ROADTREK TIRE PRESSURE

 When we first got our Roadtrek 2011 190 Popular new I was curious about the tire pressure that should be used. Inside the driver's door frame there is a sticker that says 50 psi front tires and 80 psi rear tires.  It sounded to me to be a big difference between the front and the rear psi - so I called Roadtrek's factory number and spoke with a Roadtrek service technician that I was connected with. 

I am going to share what he told me - as this comes up often on the Roadtrek Facebook groups and Roadtrek forums. He was very clear that the 80 psi in the rear is a MUST - do not go higher and do not go lower. He then said that the 50 psi in the front is a suggested starting point for the front tires. He said that by varying this number up in increments of five the ride of the Roadtrek changes. 

He said to drive with the tires at 50 psi in the front and evaluate how the ride feels. Then go to 55 psi in the front tires and do the same. Do this for each more 5 psi until you get to 65 psi - and stop. He said that after 65 psi in the front the ride starts to degrade - so do not go over 65. 

We did this - and found that the best ride (for us) was at 60 psi in the front.  We have kept the tires in the front at 60 psi since then. I have read that others also have preferred the feel of the ride at 60 psi - but this does not mean that you will like it there - so you should do the changes by 5 psi from 50 to 65 psi and see what you like. 

One more thing that we learned right away with the Roadtrek and the front tires, was when Meryl drove the Roadtrek home from the dealer in Pennsylvania with me following in our car (yes - Meryl was the first to drive our Roadtrek) she found that the Roadtrek was not holding straight in the lane of the highways we were on to get home. She felt it moving all over the road.  When we got home she told me about this and we both got into the "new" Roadtrek and I drove it on a local expressway - and sure enough it was all over the road. (I did not doubt that it was doing this when she drove it home - but if we were going to call the dealer - etc. I wanted to be able to describe it myself.)

 We thought it needed an alignment and we called Roadtrek who told us to call Chevy - and show them the papers we were given showing the warranty started on the Chevy chassis when we took delivery of the converted  Chevy Express 3500 van a couple of days before when we picked up the Roadtrek.  When we got to the local Chevy dealer they said that they do not do alignments but send them out to a local alignment shop and they sent us there. When we got there the manager looked at the Roadtrek and told us that it would not fit into his shop and his alignment rack would not hold the weight of the Roadtrek. He suggested a local truck service shop that could do the alignment - but he said wait a minute and let him check the front tire pressures. (This was before we set the fronts to 60 psi - what was in the tires at this point was what the Roadtrek left the factory in Canada with in the tires which was driven to the dealer in Pennsylvania by a Roadtrek driver.) 

The tire alignment manager checked the two front tires. They were over 20 psi apart from each other. He got the tire hose from his compressor and put the two tires at 50 psi (which is what they should have been when they left the factory). He said take it out for drive and see how it is now. He also said watch to see that they don't go down in case there is a leak that caused this. 

We took it out on the expressway and drove for a distance and it was perfectly holding the road and centered in the lane! Driving and days went by and the tires never lost any air - there was no leak.  It needed no alignment! It made us wonder why the Roadtrek driver who drove from Canada to PA did not report to the dealer that the van was all over the road... (but this was typical of Roadtrek at that time in 2011!) 

So the point of this little tale -  make sure that both front tires are exactly the same psi - or the van will go all over the road and not hold straight in a lane.  

What to know about the PSI when you are driving:

When any vehicle - van, car, truck, RV, Roadtrek is driven the friction between the tires and the road cause heat to build up inside the tire and that results in the tire pressure increasing. This is normal and tires are manufactured to allow for this to happen. SO while you are driving the Roadtrek and if you have tire pressure monitors on the tires (my Roadtrek came standard with this - and the readout is shown with the push of a button to the left on the dash) you may see the back tires not at 80 psi but close to or over 90 psi - not a problem - this is expected.  You might see your 60 psi in the front tires reading 70 psi  - again this is expected - and one of the reason's why the Roadtrek tire size has an E at the end of the tire size - E rated for high pressure in the tires. Don't get excited if you see this. Don't panic! 

Chevy Express Van Tire Pressure and some things to know about the Roadtrek tires

 This article applies only to Roadtreks that are built on the Chevy Express van chassis. This does not apply to Dodge, Sprinter, Dodge Pro Master or any other chassis that Roadtrek has built an RV on.

When I got my 2011 190 Popular built on the Chevy Express 3500 van new from the factory, I had questions about what the best tire pressure would be for the van.  There is a sticker on the driver's door frame toward the bottom that says the tire pressure should be 50 psi in the front tires and 80 psi in the rear tires, but I was reading in the various RV forums that other Chevy Roadtrek owners were varying the front tire pressure.  I contacted Roadtrek's customer service at the time and was able to speak with a Roadtrek factory service technician.  I asked him what the best tire pressure was and why would owners be varying the front tire pressure.  

