Recommended Tire Pressure for 16RB Caravel?

[Whyvon2509]

I just recently took delivery of a '21 16'RB Caravel. This is my first camper, ever, so I'm completely new. I'm taking it on a 2 week road trip in a few days to North Carolina and very nervous to be taking it out on the road (but I can only camp in my driveway for so long)! I am unsure of correct tire pressure. It says 80PSI Max on the tire, but several people have told me I should only inflate to 70. I've read thru some of the Airstream Forum posts, but still not sure. Recommendation....please?

[s1000pre]

I would inflate to the recommended pressure on your Caravel’s serial number plaque located on the front left corner.

[LNBright]

I don’t have the chart at my fingertips at the moment, but it was in a recent tire thread, what the psi would be for a GYE for different weights. My 20FC is heavier than yours, I ran 75=last trip, a, thinking I need to back down to 70psi for my next trip.

I concur, your psi should be in the ballpark of what your plate says (whereas mine, being a few years older, originally had GYM’s on there that had to be at max psi to come close to supporting the weight... now that I switched to new GYE, I can run at a non-max psi now...).

[cwf]

Each tire maker has “load charts” for their tires. The load chart will give you cold tire pressure for the weight of your loaded trailer.

GYE (Goodyear Endurance) show 60-65 is ok for our 9500#, 3 axle trailer. I run 70PSI. The tire can be inflated to 80PSI.

This is a whole science.. You paid for the information by your tire purchase and the information is generally good.

So, load EVERYTHING in your trailer, weigh it on a CAT scale. Set tire pressure accordingly would be my approach.

Congrats on your adventure!

[PatLee]

Any 5-Rivet Airstream dealer tech will tell you to inflate your tires to what it says on the tire, in your case 80 psi.

[Peter417]

Originally Posted by PatLee

Any 5-Rivet Airstream dealer tech will tell you to inflate your tires to what it says on the tire, in your case 80 psi.

And this is terrible advice. I have no idea why so many rv dealers speak this nonsense.



The tire will be safe but you will beat the tar out of your pretty little airstream.


follow the placard or the generic inflation chart for your size tires and known trailer weight.

[Brian R.]

Here is Goodyear's tire inflation spec sheet: https://www.goodyearrvtires.com/pdfs/rv_inflation.pdf



The stock tires on on the 16' Caravel are Goodyear® Endurance ST225/75R15. If you load up to the trailer's GVWR of 4,300 lbs Goodyear recommends 50 PSI.

[Peter417]

Originally Posted by Brian R.

Here is Goodyear's tire inflation spec sheet: https://www.goodyearrvtires.com/pdfs/rv_inflation.pdf



The stock tires on on the 16' Caravel are Goodyear® Endurance ST225/75R15. If you load up to the trailer's GVWR of 4,300 lbs Goodyear recommends 50 PSI.

Thanks for posting this. For anyone following along, this is a generic chart for all ST tires.

[Rocket53]

So I just installed 225/75R15 GYE on my 23FB. Last time I weighed the trailer it was 4800lbs. Discount Tire installed them at 80psi and it sure did bounce the trailer taking it back to storage. reading the chart I'm not sure what pressure I should run in the tires. Dividing 4800 by 4 tires is 1200lbs. I don't feel comfortable running at the lowest psi on the chart which is 25. Suggestions? This is the first tire change for me, the trailer came with Michelin's and i ran them between 40-50psi which seemed to be fine.

[Silvr_Bullet]

Originally Posted by Peter417

Thanks for posting this. For anyone following along, this is a generic chart for all ST tires.

Thanks for posting the GY Endurance Chart. To further expand, on the sidewall of the tire its stamped “max pressure” at a given weight. See photo attached. NOTE tire photo is from my 16RB, not Caravel.

[Mollysdad]

Originally Posted by Rocket53

So I just installed 225/75R15 GYE on my 23FB. Last time I weighed the trailer it was 4800lbs. Discount Tire installed them at 80psi and it sure did bounce the trailer taking it back to storage. reading the chart I'm not sure what pressure I should run in the tires. Dividing 4800 by 4 tires is 1200lbs. I don't feel comfortable running at the lowest psi on the chart which is 25. Suggestions? This is the first tire change for me, the trailer came with Michelin's and i ran them between 40-50psi which seemed to be fine.

