cold weather travel

rgatijnet1 wrote:

hipower wrote:

rgatijnet1 wrote:
Reading some of the posts it is becoming very clear why some people have trouble with their tires. Of course, according to them, it is always the manufacturer's fault.
Maintaining proper air pressure at all times seems so basic and so important that it is preached by every tire manufacturer.

The problem with changing pressures is accelerated by our desire to maintain the ideal pressure for the weight being carried.

If we follow that thinking then adjusting the pressure every time we stop or the temperature goes up or down a few degrees would be the norm.

Running tires underinflated is asking for trouble in most cases. Those of us who run higher pressures than the supposed ideal based on weight will rarely see pressures drop enough due to temperature decreases to become a factor. If we as RV owners are anal enough about maintaining ideal pressures we would be stopping frequently to check the pressures and adjusting for low pressure as well as high pressure. I see drivers adding air, but have never seen anyone removing air because the pressure increased due to higher temps.

I guess you forgot what the topic was about....Driving from Florida to Missouri. When the topic was started, the temperature difference was in excess of 60 degrees at those locations. In that case the pressure drop would have been close to 16 pounds.
If you travel during the Winter to locations where the temperature has big swings, like in this topic and in the Western mountains, then you SHOULD raise or lower your pressure accordingly. Keeping with the topic, if someone during that same period of time traveled from Missouri south to Florida, and their tires were properly inflated in Missouri, then they would be 16 pounds over-inflated when they reached Florida. It seems obvious what you would do, which is drive around with grossly over-inflated tires because you have NEVER seen anyone remove air from their tires.
Some of us that do travel in the Winter and visit areas where we experience big temperature swings, do check our tire pressure each morning and adjust accordingly, either up or down. If you have never seen it being done it is because you don't travel to those areas or travel during very cold Winter temperatures.

Since my travels have frequently been from PA to FL and back in the dead of winter, I believe my experience would be appropriate. In over 30 years of RV travels I have run several sets of tires over 100,000 mile each and up to ten years before replacing them. I have never found the need to continually adjust pressures to achieve that tire life. I won't deny that temperature changes will change tire pressures, but if we follow that logic we will also see pressures change with changes in elevation, such as crossing mountain ranges.

End result, we will all do what we feel is required and live with the result. My experience both with my RV's and nearly 40 years of truck fleet operations has served me well, and I don't believe I will change what has worked for me.