Normal Van Tyres v Motorhome rated tyres? (1 Viewer)

[Cayenner]

Hi all

New member to this portal and trying to find out if anyone has changed their "Motorhome" tyres for "Standard" commercial grade van tyres.
We have a 2015 Hymer B704 A Class motorhome and we find that on normal smooth roads she's a lovely comfortable ride, but on bumpy and bad condition roads we experience an extremely harsh ride. I've concluded this is down to the Conti Camper tyres - you never seem to get this harshness of ride in a normal type of van ie. Merc Sprinter/Fiat Ducato.
She's a bit better if we are fully laden, but still experience shocking vibrations through the entire chassis/body, so much so we have to take the Satnav out from its holder and a cup of tea in the cab is an absolute no no!!!!
We've just returned from doing the NC500 and I think we are lucky to have a motorhome left after experiencing the poorly maintained roads down the East Coast!!!
My idea is to therefore fit a set of normal van tyres and see how that changes things. has anyone done it????

 

[Bill_OR]

More likely to be tyre pressure too high?

 

[ambulancekidd]

Hello & welcome.

You'll find two distinct trains of thought amongst the forum members & technically both are correct. One side favour camper tyres & one side are dead against them.
I personally like ordinary commercial tyres. Motorhome tyres normally start to crack long before they are worn out & this necessitates a change of tyres, so I find that the money saved buying ordinary tyres can buy me two sets of these tyres.
My thoughts on ordinary tyres are that in 30yrs as a paramedic we used ordinary tyres on wagons that were normally well laden with no ill effects, so I favour ordinary tyres. My last 14yrs were spent doing "on-call" from home work & sometimes these wagons can sit for long periods of time so are treated a bit like motorhome tyres, some of the highlands & islands ambulances do very little mileage & the tyres cope just fine.

However, if I only used my motorhome a few times a year & it was sitting in storage, I'd buy camper tyres, but we use our motorhome all year round so it rarely if ever sits on one spot for any length of time.

Robert

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[Lenny HB]

Conti's normally give a good ride, I take it youare on the maxi chassis which is a far harder ride than the light chassis. As Bill says what pressurersare you running at?
On my last van I changed from Conti CP's to Hankook van tyres no difference in the ride.

 

[Cayenner]

Hello & welcome.

You'll find two distinct trains of thought amongst the forum members & technically both are correct. One side favour camper tyres & one side are dead against them.
I personally like ordinary commercial tyres. Motorhome tyres normally start to crack long before they are worn out & this necessitates a change of tyres, so I find that the money saved buying ordinary tyres can buy me two sets of these tyres.
My thoughts on ordinary tyres are that in 30yrs as a paramedic we used ordinary tyres on wagons that were normally well laden with no ill effects, so I favour ordinary tyres. My last 14yrs were spent doing "on-call" from home work & sometimes these wagons can sit for long periods of time so are treated a bit like motorhome tyres, some of the highlands & islands ambulances do very little mileage & the tyres cope just fine.

However, if I only used my motorhome a few times a year & it was sitting in storage, I'd by camper tyres, but we use our motorhome all year round so it rarely if ever sits on one spot for any length of time.

Robert

Many thanks Robert, I thought this was the case. We use our Motorhome regularly and have a hydraulic levelling system fitted so keep the tyres off the ground during layup periods. She's done 25K now and will need a set of front tyres in the next couple clicks so just looking at what change this will make.

Thanks for your useful comments and the great service you Paramedics give us.

Kind Regards

Carl.

 

[Lenny HB]

She's done 25K now and will need a set of front tyres in the next couple clicks so just looking at what change this will make.

Best to keep to the same type or change all 5 otherwise you might have trouble in France & Spain, if you have a blow out tyre fitters will only fit the same make & type to the same axle.

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[Cayenner]

Conti's normally give a good ride, I take it youare on the maxi chassis which is a far harder ride than the light chassis. As Bill says what pressurersare you running at?
On my last van I changed from Conti CP's to Hankook van tyres no difference in the ride.

Conti's normally give a good ride, I take it youare on the maxi chassis which is a far harder ride than the light chassis. As Bill says what pressurersare you running at?
On my last van I changed from Conti CP's to Hankook van tyres no difference in the ride.

Correction, I am on Michelin Agilis Camping Tyres, not Conti's. To be honest, I don't believe the chassis would make too much difference as like I say, the normal ride is great and very comfortable its mainly when you hit the sharp bumps or holes that it shakes the motorhome like the prevurbal. I am running the heavy ALKO Chassis.

I've been all over the tyre pressure route so many times and it makes very little difference which is quite surprising other than if you go way under the recommended PSI (Like circa 40PSI) but then it starts getting dangerous and a real wooly ride on turns/bends etc. Cranking the PSI up to the recommended PSI is absolutely nonsense (recommended 75PSI), I may as well just run on the rims!!!! Hence the reasons I've concluded that it's the tyres and not the suspension or chassis, of course, both have an input but like I say, its the harsh small bumps and holes that upset everything and its bloody annoying for such an expensive unit.

 

[Lenny HB]

My current van is on the Maxi, last van was on the light this one is really harsh and it's on Michelins. When the tyres need changing I will fit either all season tyres or winter tyres will be a a year or two as the van not a year old yet.
Keep trying to talk the boss into letting me spend some money on full air suspention.