His answer was this - 

The rear tire pressure must always be filled cold (meaning before the Roadtrek has been driven for that day) to exactly 80 psi as shown on the door sticker, BUT the front tires can be varied. He explained that by varying the front tires in 5 psi increments from the suggested 50 psi that is shown on the sticker, the feel of the ride of the Roadtrek can be changed.  Each change again needs to be done when the Roadtrek has not been driven. 

1)  Start with the two front tires at 50 psi and drive the Roadtrek and evaluate for yourself the feel of how the van drives.

2) Next day  or days later  increase the psi in the two front tires to 55 psi (again when cold).  Again go for a drive and evaluate and compare the feel of the drive to what it was like when the tires were at 50 psi in the front.

3) Next day or days later increase the psi in the two front tires to 60 psi (again when cold).  Again go for a drive and evaluate and compare the feel of the drive to what it was like when the tires were at 50 psi  and at 55 psi in the front.

4) Next day or days later increase the psi in the two front tires to 65 psi (again when cold).  Again go for a drive and evaluate and compare the feel of the drive to what it was like when the tires were at 50 psi  and at 55 psi and 60 psi in the front.

5) STOP the process.  Do not increase the tire pressure in the front tires over 65 psi as he explained that over 65 psi the ride of the Roadtrek's feel will start to degrade. 

6) Decide which psi you liked the ride at most after having driven at each of these psi for the two front tires. 

7) Put the tire pressure of the two front tires (filled cold) at the psi you liked the best. That is the pressure they should be kept at for that feel of the ride you preferred. 

We liked the feel of the front tires at 60 psi and have kept that from when we did this evaluation to today. I have read others say that they also like 60 psi front. This does not mean that you will like 60 psi front - you may like one of the other increments of 5 psi over 50 psi - or you might like the 50 psi that Roadtrek starts you off at for the front tires.

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Some things about the Roadtrek tires -    

As you are driving all vehicle tires get hot from friction against the road and the psi increases in the tires in this process. This is normal and the tires are made to be able to hold that increase in tire pressure.  The Roadtrek tires are no different and the tire size and designation that Roadtrek puts on the Roadtreks are made to accommodate these changes in pressure as you drive.  The tires on the Roadtrek Chevy Express van are light truck tires.  They also need to have an "E" rating - not all tires do.  This is what allows the tires to be filled at high pressure to start with.  The tire size that came with my Roadtrek 2011 190 Popular is LT245/75R16/E.  LT - light truck     R- Speed rating     /E - what I have just referred to.

These are tires for a commercial light truck - a vehicle heavier than a car or regular van. This tire size is not limited to any one make of tires. What is important to know is if you go to a tire retailer's website and are looking at tires  - they often ask you fill in what year, make and  model is the van - in my case that would be a 2011 Chevy Express 3500 van.  Then they ask what tire size you want - and I put in LT245/75R16/E - as that is the size that was on my Roadtrek coming from the Roadtrek factory - and the correct tire for the Roadtrek.  What will come up on the tire website is "THAT TIRE IS NOT FOR THIS VEHICLE" and if I was buying tires for a regular, not a Roadtrek, Chevy 3500 or 2500 passenger or cargo van that would be correct. BUT we do not have a regular, passenger or cargo van - we have a converted Chevy 3500 or 2500 van that is now a Class B motorhome. And this size tire with all of its designations is what the Roadtrek needs to have. 

Now just to make this a little more confusing - (don't ya just hate when that happens?) - when I put in the size including the /E at the end - some tires came up with the right size BUT WITHOUT THE /E! So I had to make doubly sure that the tires I was looking to select and buy had the /E on the end. 

Everyone has their preferences about what brand of tires they like and I am not going to get into what brand I like and why - or why this one is better than that one. So I leave brand up to you! The other decision to make when looking at these tires in this size is some are "All Season" tires - and they are good in different weather conditions - rain, snow, ice.   Other tires in this size are "All Terrain" tires - these are tires that are made for off road driving and may or may not be best when it comes to different weather conditions - some are and some may not be. When I was looking to get new tires for my Roadtrek I found a tire that I liked that was All Terrain - and since in the mud the Roadtrek is heavy and can sink (don't ask), I thought it would be a good idea to have that type of tire.  When I went to buy the tires and I was speaking with the tire shop manager and said I was interested in those tires he asked me how much off road driving do you do - and do you do more highway driving than off road driving.  Well, honestly, the extent of off road driving my Roadtrek has done is driving on gravel roads in campgrounds and onto gravel campsites, and an occasional grass field - which I will no longer drive onto if it has been recently raining. I told him 95% of the driving my Roadtrek does is on paved roads and highways. His advice was buy the All Weather tires instead of the All Terrain tire because the All Terrain tire will be a rough ride on a paved road and the All Season tire will be a much smoother ride.  There was a model of the tire I was looking at that was All Season - and less money - and that is what I bought and had put on. So far they have been good. 

