Many people take their caravan and trailer tyres for granted. We tend to assume that tyres need changing when the tread depth begins to threaten the annual MOT test. This works for our car tires, but the caravan is a different matter.
For a successful and no-stress holiday, please do not ignore your tires.
A touring caravan spends far more of it's time standing still rather than actually touring and covers far fewer miles than our cars. This means that it's tyres rarely actually wear out the tread, but this brings other factors into play. Unfortunately the materials they are made from have a limited life which often runs out before the tread wears away. This can lead to unexpected blow-outs causing damage to your caravan as well as trauma to you and your passengers.
Age-related cracking of a tyre wall is an often overlooked sign that it's time they were changed.
In order to give owners guidance as to the age of a tyre, for a number of years now they have carried a date code amongst the array of markings around the sidewall. This code also tells insurance company loss adjusters the exact age of the tyres should you end up blocking the motorway with a jack-knifed caravan.
To keep safe, here is a typical date code:
DOT EK 4D 2BY X 4208
The DOT means the tyre meets American Department of Transport requirements.
EK 4D 2BY
These are used to identify the manufacturer and which of their factories produced the tyre.
4208
The last four digits provide the date that the tire was made. Until the year 2000 this was a group of three digits giving the month and year of manufacture. If yours have this three digit group, they are well past their useful life! Please change them soon, for your own peace of mind. Since then the group has consisted of four digits, the first two telling the week number, the last two the year. The above example refers to week 42 in 2008. If your tyres are over 5 years old you should be thinking about changing them no matter what the tread looks like. If they are getting toward 10 years it's beyond the time you changed them.
Please remember what is at stake here. The thought of changing tyres on the hard shoulder should fill you with dread. Being inches away from high speed traffic whilst trying to mount the spare wheel is no way to spend your holiday.
Also consider the well-being of other members of your family should you be unlucky enough to have the tyre blow out at high speed. Tyres really are a safety issue so take care of them.
To discover many more hints, tips and guides to help you make your touring holiday a success, visit Mike's web site at http://www.caravanrepair.com/
There is an illustrated version of this and other useful and informative articles on the site.
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