van tyre wear pattern.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

any tyre wizards out there?
All 4 are identical, they run around 60psi loaded on the road, good for 80lbs max.. carry around 3T between them.

[Slunnie]

any tyre wizards out there?
All 4 are identical, they run around 60psi loaded on the road, good for 80lbs max.. carry around 3T between them.

Is the van loaded evenly from side to side? My gut feeling is that is has to do with axle alignment. The axles have a fair bit of slop in how they sit over the spring bolts, and the springs themselves never seem to be perfectly matched in terms of centres. You might be able to check this by climbing under and running a tape measure between each axle, with this being done on both sides and compared.

[LuckyLes]

Are they worn more in the centre, it's a bit hard to tell from the photos. I don't run that high on my van, 3.2t loaded. Remember that 3t is only 750kg on each tyre, less if you deduct the ball weight.
Cheers
LuckyLes

[Graeme]

The tyres look over-inflated which isn't surprising at 60 psi. Consider the pressures that you would use in your car's tyres if it was loaded to the same weight. My 2.5T van's tyres are 36 psi front and 38 psi rear.

The maximum pressure stated on a tyre is for maximum load at maximum speed for a short time at a specific ambient temperature, which I can't recall specfically but feel that it's around 30 mins.

[incisor]

Caravan Tyre Pressure; what should you be running? (https://www.4wdingaustralia.com/camping/caravan-tyre-pressure/)

[DazzaTD5]

Keep in mind I am not a caravan owner/person etc..

As others have already mentioned, 60 psi seems way high, I would have thought round 40 - 45 psi, my first thought when you said "van" and read 60 psi I thought van was like a light truck.

But on saying that, outer wear in general terms on both sides is under inflated, if its just on one side, I'm thinking axles alignment is wrong/out.
Also a up down type wear can be worn or shocks that are not upto the job.

[Geedublya]

Is the van loaded evenly from side to side? My gut feeling is that is has to do with axle alignment. The axles have a fair bit of slop in how they sit over the spring bolts, and the springs themselves never seem to be perfectly matched in terms of centres. You might be able to check this by climbing under and running a tape measure between each axle, with this being done on both sides and compared.

I had some uneven wear on my van tyres and found one of the dual axles wasn't aligned very well. I loosened off the axle clamps and was suprised how much movement I got.

[Homestar]

What’s the load rating on the tyres?

[Slunnie]

I had some uneven wear on my van tyres and found one of the dual axles wasn't aligned very well. I loosened off the axle clamps and was suprised how much movement I got.

Its pretty incredible isn't it. They can be a long way out, I'm really not sure why they make the axle pads with so much slop in the them. If the van is always trying to turn then they will scrub out the tyre edge like that.

[V8Ian]

Pedro, there can be a number of reasons, or any combination of, for uneven wear, in your photos.

Inflation, obviously underinflation will wear the edges, but so can overinflation. The centre of the tyre can have a larger radius than the edges, causing the edges to travel at a slower speed, relative to the centre. The centre is carrying the bulk of the weight, so the edge is constantly or occasionally scuffing along the road surface.

Alignment, an obvious consideration. An on-site truck aligner will be able to do a very accurate lazer jobby, for a surprisingly reasonable cost.

Tyre selection: That tread pattern looks more aggressive than is required for a trailer. You are experiencing a similar phenomena to that seen on trucks, when drive tyres are moved to a trailing position to run them out. Once scalloping/feathering has started, it's all but impossible to rectify.

My humble advice would be to adjust the tyre pressure to suit the load (+10% shouldn't be a drama), have the alignment checked and when necessary, replace the tyres with ones with a more highway oriented tread pattern.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

More info, 116/113S rating, at first tyres were inflated cold to 50,, (thats pretty much standard in the caravan world) after running for an hour they would reach 60lbs, so ATM they are at 55cold and still reach 60.
If 60 is too high I doubt the trailing edges of both the inside and outside tread blocks would be feathering, on all 4 tyres.
Keen to have a wheel alignment done

[RobMichelle]

Being on springs the alignment will be a lot more labour intensive. Once the measurements are sorted the hangers will need to be cut off and rewelded in the right position if that is the cause.Axles may have been bent to allow for road camber or just not set up correctly. Really no need for aggressive van tyres unless you play on muddy slippery tracks in my opinion.