The other thing to know about the Roadtrek tires is that the two front tires MUST be the same PSI.  We found out about this when we got our Roadtrek home from the dealer we bought it at two states away.   When we picked up the Roadtrek at the dealer we drove our car to the dealer and when we got the Roadtrek and were coming home (a day later)  Meryl wanted to drive - and that was fine with me. Meryl has been driving our passenger vans for years and she has no problem driving the Roadtrek - so I followed her in the Roadtrek in our car going home.  When we got home she asked me if I felt the Roadtrek was pulling to the right when driving it. I had been driving it locally the night before while we stayed close by to the dealer just in case anything was wrong with the Roadtrek - which there was - but that is in a very early article- and on the small farm roads I was driving it on I had not noticed. So the next day we got into the Roadtrek and I drove it on a local limited access expressway to see if it was pulling - not that I did not believe Meryl - and, of course, it was pulling to the right. (Meryl is always right and I do mean that.) So now we had to find out what to do. We called Roadtrek at the factory and they said call Chevy. We called Chevy and when we told Chevy it was converted to a Class B RV they sent us back to Roadtrek - who contacted Chevy corporate and Chevy said to bring it to the local Chevy dealer's service and they would do an alignment under warranty. (This little tale becomes an epic. 😏 ) So we went to the Chevy dealer's service and they said "we don't do alignments we send them out to a local alignment shop and they are expecting you and we went there. At the chain company alignment shop they looked at the Roadtrek and said - we don't have a rack or the height in our shop to do an alignment on a van that is that tall and that heavy - and recommended a truck shop. The service tech could see I was more than a little disappointed and said wait let me see something. He went over to the Roadtrek with a tire gauge and asked me what way was it pulling - "to the right" I said- and he got out his tire gauge and checked the right front tire. He then went to the left front tire and checked that tire. The right tire was a LOT less psi than the left front tire.  He filled the right front equal to the left - and said drive around for awhile before you go to the truck shop to get an alignment and see if it still pulling to the right - or anywhere.  We went right over to the expressway and drove - the Roadtrek drove straight as an arrow! And it still does.  The unfortunate part of this story is that to deliver the Roadtrek from the factory in Canada to the Roadtrek dealer in Pennsylvania, it was driven by a Roadtrek driver. A driver who never said anything to the Roadtrek dealer that is was pulling - as when we spoke to the dealer about all of this they were surprised. This was the state of Roadtrek in 2011 - which is another story that I have not written about.

Anyway - the moral of the tale is if your Roadtrek is pulling when you are driving check the two front tires and make sure they are the same psi! 

One last thing -   I keep the Roadtrek's spare tire at 80 psi. If a tire had to be changed and the spare put on, it is easier to take the 80 down to 60 for a front tire replacement than to have to fill from 60 to 80 for a back tire. When you check the air in the tires - don't forget to check the spare!  

If you have any questions contact us by using the Email Us!  link on the right column of this page!

TIRES FOR THE ROADTREK

Tires, even with good tread and good sidewalls have a lifespan.  Different brand tires have different lifespans. Our Roadtrek came from Roadtrek with Bridgestone tires. Checking on the Bridgestone website, Bridgestone tires have a lifespan of 10 years - as long as the tires are inspected each year to be certain that they are still good. Each year our Roadtrek is inspected for the New York State required annual inspection by the local mechanic that we bring it to (along with our car) who does has done all of the work on our Roadtrek and our car.  I ask him to inspect the tires when he does the inspection. Our Roadtrek is inspected in May each year which coincides with the month that the Roadtrek was registered and received its New York State license plates. While not planned, this gives the Roadtrek a thorough inspection before the start of traveling season.

I knew this year we would need new tires for the Roadtrek because they were 10 years old.  They were in very good condition - and they wore well. I have liked Bridgestone tires on my cars and I wanted to replace the Roadtrek tires with Bridgestones. We have not had good experience with Michelin tires on our cars, but I know many do like them.  I went on line and checked on several models of Bridgestones that would fit the Roadtrek.

