Tyre Pressure?

[Dexdoggy]

Hi! We have a Smith 2013 soft floor off-road camper trailer with some serious off-road tyres, but at present it only ventures "on-road" behind our Ford Falcon (which tows it with the greatest of ease!).

As such, what would be the recommended tyre pressure when looking to maximise ease of towing and minimise wear & tear when we are just doing on-road journeys at this time?

[robcaz]

Hi Rick & Cherrie,

I read about the 4lb rule in Overlander 4WD magazine during the early 80's & have been using it since. It seems to work well for both the vehicle & the trailer, but does not work for low profile tyres.

You need to run at highway speed for at least an hour to give your tyres a chance to build up enough heat. What you are aiming for is an increase of 4lb from your cold pressure reading.

If you are over the 4lb you have not put enough air in the tyres from cold. An under inflated tyre drags on the road generating heat.
 
If you are under the 4lb you have put too much air in when the tyre was cold. Over inflation when cold will not generate enough heat.
 
You can build up a chart for cold tyre pressures of varying loads for the vehicle & trailer.

I always add a couple of extra pound in the trailers tyres so they have a less rolling resistance. It does not effect the wear.

[Dexdoggy]

Thanks Rob, I will give that a go!