Tyre temperatures

recently been on M5 at 60mph all up at 1540Kg single axle tyrepal registered 47C  and +11psi ambient temp 24C tarmac temp around 34C cold tyres were at 60psi @18C

Hi peedee. I notice rises in temperature  and pressure when on the road but so far, it hasn’t triggered an alarm on my TPMS. You know what though- I am soooo pleased to have that monitor in my cab- total peace of mind !! 

Temperature rise in tyres can have a dramatic effect !  I know because I suffered a somewhat dramatic explosion in a tyre some years ago when descending from the Pyrenees on a very hot day!

We had been staying on a site Nr Lourdes for a couple of days and it was time to cross the pyrenees en route to Perpignon .  So I checked & preppt  the van for the long journey making sure that the tyres were at the correct pressure. I can't now remember what that was, but it was a fairly high pressure on my 2003 Avondale Osprey.

We set off fairly enthusiastically, as the route although steep in places caused no problem to my then 3 litre  Toyota Landcruiser.  We stopped for a picnic Nr the topmost part of the route, before setting off for Perpignone on the Med coast.  By now the outside air temp had climbed to 36 degrees C but we were nice & cool in the air con cabin.

I was conscious of the need to preserve my brakes, and so was using the manual selection facility on the automatic gearbox to use engine braking wherever possible, in order to keep my brakes cool.

But 2/3rds of the way down, on a sweeping right hand bend I was travelling at about 55 mph, when there was an enormous explosion, and it felt like the car and caravan were traveling over a rough washboard surface. I looked in my nearside mirror and to my horror, all I could see were smoke and flames billowing out of my caravans nearside wheel arch. I was giving a good impression of Concorde's fatal take off from Paris!

Luckily I was able to bring the rig to a smooth halt in a convenient lay by, and examined the damage!  I had fitted Tyron bands to the caravan wheels, and they seemed to have done a good job, for the tyre had remained on the wheel, but the tyre itself was completely shredded, there could be no possibility of repair!  It was far too hot to touch for some time, - and so was the still intact offside wheel but that was dangerously hot too!

I had been so intent on keeping my Land cruisers brakes cool on the long descent that I had completely forgotten that using Engine braking on the car didn't relieve the overrun brakes on the Caravan. An outside air temperature now exceeding the earlier 36 degrees did the rest!

So yes!  Do watch out for your van tyre temperatures in this weather! When they blow its like a bomb going off!

TF

Our caravan has Tyrepal sensors, on a run from cold we gain 10 psi and the temperature always rises by 25 deg C above the ambient temperature.