 

[davidbaldam]

Hi and welcome to FUN. I’m changing my tires in April, I have Van tires on at the moment and found them OK so might stick with them.

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[sweetie]

Lenny tell boss you’ll take her with you next time if you can have full air suspension.She will enjoy it.

 

[Hettie's Crew]

We needed to go up a size from 215/70 15 to 225/70 15 for weight up rating. We had Conti Campers on but Continental didn’t do a ‘camper’ tyre in 225/70 15.
Continentals recommendation was to fit the Vancontact 4 Season commercial tyre which is 3 peak alpine and M&S marked. So we did and they are a much quieter ride, being a size/index bigger they can be run at lower pressures. Knowing what we know now I would have gone to the bigger size whether up rating or not.
An added bonus for is that the 225 size is cheaper than the more popular 215.

 

[Cayenner]

My current van is on the Maxi, last van was on the light this one is really harsh and it's on Michelins. When the tyres need changing I will fit either all season tyres or winter tyres will be a a year or two as the van not a year old yet.
Keep trying to talk the boss into letting me spend some money on full air suspention.

I'm not even sure air suspension would do anything Lenny - Going to the show this week so will ask the question.

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[Lenny HB]

I'm not even sure air suspension would do anything Lenny - Going to the show this week so will ask the question.

I am thinking about full air not just air assist on the back.

 

[ianthebuilder]

I have a twin rear wheel hymer S650. I have KLEBER TRANSPROS on all six wheels, they are I was told commercial van tyres, but I have just had new fitted,, they are the same as original ( when I got van) and I think there smashing! No noise, vibration, or dramas at all, In any condition!!

I would recommend!!!

 

[tacr2man]

I would have said tyre pressures , but seeing as you have tried various , then as suggested going to a 225/70 would allow a little drop in pressure . The other thing to look at would be shock absorbers , check you don't have a partially seized one. But its mainly tyres that do the shock absorbing in the ride , and the s/a do the damping . You might even consider a 215 75 15C as generally speaking the more "baloonier" a tyre the softer the ride. This would give you a much higher load range tyre (116)with ability to drop the pressure and still carry the same weight , without risking damage to tyre . You would need to check clearances as with any size change .

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[SMB]

Conti's normally give a good ride, I take it youare on the maxi chassis which is a far harder ride than the light chassis. As Bill says what pressurersare you running at?
On my last van I changed from Conti CP's to Hankook van tyres no difference in the ride.

Same here, now running on Hankooks 225/75 R16 m&s tyres at 4250kgs with no noticable change though I have kept the same tyre pressures that I used with the Continental Fourseason 2 m&s tyres (48psi front and 62psi rear). Continental supply a table of recommended tyre pressures dependent upon axle weights, couldn't find a chart online for Hankooks.

 

[Tykatem]

On our Hymer B585 I run with 235 65R 16C Vanco Fourseasons with air assist, they give a great ride with no noticeable vibrations or road noise.

Pete

 

[SMB]

This might help, gave similar tyre pressures to the Continental table

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[Hettie's Crew]

I am running the heavy ALKO Chassis.

Don’t know what your weights are but ours has the 2000kg rear axle light Alko chassis. The reason we up rated is that the rear was at 1970kg when we set off, though with only 25% water. We have had AS air assist fitted and before we fitted the bigger tyres we could really feel a difference, less crashing and banging, the most notable being the cutlery drawer contents being quieter.
Our dog approves of the improvements the most, she’s much more settled than she used to be prior to the upgrade.
I think the torsion bars in the rear axle were near their limit and now they have assistance with the air bags taking the weight too, resulting in much better suspension.

 

[laurieash]

Portugal all tyres need to be the same not just on the same axleE="Lenny HB, post: 2723996, member: 658"]Best to keep to the same type or change all 5 otherwise you might have trouble in France & Spain, if you have a blow out tyre fitters will only fit the same make & type to the same axle.[/QUOTE]
Portu

 

[Cayenner]

Same here, now running on Hankooks 225/75 R16 m&s tyres at 4250kgs with no noticable change though I have kept the same tyre pressures that I used with the Continental Fourseason 2 m&s tyres (48psi front and 62psi rear). Continental supply a table of recommended tyre pressures dependent upon axle weights, couldn't find a chart online for Hankooks.

OK, Thanks Lenny.

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[Sandancers]

If your running on Continental tyres give Continental Tech help a ring, they are very knowledgeable and pleased to answer questions.

 

[Hettie's Crew]

http://blobs.continental-tires.com/...998ef8b3/download-technical-databook-data.pdf

 

[Teuchter]

I am thinking about full air not just air assist on the back.

On my 1st van - a Rapido on a Merc Sprinter, front wheel drive, robo box, I had rear air fitted - big difference in handling but not so pronounced a difference on "rough" roads but still some difference!

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[Lenny HB]

On my 1st van - a Rapido on a Merc Sprinter, front wheel drive, robo box, I had rear air fitted - big difference in handling but not so pronounced a difference on "rough" roads but still some difference!

That's what worries me if I talk 'er indoors into spending 5 or 6k on full air and it doesn't make much difference it could be grounds for divorce.

 

[CazPaul]

I am thinking about full air not just air assist on the back.

Thinking about it is all you will be doing Lenny when you get the price

 

[EX51SSS]

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