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Tow Car Tyre Pressure

in We've got it down to a T Wed Jun 17, 2015 9:07 am
by PhilipM •

| 208 Posts

Hello,

What is the rule when it comes to tow car tyre pressure? Most vehicles have two sets of pressure figures one for normal loading and one for a fully loaded car (usually with four adults and a full boot).

When towing the 310 with a some chairs and food in the boot, which pressure is the most appropriate?

Thanks.

Eriba Familia 310 owner.

RE: Tow Car Tyre Pressure

in We've got it down to a T Wed Jun 17, 2015 9:35 am
by Deeps (deleted)

I can only repeat what is actually stated in my vehicles handbook, Philip where, in the towing section, it states that whenever towing a trailer the tyre pressures should be inflated to maximum pressures i.e. the higher of the 2 or 3 stated figures. For my Touran there are only 2 figures stated - driver only and driver plus passengers plus luggage with the latter being the highest. In effect then, I run with the higher of the two given figures - front 2.6 bar / rear 3.0 bar.

2013 Triton 430, VW Touran TDI BM

RE: Tow Car Tyre Pressure

in We've got it down to a T Wed Jun 17, 2015 10:44 am
by Pepé Le Pew •

| 2.722 Posts

Quote: PhilipM wrote in post #1
What is the rule when it comes to tow car tyre pressure? Most vehicles have two sets of pressure figures one for normal loading and one for a fully loaded car (usually with four adults and a full boot).

When you've got your caravan on the back you're effectively carrying an extra ten and a half or eleven stone passenger, so I'd go with something close to the higher pressure.

The car manufacturers put two sets of figures - a maximum and a minimum - because to put a range of pressures depending on how fat (or thin) your relatives are, how many breeze blocks you were carrying back from Wickes or how heavy your sandwiches were would take up too much space on the sticky label in the door jamb or on the back of the filler flap.

There's no reason why you can't use a pressure somewhere between the two if common sense and a bit of rudimentary maths suggests you should.

There is clearly a huge difference in load between a car with a near-empty fuel tank containing an eight stone driver wearing nothing but plimsolls and a pair of shorts and one with a full tank, five tubby occupants, a glove box full of sweeties, two large and extremely hairy dogs and a fortnight's worth of luggage.

While I acknowledge what Mr Deeps says about trailers, towing and tyre pressures, I'd have thought that the manual would (or should) qualify it by saying that the pressures should be increased to the maximum loading figure when towing a trailer with a hitch weight approaching the car's maximum towbar capacity.

Maybe it does - after all it'd be daft to spend ages blowing up your tyres rock-hard to tow a tiddly little trailer with an old mattress in it to the tip.

.

Last edited Wed Jun 17, 2015 10:45 am | Scroll up

RE: Tow Car Tyre Pressure

in We've got it down to a T Wed Jun 17, 2015 1:17 pm
by Wordspace (deleted)

I had four new tyres fitted to my RAV4 last month. I asked the owner, himself a caravanner, what would he recommend for towing, and he said to up the rears from 30 to 32psi. Do I need to let them back down while the caravan is parked on site? No, he said, too much like hard work. So that's what I did, last time we went away, and Morrison towed like a dream, as always.

Olivers Twists at http://martynoliver.wordpress.com/

RE: Tow Car Tyre Pressure

in We've got it down to a T Thu Jun 18, 2015 8:32 am
by armorican (deleted)

We have an Audi A3 2 litre TDi automatic 170BHP and an Eriba Triton 430, all-up weight about 950kg. I asked the Audi garage - 'Normal pressure, 2.5 bar all-round. With caravan, 2.9 bar all-round'. They said that that was 'good enough'. On holiday with the Eriba, the tyres remain at 2.9 even though we frequently tour around in the car by itself. Audi said that over a limited mileage, running on 'over-inflated' tyres was not an issue. It IS too much trouble to be constantly fiddling with tyre pressures.

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