All Terrain Wheels on Caravan

[Antman]

Hi All

I was wondering if anyone has put a semi aggressive all terrain tyre on their van. My father in law has a full height van and has put 4 General Grabber AT2s on it.

We were wondering if anyone else has similar tyres on their van and how the van handles? When he tows the van it feels to him like it is fish tailing and always pulling left to right etc.

Tow Vehicle - 2008 Prado Diesel.
Van - Kingdom 18foot6 tandem axel with 2.5ATM so at tow vehicles max although I reckon the prados from a power point of view could tow 3 tonne no issues and they are rated as such over seas.
Hitch: McHitch Auto Coupler Model.

We are thinking that the tyres are basically following every rut in the roads but not sure and wanted to ask others of their experience.

Cheers
Ants

 

[Matty4]

Hi @Antman I optioned my van from new with the 16" upgrade and it came with these as fitted.
http://www.gtradial.com.au/contentpage.aspx?pageID=52

Haven't had any issues or cause to complain about them, and taken them over some rough roads too without issue.

 

[Bushman]

Most Jayco Outback's come with All Terrain type tyres as Matty has posted above, some earlier ones mainly campers came fitted with Mud Terrain I've had both as various campers/Expanda with no issue.
Tail wagging/fish tailing is generally related load balance issues.

 

[Drover]

Tyre pressure could cause them to walk especially if they have a deep soft tread. Load balance more than likely though.

 

[Antman]

Thanks all.
The van was wagging from pickup when new so if load issues its from how it was built.
We will keep investigating
Cheers
Ants

 

[Drover]

If it's been doing it from new and you have loaded okay then I would check suspension, spring bolts shouldn't be done up tight a few mm gap between hangars and spring is needed to allow for smooth movement, check U bolts also especially with 2 axles ,alighnment will throw things around, it would show up as scrubbing tyres anyway.
A quickie way is too measure from front spring hanger bolt centre to axle at spring, both sides should be the same as well as side of spring to hub mount plate, a difference of a mm or more will make a difference, if there is odd measure's then a truck alighn place will be able to do an alighnment far better than some van place.

 

[Antman]

Thanks @Drover we will certainly check that out.
Cheers
Ants

 

[brookes2622]

While the OP question seems to be answered I am curious about the need for AT's on a van. Wouldn't normal HT's be better, given there are no driven wheels on the van. I'm guessing the only real advantage would be braking in mud and snow but would that advantage outweigh the 90% the vans spend on the road where the HT would have the advantage?

Interested in peoples thoughts?

 

[Soaring]

While the OP question seems to be answered I am curious about the need for AT's on a van. Wouldn't normal HT's be better, given there are no driven wheels on the van. I'm guessing the only real advantage would be braking in mud and snow but would that advantage outweigh the 90% the vans spend on the road where the HT would have the advantage?

Interested in peoples thoughts?

The deeper tread will help to avoid punctures from sharp stones etc. They will also cope with the lower pressures required offroad than the high way tires.
Also most AT fitted to vans are LT, which provides a stronger sidewall. Not sure if the road going van HT tires are LTs?

 

[Drover]

AT's look better. !!!!!!!!

 

[brookes2622]

I was looking at the Coopers site and while I am not considering price at the moment their HT tyres do stack up compared to the GT's. The tread thickness is 10mm and by memory the tyres are 245 so the rating is 107, or 975kg per tyre. The GT's tread thickness is 11.2mm, but their load rating is 111 or 1090kg per tyre. Not sure these load ratings are relevant given how far above the actual load they need to carry they are.

I get that they look cooler but which is the safer? The HT's would have a harder compound rubber I'd have thought and could endure the dual axle scrubbing on tight turns.

I suspect it's all moot given most of us won't be changing the tyres in the life of the van.

 

[Matty4]

My take on it is if you option the Outback pack on any model or variant then you will get some form of AT tyre.
Having said that, I'm pretty sure the GT's on my van aren't an LT construction, just passenger construction, so a bit lighter than an LT tyre too.

 

[Drover]

Highway or All Terrain patterns can be very similar depending how aggressive the AT's you look at, you don't need aggressive tread on a lazy axle which is what the van axle is, more important is the load rating. As with 40ft trailers on trucks a good trailer tyre has a tread that disperses water, will grip in most conditions ie; won't slip and won't scrub out from turning which you will find an aggressive tyre will do on a dual or tri axle.
I think the rule of thumb on load rating is that the load should be no more than 90% of the tyre load rating and a LT tyre is really a prefered option for single axle rigs, on a dual axle you can loose one but on a single they both need to be spot on. I have 1120kg load on mine for a 1800kg van (which I think is a bit more actually) it originally came with 900kg tyres....so much for QC

They say tyre life is 5 yrs and no matter how well you look after them covered from the sun when parked, kept off the ground etc the compound is said to degrade, I could imagine some who paid $300 for each tyre and only doing 3000kms a year gagging.

I've looked at new Outback vans and the tyres I reckon are fitted mainly for the LOOK, mind you I like THE LOOK but not if I have to buy the replacements especially if they scrub out as some I've seen.

PS: If you look at the info on the tyre wall it will tell you if it's LT, AT, HT or M&S and heaps of other info. Tyre size has no bearing on Load Rating. www.carbible.com is a brilliant wheel and tyre info centre..

 

[Soaring]

These are mine, standard on my 2013 OB

LT 235/75 R15 110 107. The 110 and 107 is the load rating and varies depending if you have a single or dual axle.

 

[Antman]

interesting question @brookes2622
I don't know what is safer but like others have said, the LT construction certainly gives you a bit of peace of mind when off road. In saying that, I'm pretty sure the standard tyres that came with our outback expanda are not LT and we have given them a run for their money on things like the oodnadatta track etc. I will have to have a look and let you know what they are.
The all terrains do also look better.

 

[Drover]

They look nice, I was going to get similar but decided the cheaper LT highway jobs meant more fuel for my trip, well thats what I got from look I got when I mentioned the price of the AT.

 

[mfexpanda]

Hi @Antman I optioned my van from new with the 16" upgrade and it came with these as fitted.
http://www.gtradial.com.au/contentpage.aspx?pageID=52

Haven't had any issues or cause to complain about them, and taken them over some rough roads too without issue.

Yep mine are the same seem good

 

[Matty4]

It seems like Jayco just use whatever they can get at the time from GT Radials.
As I said, I have the Savero AT, and the 2 families we did our trip with who both had Expandas, had different tyres ( all vans were built within a month of each other too by the way).
One had the GT Adventuro's as shown above by @Soaring, that was also a 17.56-2 but the 16.49-3 with us had Continental Cross Contact AT's, all vans had the 16" upgrade option too.