1. I also had the techs at Discount Tire try to inflate to 80 PSI. I overheard them and just asked for 65.
2. Take the tire chart and throw it in the trash. I've been down that rabbit hole of trying to credit GoodYear with some common sense, but I can't.
3. Inflate to what you think best.

[Peter417]

Originally Posted by Rocket53

So I just installed 225/75R15 GYE on my 23FB. Last time I weighed the trailer it was 4800lbs. Discount Tire installed them at 80psi and it sure did bounce the trailer taking it back to storage. reading the chart I'm not sure what pressure I should run in the tires. Dividing 4800 by 4 tires is 1200lbs. I don't feel comfortable running at the lowest psi on the chart which is 25. Suggestions? This is the first tire change for me, the trailer came with Michelin's and i ran them between 40-50psi which seemed to be fine.

Your intuition is correct. Dual axles change things a lot. When turning there is a a lot of forces fighting each other on those 2 tires.

at 1:13 in this video you can see some of this. Those tires are are leaving rubber behind in that turn.
https://youtu.be/0FsRXjI8W6o?t=73

I don't have an answer for you but hopefully this site will help you come up with a good answer. Please report your findings.
Barry's Tire Tech

[ETroup]

Originally Posted by Whyvon2509

I just recently took delivery of a '21 16'RB Caravel. This is my first camper, ever, so I'm completely new. I'm taking it on a 2 week road trip in a few days to North Carolina and very nervous to be taking it out on the road (but I can only camp in my driveway for so long)! I am unsure of correct tire pressure. It says 80PSI Max on the tire, but several people have told me I should only inflate to 70. I've read thru some of the Airstream Forum posts, but still not sure. Recommendation....please?

The attached graphic walks through a process that will determine an optimal safe tire pressure for a given trailer’s GVWR. It takes into account a safety margin and issues like “interply shear” on multi-axles implementations. If you have a different trailer or tires the exact same process should work if you substitute the actual table for your tires and your trailer specifications.

80 psi regardless of trailer weight for all Goodyear Endurance Tires is not a sensible answer.

[Jmacd]

Hi Yvonne, just saw this post and thought I’d throw in my 2-cents worth. We have both a 16’ and a 25’, a two Airstream family. As mentioned earlier, the double axle Airstreams subject tires to very high side load stress during tight turns which requires running the tire cold tire inflation psi close to or at the maximum tire sidewall psi, which I do. This is known as interply shear stress and can result in shorter tire life. Not an issue for your single axle Airstream. I switched out our tires on the 16’ to Goodyear Endurance ST225/75R15’s. Our 16’ loaded axle weight can run as high as 3,600lbs. I run 60psi in the tires which give me about 20% reserve load capacity and on a hot day of towing I only see about 10% increase in tire psi on my tire pressure monitor, so that works for us.

[tlars]

Originally Posted by PatLee

Any 5-Rivet Airstream dealer tech will tell you to inflate your tires to what it says on the tire, in your case 80 psi.

Talk to the tire manufacture. I am disapointed with the dealer knowledge of tires.

[tlars]

Originally Posted by Jmacd

Hi Yvonne, just saw this post and thought I’d throw in my 2-cents worth. We have both a 16’ and a 25’, a two Airstream family. As mentioned earlier, the double axle Airstreams subject tires to very high side load stress during tight turns which requires running the tire cold tire inflation psi close to or at the maximum tire sidewall psi, which I do. This is known as interply shear stress and can result in shorter tire life. Not an issue for your single axle Airstream. I switched out our tires on the 16’ to Goodyear Endurance ST225/75R15’s. Our 16’ loaded axle weight can run as high as 3,600lbs. I run 60psi in the tires which give me about 20% reserve load capacity and on a hot day of towing I only see about 10% increase in tire psi on my tire pressure monitor, so that works for us.

Goodyear technician said it was relevant if you drove thru slalom courses. Think about the abuse your trailer is going thru not your tires that should be replaced every 5 years