[Slunnie]

Don't go nuts like that unless it is wildly out. The axle pads have a lot of slop on the spring bolts. You'll probably be able to just loosen off the Ubolts, align the axles with a tape measure and then retighten the Ubolts. Make sure youre on level ground, like a flat concrete slab etc.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

More info.. No shocks.

[ATH]

We had bad tyre problems with our van and an independent bloke found the tracking was way out. Also the wheels were so badly buckled from bad manufacture that they couldn't be balanced properly. Tyres wore very quickly and shocks clapped out.
I complained to the yards owner (now deceased) and he just said with no justification or evidence whatsoever..... "You've abused it".
His face was a real delight to see when I took paperwork around from the small claims court showing I was giving him 10 working days to fix or pay for it to be fixed or I'd sue him. This was after those upholders of consumer rights in WA told me "I hesitate to approach Mr *** as he's an icon of the industry".
My response was more than just robust.
Anyway, all good since we got it done and no problems for some years as we still travel over all sorts of roads whenever we can. Well worth getting suspension checked as many vans are just slapped together with no care or skill at all.
AlanH.

[V8Ian]

https://youtu.be/RUGzJpLeC1E

May be of help, Pedro.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Well my first thought is I'm not trusting anyone running MPC tyres. They fail. They ALL fail..

after doing the math the pressure required is 54.23561023566 lbs... so 55 all round is (this guy) correct.

after talking to a mobile wheel aligner it seems you cant wheel-align roller/rocker suspension.
The solution to this problem is to REPLACE both axles....

[Bradtot]

I have my rear axel of my van out at the moment due to the spring locating block on the left rear axel that has moved due to poor welding. I was going to flip the axel as well but I found out that the axels are pre bent so I would have to also cut and Re weld all the spring locating blocks on both axels, so I decided to leave it.
I also found the bushes worn in the spring eyes and have replaced with bronze bushes and new bolts, I did have the front right tyre wearing on the inside and when I measured between the wheels before I started all this that there was a 10mm difference between each side measuring between the edge of the rim of each rim, so when I reassemble I will leave the u bolts loose and use straps to see if I can get the alignment a bit better..My tyre placard says 65 psi ,the tyre max is 65 psi as written on the sidewall, I run 45 cold and when hot it goes to 50 so I am happy with this.🙂🙂

[V8Ian]

Did said aligner look at your suspension? Replacing the axles will only cure the problem IF
the issue is with thethe axle. It will not address the issue if the root cause is inaccurate placement of the spring hangers.
Does the 'van have radius rods?

[Slunnie]

Unless the axle is bent, which i doubt very much then I’m not sure what an axle replacement could possibly achieve

The only thing I can think of is that he would offset the axle pads to correct the alignment, but you don’t have to replace the axles to do that.

He’s right, the roller rocker suspension cant be aligned, but he should check it for anything weird like wear and also to see if the spring pack bolts are all in the correct place and you don’t accidentally have an incorrect spring pack - there are centered bolt and offset bolt packs for 2nd/4wd wheels.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Not much choice in mobile wheel aligners,, and I dont think he was at all interested in being Imbil mobile....

radius rods on solid axles roller rockers ??? is that a thing? got pics??
as all 4 tyres are showing the same wear, its either a manufacturing error or ONE huge 4wheel load event, like getting the van airborne.
I might get under with a stringline and check,, but not today. its cats and dogs outside!

[V8Ian]

185635

[Nanna Truck]

Pedro
Had a real problem with wife's "Girlie Van" wearing 3 of the tyres in various ways. Two of them looked similar to yours, the other scrubbed badly on the inside.
Similar load sharing set up to that visible in your pics. ie 4wheels 4 springs with centre rocker.
Measured and marked the centre line, checked toe in toe out from that line and then checked camber. Tried adjusting the springs/axle pads, but insufficient movement to correct the situation.
Finally took it to a Truck Wheel aligning business for them to fix. They loosened the spring bolts and bent axles to suit.
Do not necessarily approve of the method they used, but, it now tows much better, and is not feathering/scrubbing tyres like it was.
Van weight is 2834kg ATM. Run tyre pressure at 45psi.
Attached wheel alignment chart shows before (shaded) and after alignment.
Regards
Harry

[Pedro_The_Swift]

185635


as far as I know, NO van in Oz has radius rods.