2006 roadtrek 210 popular tire pressure

[ph007]

What is the best tire pressure to run on this unit? I have read where 60psi was used on the front with 80psi on the rear.

[Deano]

I found 65 front and 80 rear gives good handling.

[mangomike]

I'm interested in the replys as well.
Anything to improve handling.Ours Handles ok but could be better.
thanks
m

[GaryL]

Originally Posted by ph007

What is the best tire pressure to run on this unit? I have read where 60psi was used on the front with 80psi on the rear.

My mechanic (Mercedes 2013 Roadtrek SS) said fill them to spec on the tires rather than those inside the door, which probably refer to original tires which were different products. In my case I have new Michelins which call for 80 in all 4. That's what I have in them and it rides very nicely.

[avanti]

Originally Posted by GaryL

My mechanic (Mercedes 2013 Roadtrek SS) said fill them to spec on the tires rather than those inside the door, which probably refer to original tires which were different products.

This is bad advice.
The pressure on the side of tires is their MAXIMUM cold inflation pressure, not a recommended pressure. The correct pressure is determined by the vehicle weight, so it varies from vehicle to vehicle.

Last I checked, Michelin's website had a chart that gave a recommended pressure by weight on the individual axle, which you can determine at a truck stop scale.

There are supposed to be two different weights inside a b-van's door: the one from the OEM and a revised one computed by the upfitter. You should use the latter. It is ok to adjust up or down according to your experience, as long as you never exceed the number on the tire.

[cuppmobile]

I have owned a RT 210 Popular for about 10 years and have always ran 60 to 65 in front tires and 80psi in rear tires with no problems. This is tire pressure measured while tires are cold. When you drive for a while the tire pressure will increase, so be sure and do your measurement when tires have rested for a while.

[jadatis]

It all depends on the real load on axles, or better axle-end loads. I can help you with dangerous estimation of that, but it stays the most tricky part in it all, and your respocibility. Once you determine the loads acurately you can use my made list for your tire, in wich maximum reserve included, and per axle, so 2 tires for single load and 4 for dualload axle.

Searched your motorhome and found GVWR 9100LBS.
And found tires LT 245/75R16 120/116Q D-load
Check on sidewall if I am right, or correct me.
Then I will make you a list.

Need from tires next,
1. Maximum load or loadindex ( the 120 is LI for singleload, 116 LI for dualload).
2. Kind of tire to determine the reference-pressure, but pressure behind AT given is binding. ( your D-load referencepressure 65psi)
3. Less important, speedcode but Q and above reference-speed is 160kmph/ 99mph.

For reference- speed and - pressure the maxload is determined by the tiremakers.

Also give if rear single or duall, and give GAWR's and GVWR.
carmakers use GAWR's to calculate the recomended pressure for.

[booster]

Originally Posted by jadatis

It all depends on the real load on axles, or better axle-end loads. I can help you with dangerous estimation of that, but it stays the most tricky part in it all, and your respocibility. Once you determine the loads acurately you can use my made list for your tire, in wich maximum reserve included, and per axle, so 2 tires for single load and 4 for dualload axle.

Searched your motorhome and found GVWR 9100LBS.
And found tires LT 245/75R16 120/116Q D-load
Check on sidewall if I am right, or correct me.
Then I will make you a list.

Need from tires next,
1. Maximum load or loadindex ( the 120 is LI for singleload, 116 LI for dualload).
2. Kind of tire to determine the reference-pressure, but pressure behind AT given is binding. ( your D-load referencepressure 65psi)
3. Less important, speedcode but Q and above reference-speed is 160kmph/ 99mph.

For reference- speed and - pressure the maxload is determined by the tiremakers.

Also give if rear single or duall, and give GAWR's and GVWR.
carmakers use GAWR's to calculate the recomended pressure for.

I am pretty sure, and Roadtrek brochure confirms a 2005 210 on Chevy is 9600# GVWR. 6042# RAWR. 4300# FALR.


The rear axle rating is exactly the same as the stock size tire max weight ratings, so any unbalance side to side could overload one side, usually the driver side in Roadtreks as they tend to run heavy by 2-300# it appears.


Many 210s are overweight, we have seen it a lot on here, and we just had a case where the a rear axle snapped off at the end and the rear wheel fell off. Very dangerous and they were lucky. This can only happen on the smaller 9 3/4" Dana 60s axle because it is a semi floater. It can't happen on the full floating Dans 70s that came with the trailer towing package. The 70s is rated the same weight because of the tires, but it could easily carry 1500+# more.


