camper tire pressures

My recent experience:
In April, in preparation for a 1,500 mile round trip over 4 travel days I aired all 4 tires on my '11 Keystone Outback 250RS to what the label says...65 lbs., rechecked the morning before we left with gauge and the gauge on the air compressor. Temps were in the upper 40's.

On the way back from Arkansas 7 days later, driving in lower 90 degree temps on the interstate at 58-62 MPH, my TST507 TPMS alerted me to an "overpressure" on one tire. Stopped and checked, and it was at 75 lbs...right where I had set the overpressure alert on the TST.

From now on I'll take anticipated temperature differences much more into consideration.

sgrizzle wrote:
Thanks for all of your comments. We just got back from our trip to Yellowstone (2,500 miles!!). I can't believe the difference in towing from the two week-end trips we had before (with the tires at 50 psi and our cross-country trip to Yellowstone (with the tires at 65 psi). WOW! I never would have thought that would have made such a difference! Not as much sway, much more control. I was amazed.

I know, you probably think I'm a little dense. But I really did not expect that!

Great news! Towed trailers of any type benefit greatly from stiff sidewalls. The tires themselves, their condition, load ratings, and inflation pressures make a drastic difference.

Underinflation or things like running car tires on trailers cause trailer wagging. It's not the same as vehicle tires, which often have a range of inflation for various conditions.

Many confuse the two, but the proof as they say 'is in the pudding' ;)

My tires have a max rating of 35 psi

Does that seem low?

They are Goodyear marathon trailer tires and I was surprised to find such a low pressure rating

Nvr2loud wrote:
My tires have a max rating of 35 psi

Does that seem low?

They are Goodyear marathon trailer tires and I was surprised to find such a low pressure rating

What kind of TT do you have and what is the trailer's recommended inflation (per tag or manual)?

W.E.BGood wrote:

Nvr2loud wrote:
My tires have a max rating of 35 psi

Does that seem low?

They are Goodyear marathon trailer tires and I was surprised to find such a low pressure rating

What kind of TT do you have and what is the trailer's recommended inflation (per tag or manual)?

The rating plate in the side of the trailer is sun faded but the trailer is an r-vision trail cruiser 30QBSS

Yah. One thing I didn't remember to check at the dealership when I picked up my new camper last month was the tire pressure. Got it home from our very first outing and decided I'd better check. Not one tire was at 60 much less 65 - as per the sticker. (This was straight from the factory no less - I had ordered mine and picked it up about 5 days after it was finished being built)

So my lessons learned: Check before every trip, don't assume...

I was following the cold tire pressure rating of 50 PSI on the sticker located on the side of the trailer. I guess I should check the tire itself.

I have an tire inflator compressor, and it is supposed to supply up to 100 PSI, but it takes quite a while to get a tire to go from 45 PSI to 50 PSI. I can't imagine trying to get them up to 65 PSI!

With my last TT, I kept the tires at 50 PSI cold for almost 8 years with no problems.

Can I be a pain and add a question to this thread???
I am new to towing a TT this year, and felt it to be a good idea to start off right away with a pressure monitoring system. I bought and installed the tire tracker system and am quite impressed with it.
When I accepted the TT from the dealer I asked about tire pressure and was told to "leave the pressure where it was" by the guy that has now been fired!!!! Where it was turned out to be around 70PSI. Then on inspecting the tires I find that they say MAX 50PSI. Needless to say, i reduced the pressures to the max.
I was also informed that these tires were filled with Nitrogen not air.
So in the last few trips, I have had to remove air before departing because the pressures seem to creep up closer to the 54PSI level (Cold)......
I am not familiar with Nitrogen in tires.....could this be why my pressures seem to migrate upward? even though the outdoor weather temperatures have not??

Dick_B wrote:
We get a tire pressure question virtually every week and it's the same question only with a different tire pressure.
You could search this Forum for previous posts OR load it up to the cold pressure rating and drive on; which is what I do.

Ditto here.

Over 23 years towing personally, and many, many more as a young passenger.

Doug33 wrote:
I was following the cold tire pressure rating of 50 PSI on the sticker located on the side of the trailer. I guess I should check the tire itself.

I have an tire inflator compressor, and it is supposed to supply up to 100 PSI, but it takes quite a while to get a tire to go from 45 PSI to 50 PSI. I can't imagine trying to get them up to 65 PSI!

With my last TT, I kept the tires at 50 PSI cold for almost 8 years with no problems.

Tankless compressors do take a while to get up to pressure and/or volume. Try one, even a small one, with a tank.

The problem with using the sticker on the trailer, is the trailer has no idea what tires are on the trailer or their specs and performance parameters.

Just keep in mind that just like there are folks out there who have leaking propane line that haven't blown up (yet), not having a problem running with too low pressure without any problems (yet) doesn't mean it is correct or safe. It's more a testament to the forgiveness of the tires themselves.

The exception being if you are highly overrated on your tires.