Are comercial tires necessary on a camper?

[dcfb77]

I've always had Goodyear G28 "commercial" tyres on my campers. Never let me down and keeps going and going. Not great when stuck in wet grass but fantastic on the tarmac. UPS used to use them on their funny looking brown vans... I found it a great quality tyre, quiet and just bouncy enough...

[StuM]

It's an interesting discussion this.

Does anyone know how the weight of a T3 panel compares to, say, a Bentley Mulsanne? I presume that super-heavy luxo-barges have also to run load rated tyres - but not of course commercial tyres?

I take it that all of the adverts for aftermarket wheels - such as Midland Wheels, SSP, VW Heritage etc include non-rated, non-commercial tyres in the packages that they advertise?

[dcfb77]

Bentley Mulsanne's just over 2500 kg and I reckon my camper's about that when its loaded for holidays...(good times!)

I would never drive my vcamper without proper load rated tyres but it is heavy, I dont feel so bad putting rubbish tyres on my panel T25 as there's pretty much nothing but 2x seats in there (for now)...

[kevtherev]

my van weighed 1950kg when put on a public weighbridge.
no camping gear 1/4 tank petrol fuel full tank LPG fuel

auto sleeper high top

[westfaliashop]

I went through this a while ago and the advice I was given by the local plod (traffic officers, not the normal ones) was if it is part of a commercial range of of vehicles, it should have commercial tyres on.

I know people go on about ratings and plies etc (which is beyond me) but if the tyre is not 'correct' for the classification of vehicle its 3 points and £60 for you. If you have two tyres that are not 'correct' on a steering axle they can prohibit your vehicle at the side of the road which basically means, you have to re-mot the vehicle before they lift the prohibition notice (and obviously change the tyres)

The local plod down here are quite pro the VW scene as most of them seem to drive T25/T4/T5's and as the bloke I spoke to explained, if it all goes wrong one day and your suddenly stood in the dock, and the judge ask's if you if your vehicle is part of the VW commercial range, why doesn't it have the correct tyres on, it could be a bad day for you!

I'm not going to say whats right and whats not as some people are obviously very clued up on this sort of thing but, the boring voices in my head say that if you do it right, it can't be wrong!

[busbuddy]

vw fitted a non commercial 97 load tyre as a factory option

the german tuv requires a minimum 96 load tyre when you upgrade your T3 to 2.8T gross weight



mine left the vw factory with 97 load non commercial tyres and it has a 2.6T gross

[kap]

I maybe able to help you with the tyres, i have 4x 100-102 rated tyres,2 have nail in the tread but are repairable and can get that done.07783736265. Forgot to say they are on steel rims. Also have some genuine vw trims. Oh and 2 tyres are cargo t28's

[Cazz]

May be of no relevance, but i've recently put toyo HO8's on mine, there is a monster amount of tread on them. £49 each supplied and fitted.

My old tyres, well 3 of them were toyo which were on the van when I bought it, i've used them for about 35,000 miles over five years, they looked no different in that time. The 4th was an Event tyre which wore down from brand new to 2mm in 2 - 3 years.

I changed then because the old ones were 12 years old, they still had around 5mm to 6mm on them, i'm not trusting anyones life with old rubber.

[umgum]

would 95 do as a load rating

[kevtherev]

Yes but that's the lowest I would go

[umgum]

i have 185`s on the van at the minute how much different will they be with 205`s or is it not possible to do
Blackcircles.com Value Choice

Size:
205/65 R15 H (99)
Tyre Use:
Car Tyre
Variant:
Reinforced:
Reinforced
Winter Tyre:

Customer Rating:

Value Range

* Offers good all round performance.
* Premium budget brands provided for a cheaper price.

More info on this tyre

£58.18 each

[Ian Hulley]

I got Continental 185/R14C 8 Ply for that price ... ok I get trade but imho that's not a good price. Reasonable budget tyres I paid 130 for 4, good grip but only lasted 30,000 miles.

[umgum]

i have alloy wheels on i bought off someone on here

thay have 185x65 on the front and 195x65 on the back
is this safe

the other tyres i have seen have a higher load rating but are 70`s rather than 65`s

GT Maxmiler EX
Size:195/70 R15 R (104)
Tyre Use: Commercial Tyre
Variant:Reinforced:
Winter Tyre:
Value Range

£60.74 each that includes fitting

[umgum]

ok so i got 195x70x15 commercial tyres 8 ply load rating of 104
cost £258 inc valves balancing and fitting

[motty1969]

Well after kerbing my van on Monday (August bank holiday) which caused the smallest of gashes in the sidewall of my front tyre and therefore a flat and being stuck in a layby for 4hrs (not so bad in a camper ) waiting for the RAC (very helpful man) and then a mobile tyre fitter who fitted a commercial tyre (who also thought there might be an insurance issue) from now on I'll stick to commercials.

Also as we found out on that day, the spare was an original but the alloys that had been fitted had larger head bolts which meant 1) The tyre wrench wouldn't fit the alloy nuts and 2) the alloy head bolts wouldn't fit the original wheels bolt holes (after the RAC man had underdone the spare wheel cradle bolt) hence the need for a mobile tyre fitter! So £195 lighter after my little miscalculation on turning to early at a roundabout and forgetting the wheels of the van are under my bum not at the front of it !