I always recommend getting the scales and see how much you weigh, especially with 210s and if you are within 300# of max on the rear, you can't add any more weight back there as on side will likely go overweight. Blowouts and broken axles can be very dangerous and expensive because the fiberglass can get ripped up or you could crash.

[ChicagoTom]

No, YOU ARE GIVING BAD ADVICE. Go by what the manufacturer of your RV states, not what AVANTI STATES. The RV manufacturer works with the Chassis manufacturer and they know more than AVANTI. I suspect my post will get deleted as usual, because Avanti can say bad advice, but I can't. LOL

Originally Posted by avanti

This is bad advice.
The pressure on the side of tires is their MAXIMUM cold inflation pressure, not a recommended pressure. The correct pressure is determined by the vehicle weight, so it varies from vehicle to vehicle.

Last I checked, Michelin's website had a chart that gave a recommended pressure by weight on the individual axle, which you can determine at a truck stop scale.

There are supposed to be two different weights inside a b-van's door: the one from the OEM and a revised one computed by the upfitter. You should use the latter. It is ok to adjust up or down according to your experience, as long as you never exceed the number on the tire.

[avanti]

Originally Posted by avanti

There are supposed to be two different weights inside a b-van's door: the one from the OEM and a revised one computed by the upfitter. You should use the latter.

Originally Posted by ChicagoTom

No, YOU ARE GIVING BAD ADVICE. Go by what the manufacturer of your RV states, not what AVANTI STATES.

I'm sorry--what exactly did I say that you are correcting?

[jadatis]

Booster wrote

Many 210s are overweight, we have seen it a lot on here, and we just had a case where the a rear axle snapped off at the end and the rear wheel fell off. Very dangerous and they were lucky. This can only happen on the smaller 9 3/4" Dana 60s axle because it is a semi floater. It can't happen on the full floating Dans 70s that came with the trailer towing package. The 70s is rated the same weight because of the tires, but it could easily carry 1500+# more.

Thats about the same situation as for motorhomes in Europe, often overloaded on rear axle. Only never read about an axle that failed.
What I did read is that the springs went to their silent blocks, then heavyer springs behind or airsprings( must be the wrong word, but to lazy to search for it)

So if topicstarter gives as much possible info.
Not only the GAWR's, and I assume Rear Singleload axle, and GVWR. But also empty weight, wheelbase, total length, so I can get a better picture of the weight-division over the axles.

With making a pressure/loadcapacity list, that part is covered, because official lists dont include a reserve, alway needed, and calculated with a formula that leads to to high loadcapacity's in the lower pressures. With my list you only have to read back the acurate determined axleloads, and dont need to add reserve or devide by 2 or 4 first.
i do all that for you.

[booster]

Originally Posted by jadatis

Booster wrote

Many 210s are overweight, we have seen it a lot on here, and we just had a case where the a rear axle snapped off at the end and the rear wheel fell off. Very dangerous and they were lucky. This can only happen on the smaller 9 3/4" Dana 60s axle because it is a semi floater. It can't happen on the full floating Dans 70s that came with the trailer towing package. The 70s is rated the same weight because of the tires, but it could easily carry 1500+# more.

Thats about the same situation as for motorhomes in Europe, often overloaded on rear axle. Only never read about an axle that failed.
What I did read is that the springs went to their silent blocks, then heavyer springs behind or airsprings( must be the wrong word, but to lazy to search for it)

So if topicstarter gives as much possible info.
Not only the GAWR's, and I assume Rear Singleload axle, and GVWR. But also empty weight, wheelbase, total length, so I can get a better picture of the weight-division over the axles.

With making a pressure/loadcapacity list, that part is covered, because official lists dont include a reserve, alway needed, and calculated with a formula that leads to to high loadcapacity's in the lower pressures. With my list you only have to read back the acurate determined axleloads, and dont need to add reserve or devide by 2 or 4 first.
i do all that for you.

I think the entire dynamic of loaded/unloaded/fuel fill and use/water from tank to tank thing in RVs really makes calculations tough to do as it changes constantly. Probably not as bad as in cargo vans that can have the load anywhere in the van and also heavy or light but still highly variable.


