Everything you need to know to understand the best tyres for your tow vehicle, caravan, camper or camper-trailer.
Tyres are not the most sexiest things to talk about, but they are an essential part of your home on wheels. The importance of being able to tour Australia safety and confidently can’t be understated. Many a holiday has been spoilt or even canceled mid-way through due to issues with tyres, loads or maintenance issues.
So let’s get into it and start the discussion about tyres, including light truck tyres for caravans. There are 3 types of tyre pattern utilized on 4WDs– Highway Terrain (H/T), All-Terrain (A/T) and also Mud-Terrain (M/T). The three types of tyre construction are passenger, commercial, and light truck. Caravan owners tend to go for A/Ts or light truck tyres as these have a high load rating.
Tyre Types Explained
Now let’s discuss the benefits of each tyre type:
Highway Surface tyres are reasonably quiet, smooth, and commonly last longer than other tyre types. They have a high-speed rating as well as reasonably light sidewall construction. These tyres, with a tread pattern like a ‘cars and truck’ tyre, commonly give the best on-road grip. If you only do touring on sealed and highway-type roads H/T tyres will undoubtedly get the job done.
What specifies an A/T tyre really depends on how the tyre manufacturer has created it. Some A/Ts will certainly use a tread pattern similar to a H/T tyre, while others will have a slightly more aggressive trend making them more adaptable to semi-off-road conditions.
Mud Surface tyres (the heaviest, greatest building and blocky, deep step pattern) have low-speed and high-load ratings. Their tread is made for attacking mud trails, as well as they provide excellent grip in various other off-road situations such as climbing up rock actions. As you can guess, you aren’t towing your caravan or camper at high speeds down muddy tracks, so tyre performance at speed is not a consideration with tyre manufacturers.
Passenger-rated tyres offer the least puncture-resistant as they have the lightest construction. Typically they are the most inexpensive to acquire and have the greatest speed ranking.
Light Truck (LT) tyres have a stronger overall tyre make-up to enable greater load to be placed on the tyres. The puncture-resistant can vary depending on the manufacturer. A/T, M/T and Commercial tread patterns are available in light ruck designs.
LT Commercial-rated tyres are, as the name suggests, for commercial car applications where the car’s high load-carrying demands demand a much heavier building and construction tyre. They generally have a straightforward on-road, or sometimes a much more open Mud, as well as Snow tread pattern and, have a high-speed score. However, their much heavier construction allows a greater load rating. This design also provides far better puncture-resistance over other tyres.
The Very Best Concession
An all-terrain tyre with a Light Truck construction is the very best compromise for your tow car or caravan and camper. These tyres can be comfortably used for both on-road driving and towing off-road. While A/T tyres commonly have a reduced speed rating than a H/T tyre, the speed recommendations allow you to tow at highway speeds legitimately. In addition, they have a greater load rating and a more open, hostile tread pattern for far better off-road efficiency.
A/Ts will certainly have an extra puncture-resistant, durable building, and construction. The tyre sidewall of eight or 10-ply thickness provides an excellent defense against rock damage and sidewall staking.
