Van tyres

demoreino

Hi all ,
Just trying to pick your brains on motorhome /Campervan tyres in Ireland .
What do YE all use for replacement tyres ? I know that all new campers tyres have the official camper tyres like Continental, Vanco , Camper etc. but does everyone replace like with like ?
We often use "all seasons" tyres , get same mileage and happy with gripping etc.We pay our local fitter upto €160.00 per tyre including balancing and that works out much cheaper than specialised " Camper tyres"
We have a camper rental company here , Irelamd West Motorhomes , and replace probably 16 to 20 tyres per year so maybe the price mentioned is not accurate for occasional users .
I'd be interested to hear your opinios or suggestions on this , we all know that safety is paramount and spending a few euro extra on safety is well worth the expense.
Kevin

niloc1951

demoreino wrote: »

Hi all ,
Just trying to pick your brains on motorhome /Campervan tyres in Ireland .
What do YE all use for replacement tyres ? I know that all new campers tyres have the official camper tyres like Continental, Vanco , Camper etc. but does everyone replace like with like ?
We often use "all seasons" tyres , get same mileage and happy with gripping etc.We pay our local fitter upto €160.00 per tyre including balancing and that works out much cheaper than specialised " Camper tyres"
We have a camper rental company here , Irelamd West Motorhomes , and replace probably 16 to 20 tyres per year so maybe the price mentioned is not accurate for occasional users .
I'd be interested to hear your opinios or suggestions on this , we all know that safety is paramount and spending a few euro extra on safety is well worth the expense.
Kevin www.iwmotorhomes.ie

https://www.tyresafe.org/media-centre/latest-news/tyresafe-unveils-new-tyre-guidance-motorhome-drivers-unique-pressure-calculator/

demoreino

Thank you niloc1951. , very useful link for future reference but at the moment I was trying to figure out what other campervanners were using for replacement tyres and how much they were paying for decent tyres.

niloc1951

demoreino wrote: »

Thank you niloc1951. , very useful link for future reference but at the moment I was trying to figure out what other campervanners were using for replacement tyres and how much they were paying for decent tyres.

As far as I can see, everything from the cheapest budget brands to premium CP brands.
It seems to depend on peoples opinion of what will do the job. But, saving a few euro on tyres cant be a very costly saving indeed.

A blow out can have huge cost consequences as the flailing tyre can cause thousands of euro damage to bodywork, wheel arch, floor and internal fittings in a motorhome.
If control of the vehicles is not lost it will probably cause injury or death and total loss.

spaceHopper

I've a heavy enough camer, not a motor home, it came second hand with light truck M&S tyres (it's 4wd) and I replaced them with light truck summer (all season here) tyres but went for 9 ply on the walls, they were the best I could get. Check the speed and load index.

CelticRambler

My Ducato Maxi chassis, uprated to 4100kg, came with Michelin XC camper tyres. When the time came to get some new ones, all the info about "special camper" tyres seemed to relate to reinforced sidewalls on the grounds that the vehicle would spend most of the year sitting on the drive. As that wasn't/isn't my case, I opted for regular "light truck" tyres instead.

Altogether, over 160000km, I bought only four additional tyres (two sets twice for the rear axel). None of my tyres have ever come close to the legal minimum tread depth, but have suffered sidewall damage through kerb-scrapes. The front tyres were still the original Michelin's until this year when I decided 14 years was old enough!

This year, I've bought two complete new sets - 4x Kleber Transpro (215/75 R16C 116/114R) summer tyres @107€; each (fitting not included); and 4x Kleber Transalp 2 winter tyres @98€; each (plus fitting). The Transpro tyres are noticeably quieter than the Michelin XCs; haven't had a chance to evaluate the Transalps yet as they only went on last week.

niloc1951

CelticRambler wrote: »

My Ducato Maxi chassis, uprated to 4100kg, came with Michelin XC camper tyres. When the time came to get some new ones, all the info about "special camper" tyres seemed to relate to reinforced sidewalls on the grounds that the vehicle would spend most of the year sitting on the drive. As that wasn't/isn't my case, I opted for regular "light truck" tyres instead.

Altogether, over 160000km, I bought only four additional tyres (two sets twice for the rear axel). None of my tyres have ever come close to the legal minimum tread depth, but have suffered sidewall damage through kerb-scrapes. The front tyres were still the original Michelin's until this year when I decided 14 years was old enough!

This year, I've bought two complete new sets - 4x Kleber Transpro (215/75 R16C 116/114R) summer tyres @107€; each (fitting not included); and 4x Kleber Transalp 2 winter tyres @98€; each (plus fitting). The Transpro tyres are noticeably quieter than the Michelin XCs; haven't had a chance to evaluate the Transalps yet as they only went on last week.