When I, and I think many others, are talking tire pressures we are mainly referring to where you get the most comfortable and safe handling characteristics balance as by the time you get to addressing handling it is assumed that the van is within the safety limits of tire loading. I have spoken to the engineers from several of the major tire manufacturers at automotive part trade shows and all of them are very well versed on the fact that tire pressures can and should be moved off of door sticker to suit the vehicle and user's conditions. I think that the engineers would totally agree that a van at full GVWR would be better at higher tire pressures than an empty van which would ride very poorly at those pressures. The manufacturers or the vans have to split a very, very fine line for how they build a van that can go from weighing 5500# with a very light rear weight to weighing 9600# with very high rear weight. They have to choose tire pressures for the label that are safe under both conditions so they are stuck with 80 psi in the rear to carry full weight even though when empty it could probably 50 psi or less. In the front they can set the pressure at a lower point based on the max axle load and stay low for ride comfort and not necessarily handling. Empty rear drive vans are extremely tail happy on low traction surfaces so they build in a whole bunch of understeer to compensate for that by never putting in rear sway bars and steering geometries.



This discussion about 210s is different as the safety because of overloading needs to be addressed first, IMO. 210s have a very low cargo capacity in weight compared to how much room they have in them so are very easy to overload, plus the built in weight difference side to side in the rear makes it even easier to overload the left rear tire and axle shaft.



Knowing your actual wheel weights is a very good thing and I think it should be done if possible. It can be a bit difficult though because truck scales usually weigh complete axle weights. The "gypsy" portable truck weigh stations, usually in rural non freeway areas often use the portable scales in just a pull off level areas and will normally weigh you if you ask, I have been told I built a set of wheel measuring scales so I can do ours at home if needed. Also just my opinion, I think that trying to calculate the wheel weights off dimensions without knowing what range the center of gravity of the van moves with various loads is going to be very difficult.


Getting back to this particular 210, I think they should get their wheel weights if at all possible and get them under the max weight rating of the tires. That is a safety issue, no question to me.


The 50/80 psi on the Roadtrek and GM door sticker is undoubtedly safe at all rated loads, so there is no real reason to worry about that, IMO, if you are on stock rated tires.


From there, since safety is OK, adjusting pressures can be done safely as long as you only go up on them unless there is a major reduction in weight loading. So in the 210 the rear is already at max tire pressure and the weight near max, so there is really no pressure adjusting you could safely do. The front is nearly 2000# under max tire rating at full axle weight so you have a lot of room above the 50 psi to be able to adjust the pressure in the safe range to suit handling and comfort personal taste. Increasing front tire pressure in general will reduce understeer and make directional stability better as it does in nearly all vehicles. If you get too high, though some, tires will start to lose traction again and understeer will start to come back, but by then the ride will not very good.



Most of us with the Chevies and older Dodges have found that getting in the 60-65 psi range in the front makes the van more stable and easier to drive. The wind will push you around less and when it does push you it comes back straight easier and faster with less steering input. We have also found that handling is a very personal thing and what one driver likes another may not like. I prefer a tight handling, low understeer, setup, which I have done to our van with tire pressures, sway bar adding, and alignment changes. It is very easy for me to drive with very small steering corrections needed to it, which suits my lazy, often single hand, driving habits. People that are used to using two hands tightly on the wheel will tend to have a bit of trouble keeping in a straight line when they first drive it because that grip makes bigger corrections easier and they are used to needing bigger corrections and they overcorrect. It is like getting out of driving a big heavy understeering van or SUV and getting into a BMW with very responsive steering. Many would find the BMW to be "twitchy".


Bottom line for me in all this is to stay under the individual wheel tire and axle ratings first and always without exception. After that, if you choose to, you can adjust the tire pressures in the range of over the sticker pressure and under max tire pressure rating, to make the van feel the best while driving under all the kinds of conditions you see.


As best I can remember, I don't anyone who ever got flagged at a vehicle safety inspection for pressures that were above sticker and under max tire ratings, but many that were flagged for being too far under sticker and a few that were over tire max and probably were overloaded besides. We don't have safety inspections here in Minnesota, so I have never had to deal with one personally, though.

[jadatis]

In my lists I also give loadcapacity and pressure above referencepressure.
Continental groop gives in Europe often 2 cold pressures on sidewall.
1 the referencepressure right behind the service descriptions, see picture 65psi, and behind the maxloadstory the " maximum inflation pressure" of always 10psi higher so 75psi between brackets in the picture.

So then they allow you to use higher pressure.
But dont support the higher then maxload belonging to that.
Mother nature does.

Continental groop also sometimes gives additional service descriptions on sidewall, is other loadindex for other speedcode. And trucktires in europe almost always give aditional service descriptions.

