SKILLS SCHOOL TYRES
THEY ARE CALLED a ‘distress purchase’, something you have to spend your hard-earned on, but derive no joy from. True as that may be, those black rubber rings are crucial for our comfort and safety, and an incredible amount of science and technology goes into making them.
Caravans use commercially rated tyres, which have much stronger sidewalls than standard car tyres. For example, car tyres are typically designed for inflation up to 45 psi, while commercial ones can be inflated to 65 psi.
This makes caravan tyres costlier than equivalent standard tyres, but perhaps most distressing of all, they usually have to be thrown away long before they're worn out!
Experts agree, car and caravan tyres have a lifespan of five to seven years, because their compounds degradethe UV in sunlight. Eventually, they become unsuitable for safe use. Obviously, the average car, doing 10,000 miles a year, will wear out its tyres in two to three years, when the remaining tread depth nears the legal minimum of 1.6mm. Caravans, however, may only do 1000-2000 miles a year, so they rarely wear out before that five- or seven-year age limit.
