Hair Bear Posted April 2, 2023 Share Posted April 2, 2023 Hi, Just pulled my caravan out of the bushes for another season, and started with the running gear. There's always been something odd about the tyres, not that there's anything wrong with them, but I'll explain... It's a french built Gruau 37 built 1994. The tyres are 175-70/14T as per the manual. The spare supplied when new is 165/13C also as per the manual! A full size spare won't fit in the spare wheel space. The running tyres look absolutely pristine with 8mm of tread no cracks or wear of any type but as I've had it 5 years I'll treat it to some new ones. So where do I find the date code? Google suggests a four digit no. week/year, but all I can find on these is a six digit no. ddmmyy perhaps? If this is the case then these are 010290. Scary. What's worse is that as it's a 1994 model that suggests the tyres were 4 years old before they were fitted. If I was buying new I don't think I'd even consider checking something like that. So moving on, do I fit 175-70/14T as per the manual, or do I deviate from the manual and fit C rated tyres as apparently required by law and risk a ticket for not using the correct OEM specification? I would ask on a dedicated caravan forum but all they seem to do is argue amongst each other as to who's more qualified to give answers and if your 'van is more than 2 years old they're not interested anyway! Any thoughts appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruxy Posted April 2, 2023 Share Posted April 2, 2023 Circa. 1994 - I would think the vast majority of vans were fitted with Stomil Tyres (made in Poland) Stomil is now Michelin Tyres. Apart from £ cheap Stomil were I suppose strong and extra-stong in sidewall with high PR. I don't think they were noted for 'caravanitise' (side wall cracking / bead area cracking) capable of abuse. IIRC these Stomil were X ply , I moved over to radials - but I was always aware of possibility of taking out a side-wall going into sites along a farm-track. Yes - you should be looking at C rated (Commercial) correct for axle loading(s) - ISTR that is what the caravan manufacturers did - it was a way of getting the correct axle loading without increase in tyre size. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiomike7 Posted April 2, 2023 Share Posted April 2, 2023 5 minutes ago, ruxy said: Circa. 1994 - I would think the vast majority of vans were fitted with Stomil Tyres (made in Poland) Stomil is now Michelin Tyres. Apart from £ cheap Stomil were I suppose strong and extra-stong in sidewall with high PR. I don't think they were noted for 'caravanitise' (side wall cracking / bead area cracking) capable of abuse. IIRC these Stomil were X ply , I moved over to radials - but I was always aware of possibility of taking out a side-wall going into sites along a farm-track. Yes - you should be looking at C rated (Commercial) correct for axle loading(s) - ISTR that is what the caravan manufacturers did - it was a way of getting the correct axle loading without increase in tyre size. I assume you know what Stomil translates to, hundred mile!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiomike7 Posted April 2, 2023 Share Posted April 2, 2023 Thinking back to the 90s I seem to remember tyre dates being a 3 figure number, so 128 would be the 12th week of 1998. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hair Bear Posted April 2, 2023 Author Share Posted April 2, 2023 These are Camac, made in Turkey. Thanks for the advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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