So at lower speed more maxload is allowed.
Sometimes I give list with at front of cold psi loadcapacity for 130kmph/81mph, and behind it for referencespeed of tire of 160kmph.
Figured out the system they use for it.
Rule of tumb is for every 10kmph/6.2mph differenr speed, 1 loadindexstep different.
Higher speed/lower loadindex, lower speed/ higher loadindex.

[booster]

Originally Posted by jadatis

In my lists I also give loadcapacity and pressure above referencepressure.
Continental groop gives in Europe often 2 cold pressures on sidewall.
1 the referencepressure right behind the service descriptions, see picture 65psi, and behind the maxloadstory the " maximum inflation pressure" of always 10psi higher so 75psi between brackets in the picture.

So then they allow you to use higher pressure.
But dont support the higher then maxload belonging to that.
Mother nature does.

Continental groop also sometimes gives additional service descriptions on sidewall, is other loadindex for other speedcode. And trucktires in europe almost always give aditional service descriptions.

So at lower speed more maxload is allowed.
Sometimes I give list with at front of cold psi loadcapacity for 130kmph/81mph, and behind it for referencespeed of tire of 160kmph.
Figured out the system they use for it.
Rule of tumb is for every 10kmph/6.2mph differenr speed, 1 loadindexstep different.
Higher speed/lower loadindex, lower speed/ higher loadindex.

They certainly seem to have a better handle on it all in Europe. Probably nobody knows what the real criteria are here, but hopefully the max load/pressure covers all the way up to the max speed index. Good information.


It is common in the high performance tires to give different pressures for different speeds in the higher ranges, though. They always go higher at higher speeds, sometimes a lot.


We have a 190 Roadtrek at 5300# highest on the back so well under the 6042# max rated, but I prefer a bit more load capacity top space just from personal choice of not liking being near max. We went to the larger 26-75-16 tires which give in the range of 350# extra max load per tire and that is about 50% more top space safety factor for us.


I did do an interesting calculation after I had determined what pressures I like for best handling. I came across it after doing a bunch of different calcs trying to find a way to predict what a best front pressure might be for our heavy vans.


The only thing the turned out to show a good relationship was the #load/psi on each tire. For our case it turned out within a few pounds so very surprised. I guess it makes sense as that would also be the tire to ground contact patch size and available traction is directly related to that along with it's actual shape which should also be the same with same size tires front and rear.

[jadatis]

Still waiting on a reaction from topicstarter have not seen any in this topic.

But if Booster gives his tire-specifications, I will make a list for him.
If you have wishes about the reserves, or per axle or tire, or speeds, write it, and I make it for that.

But, when tire is not blowing, and axle brakes, you are still the sigar ( translated Dutch expression).

Standard I make my lists with an even tighter formula then the official european, wich I got hold of end 2007, and went running with.
My formula close to lineair calculation, booster used to check, i make of his story (lbs/psi).


Then standard 90% given of the calculated axleload to cover unequall load R/L.
Determined by reactions about bumping, that if more then 85% of calculated loadcapacity for the pressure for 99mph realy on tire, that comfort and grip still acceptable.
So can give 95%/85% on the axlesides and 85% still no bumping, and the 95% still some reserve.

If I make it per axle-end, I give standard 95% of loadcapacity. Then search back heavyest side on the axle, and hope that lightest side dont go under 85%.

[JohnnyFry]

I run 65 front and 80 rear. Some adjust the front for optimum handling (I like 65) but never, never depart from 80 in the rear. 210s are close to maxing out both the rear axle and tire load. Tire loading determines the tire pressure. All tire manufacturers have load Vs pressure charts available for all models of tires they manufacture. Visit your local CAT scale regularly!

[ph007]

Well, we drove our new to us 2006 roadtrek 210 popular home yesterday. Tires were 55psi on the front, and 80psi on the rear. We drove 252 miles and it handled very good. With that being said, it was not all expressway and there was no water meaning fresh, gray or black. Our load was the 2 of us and the RV. We also white knuckled it for 150 plus miles in a whiteout snow event that was not predicted. I am extremely impressed with the way this RT handled this weather. Anyhow, got home safe.

[jjrbus]

If anyone is interested there are outfits that do individual wheel weighing, here is one. https://rvweigh.com/

[N147JK]

18 posts and over 4000 words so far on just tire pressure! LOL.. good grief just set it somewhere between 60 and 80 and don't worry about it - it doesn't demand that kind of precision and a few pounds one way or another isn't going to make much difference. Have fun outdoors and enjoy your camping!