Educate me on driving with an under inflated tire.

[NorthTiger]

To make this short I’ll spare the details of how I got in this predicament but on a recent trip I was in a situation where 3 of my 4 tires were inflated to the recommended 110 and 1 tire was at 80. I was in a rural area so my ntent was to get to the next truck stop/tire store that could inflate my tire. I had left my compressor at home.

My question is how big of a risk is it to drive my 12K pd. 5er like that? Should I not drive it at all and call roadside service (optimal, I guess).? Is there minimal risk to drive 50-100 miles to get to a place where that tire can be properly inflated.?

 

[AZ Traveler]

Eddie,

Not sure what tires are on your rig. Sailuns can be run at 80 PSI but provide a lower weight rating at 80 PSI. You would need to determine how much weight you had on that tire and compare to the Sailun weight chart assuming you were running Sailun.

Obviously better to pump tires up if you carry a compressor.

The Sailun chart can be downloaded here. https://www.montanaowners.com/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=15

 

[jjwhite368]

Do you have a tire pressure monitoring system? If not, I highly recommend one. Mine also shows temperature of the wheel. Increasing temperature of that wheel would give you an indication that problems were coming before anything catastrophic happened.

 

[firestation12]

Another option

Consider mounting the spare in the low tire’s place. Perhaps another RVer has a compressor. Worst case scenario is the tire is nearing it’s lifespan, is subjected to a hot road surface, over a long distance at freeway speeds. Any combination less than the sum total of those factors increases the odds you might make it to a repair shop. Quote from a Dirty Harry movie… “You have to ask yourself, you feel lucky?”

 

[BSHGTO]

Consider mounting the spare in the low tire’s place. Perhaps another RVer has a compressor. Worst case scenario is the tire is nearing it’s lifespan, is subjected to a hot road surface, over a long distance at freeway speeds. Any combination less than the sum total of those factors increases the odds you might make it to a repair shop. Quote from a Dirty Harry movie… “You have to ask yourself, you feel lucky?”

Put the spaRe on or take the tire off and Knock on a few doors some one will pump you up or take the tire to a service stAtion/walmart for air . Not worth the worry driving on a low tire now is it.

 

[NorthTiger]

Do you have a tire pressure monitoring system? If not, I highly recommend one. Mine also shows temperature of the wheel. Increasing temperature of that wheel would give you an indication that problems were coming before anything catastrophic happened.

I do have a TPMS. The tire with 80 PSI was running at the same temp as the other three tires.

 

[Theunz]

Up until recently Montana’s came with 80 lb tires, so while not ideal you were not in any danger personally or equipment wise.

 

[BB_TX]

I believe the Sailuns are rated over 3,000 lbs at 80 psi. So running one at 80 psi for that distance on your 12,000 lb trailer should be no problem. If it was a 16,000 lb trailer then maybe a little more questionable.

 

[scottz]

80 psi is not terribly low. It would not bother me to drive to the nearest station (at reduced speed) like that.

 

[PSFORD99]

I believe the Sailuns are rated over 3,000 lbs at 80 psi. So running one at 80 psi for that distance on your 12,000 lb trailer should be no problem. If it was a 16,000 lb trailer then maybe a little more questionable.

I agree, if he's running 235/80/16 G rated Sailuns 80 psi is 3420 lbs. If he's running 235/85/16 its 3640 lbs. at 80 psi

If they are the Goodyear G614's then I'm not so sure ,I believe they are only rated for 3640 lbs. at 110 psi . I never read anywhere on this thread what brand tire he's running ,could be a number of brands G rated . Unless I missed it somewhere .

 

[BB_TX]

Just me, but for a 12,000 lb trailer I would not run any of them at max psi unless specified by the manufacturer’s load/pressure charts. There is a reason manufacturers publish those.