Michelin XC are old design, superseded by Agelis over five years ago.

autumnalcore

I'd imagine camper tyres in the rental business would be worn out long before any theoretical longevity benefit would be seen. I have continental four seasons on the front of my ducato, all season definitely helps with getting out of sand, grit, muck but I find the tread wear is high as the compound is soft in warm weather, back is currently older model agilis van tyres that have done massive mileage. Couriers claim to get 60-70k out of michelin agilis+ so I might go with those next time.

I've 60k miles on a set of cheapo Starmaxx, €80 a corner. I'll get another 100k miles on thread depth but one expired thuther week, sidewall rip, so renewing the front axle soon as convenient.

Hard compound. Good for drifting.

autumnalcore

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

I've 60k miles on a set of cheapo Starmaxx, €80 a corner. I'll get another 100k miles on thread depth but one expired thuther week, sidewall rip, so renewing the front axle soon as convenient.

Hard compound. Good for drifting.

My van came with starmaxx on the back still had 5mm of tread when I took them off ''hard as the hob of hell' to quote a midlands minibus driver

Ordered two Good Year Cargos.

demoreino

autumnalcore wrote: »

I'd imagine camper tyres in the rental business would be worn out long before any theoretical longevity benefit would be seen. I have continental four seasons on the front of my ducato, all season definitely helps with getting out of sand, grit, muck but I find the tread wear is high as the compound is soft in warm weather, back is currently older model agilis van tyres that have done massive mileage. Couriers claim to get 60-70k out of michelin agilis+ so I might go with those next time.

Hi Autumnalcore ,
We certainly don't need to check the age of the tyres very often on our rentals .
This week we changed 2 of the original Continental Campervan front tyres on a 2016 van . A little over 24,000 miles done . Our tyre supplier says that customers not accustomed to using big vehicles will be constantly touching the brakes resulting in excessive wear . We put Hankook all seasons on costing close to €160 each . I wonder how much per suitable tyre is the norm. I know the standard and quality vary greatly and price shouldn't be the deciding factor but we can still look for value .

CelticRambler

Presumably you fit them yourself? Sounds dear to me. I can get "premium" brands (Michelin/Continental) for 140€ a piece, and pay just under a tenner for valve, balancing & fitting.

Why would "touching" the brakes have any effect on tyre wear? Or even emergency braking, if the vehicles are fitted with ABS (and aren't they all, these days?) I'd be more inclined to think that it's rubbing the tyres against kerbs that's the biggest cause of damage.

autumnalcore

160 does sound steep for hankook compared to buying online anyway could get 215/75/16 pirelli camper tyres online and have them fitted for about 150-155.

tphase

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

I've 60k miles on a set of cheapo Starmaxx, €80 a corner. I'll get another 100k miles on thread depth but one expired thuther week, sidewall rip, so renewing the front axle soon as convenient.

Hard compound. Good for drifting.

Have a set of them on at the minute, terrible grip - as bad if not worse than the 5hitty Federals they replaced

Yurp.

Happy with my new Cargos. So happy I might buy 2 more in 100k miles.

autumnalcore

Would be great if shoe's did 100k too 😀

CelticRambler

Did a tour of the four corners last week, to discover that one of my brand new winter tyres was flat. After only 25km! :eek:

Fortunately it turned out to be only a badly fitted valve. Just waiting for a green "work" light in the next day or two to get the chance to put a couple of thousand sub-zero km on them. :cool:

Eyeballed this putting the spare away.

niloc1951

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

I've 60k miles on a set of cheapo Starmaxx, €80 a corner. I'll get another 100k miles on thread depth but one expired thuther week, sidewall rip, so renewing the front axle soon as convenient.

Hard compound. Good for drifting.

A person I know had those fitted to his MH. Both rear ones failed, one got a bulge and the other shed its thread, fortunately each event did not end in a catastrophe. Admittedly they were subjected to maximum stress and loads.

The added safety margin built into CP specification tyres is in my opinion well worth the extra cost.

shaunr68

Check the date on your tyres too even if the tread looks OK. I bought a 2004 Auto Trail MH in 2014, low mileage and found that it had the original tyres, yes 10 years old.

CJhaughey

shaunr68 wrote: »

Check the date on your tyres too even if the tread looks OK. I bought a 2004 Auto Trail MH in 2014, low mileage and found that it had the original tyres, yes 10 years old.

Yeah the age gets to tyres more than wear in most cases.
Its a scary thought a blowout on a ~3.5t vehicle at speed.
Standing around in the same place also puts a lot of strain on tyres..

CelticRambler

CJhaughey wrote: »

Standing around in the same place also puts a lot of strain on tyres..

Easy fix: take the van out more often!