Perishing Tyres

[Wooie1958]

It's the only contact you have with the road. Most important!
Personally, I don't look with a microscope, BUT I do often glance at my tyres as I walk around my van, and on long journeys, I do put my hand on them to check the heat.
It's a truck drivers thing!
Don't forget to check tyre pressures and when tyres are cold and not in direct sunshine

I`ve always done that along with be-bugging and cleaning the windscreen, mirrors and lights each time we stop for a brew / quick break etc.etc.

It literally only takes a couple of minutes and gets me out from under the feet of the wife whilst she making a brew.

I get some very strange looks when doing it along with when i check the lights and indicators when parked up on aires :rolleyes2:

I think it`s the only the more " senior " HGV drivers that do it because the young ones these days don`t seem to bother/ couldn`t give a fcuk.

I`ve also lost count of the number of times i`ve been asked if i`ve broken down when i check the oil level ( which i do regular ) and no, it doesn`t use any :hammer:

 

[GWAYGWAY]

At 60mph, or any speed below, stand on the brakes, if the wheels don't lock then a better tyre will be of no use to you. If on the other hand your wheels lock, like the vast majority of vans, then the tyres don't exceed the capabilities of the van.

If I did that I would be wearing to entire contents of my van complete with shelves and doors.
My biggest gripe of tyres is not the grip or the braking but the fact I pee blood after going along the M25 and a lot of other bad surfaces. The road shocks passed int to van is awful. it feel like I have 90 psi in them but have 50 front and 65 rear. These are the pressures given to me by Continental for the Vanco tyres fitted from new. Even now it looks like the rear ones are wearing more on the outside edges. I find these tyres are totally non compliant to the road surfaces and pass every bump into the seats and me. The sprinter base has hard springs on it to carry the load and I vary the iar in the rear to suit the load but it doesnt make much difference. My old transit base chausson had softer suspension and was softer to ride in. this one gives me pogo vision on a rough road. I thought that powerboat racing might be more comfortable than this van

 

[daygoboy]

Overdamping can give you a harsh ride, a change of shocks might be beneficial,
or perhaps you run well under max. load (unlikely).
What about a change of mindset think of your van as a sports car, every bump
felt through the seat of your pants is a plus. No one wants a sports car to handle
like some wallowing American land barge.
Sorry I'm not much help.

 

[Nabsim]

If I did that I would be wearing to entire contents of my van complete with shelves and doors.
My biggest gripe of tyres is not the grip or the braking but the fact I pee blood after going along the M25 and a lot of other bad surfaces. The road shocks passed int to van is awful. it feel like I have 90 psi in them but have 50 front and 65 rear. These are the pressures given to me by Continental for the Vanco tyres fitted from new. Even now it looks like the rear ones are wearing more on the outside edges. I find these tyres are totally non compliant to the road surfaces and pass every bump into the seats and me. The sprinter base has hard springs on it to carry the load and I vary the iar in the rear to suit the load but it doesnt make much difference. My old transit base chausson had softer suspension and was softer to ride in. this one gives me pogo vision on a rough road. I thought that powerboat racing might be more comfortable than this van

Strange, mine is sprinter base and has Contis which I run at 4.5 bar all round as advised by conti tech guys and it’s a nice ride usually. I run my rear air assist slightly under 3.5 bar.