The Roadtrek has tires that are LT245/75R16E.  LT stands for "Light Truck". R is the speed rating of the tires. The E is the most important in the size - this is the weight load rating of the tire and the Roadtrek must have an "E". There are other 245/75/16 tires that are not E. I discovered looking at tires that to find the tires for the Roadtrek, if you put in Chevy Express 3500 the correct tires do not come up. I also found that if you put in both Chevy Express 3500 and the size you get "This size does not fit your vehicle."  I put only the LT245/75R16E and tires came up for the Roadtrek. I saw "All Terrain" and "All Season" tires. I took down the tire names and read reviews and then went to the Roadtrek Group on Facebook to find out if anyone has these tires on their Roadtreks. Some did - and I heard good things about the ones I was considering. One of the tires I was uncertain about as while it should be fine many descriptions of this tire online was that it was an All Terrain tire that was best for Off Roading -and we drive on the highway and never go Off Roading - into the muck and the mire, the snow, the sand, etc. The closest we come is the gravel in the campground RV site or the driving on grass. It was the tire I most leaned to - and one Roadtrek owner said he liked it. More had the other tire I was considering. I was prepared to go shopping. 

I never expected, however, that getting tires for the Roadtrek locally was going to be so difficult.  

The difficulty was not because the tires are not available - they are very available. The problem is finding a tire shop that will install them on a van that is 9 feet tall and weighs over 8,000 pounds. Their shops are not tall enough or their lifts are not strong enough. Now, some reading this will say but X tire shop or Z tire shop did mine and that company is all over the country. It seems though that some of the very popular chain tire shops are not in New York - at least not anywhere near here. The Discount Tires chain is very popular but it turns out the closest one to us is in Pittsburgh is 420 miles one way. That is a little far to go to buy tires - and to drive with tires that are ready to be changed. There is one local tire chain that dominates tires here - and they are in every town, but the shops are small, the parking lots are small - and the Roadtrek would not fit through the doors into the bays. Independents are even smaller shops with even smaller property to bring the Roadtrek onto. I knew from the forums and Roadtrek groups that Costco is a popular place to go to have tires put on the Roadtrek and we have Costco here.  I went to one of the Roadtrek groups and asked about going to Costco for tires for the Roadtrek. The response was maybe - as it seems some Costco Tire Centers will install on a Roadtrek and some will not. Oh boy? What would the one here do? 

We are just starting to venture out of the house on a semi-regular basis following our Covid-19 vaccines and do so with caution. As it was, we had to go to the Costco for a few items and while we were there we stopped into the Tire Center and asked the man at the counter. His answer was you have to ask our manager. The manager who was standing nearby talking to a customer came over when he was done and we asked him. I described the Roadtrek - because no one around here knows what you are talking about is you say Roadtrek - as a van RV built into a Chevy Express 3500 van. I told him it is 9 feet tall and weighs 8,000 pounds (which is approximate). He stood there not saying anything and then said that they no longer put tires on RVs - they did up to two or three years ago but they don't any longer. I, again, tried to give him a description of how the Roadtrek is not the image of the large Class A that comes to mind when "RV" is said. He considered it for a minute or so and said, "I have to see it to decide!".  hat was better than a flat out "No!". I asked when he would be in, he gave me when he would be there over the next several days and we left. 

The next day I decided we need to find out from him as soon as possible and called the day after that which was one of the days he would be at the Tire Center. It turned out that he was not the overall manager but the Assistant Manager of the Tire Center. (Perhaps all department heads at Costco are "Assistant Managers" but whatever his title he was the man in charge at the moment.  We went to Costco with me hoping that he would say yes looking at the Roadtrek and have the tires - and we would be coming home with them on the van.   

When we got there the Assistant Manager who we had spoken to came out and looked all around the Roadtrek. He looked under it. He looked at all sides. He looked at the tires. He stepped back and took photos of it.  While he was looking, we were standing by watching him look. He asked some questions and was writing on a pad the entire time.  Finally, he said. "I will have to let you know - tomorrow!" Oh boy! Before he walked away I pulled out the paper I printed out from the Costco website that had the tire I was thinking about on it. This was the one that more Roadtrek owners said they had on the group I asked. He looked at it and said, "These tires would be ripped up in no time on this. You need a tire that will last!" My response was to suggest the other tire that I was considering. He said, "That one would be much better. It will last!" 

The next day we got a call from him. YES! He said they will do the install. He would have to put the Roadtrek up using a floor jack to lift the van at each tire to change each one. This was what I had told him both times we had spoken in person. Putting the Roadtrek up on a lift - one that uses the chassis and not under the tires to lift it - needs to be positioned so that none of the tanks, plumbing, etc. is not crushed. This is something most shops do not want to chance. And I would not want them to chance. He told us on the phone that we needed to come in and order the tires and make an appointment to have them installed.  We went there the next day in the afternoon.

This time I bought a print out of the tire he said would be good. We went in and started talking about the install and I handed him the paper. He took it and went into his computer to get more details about the tire. I asked him how smoothly it would drive on the road.  He said that since they are All Terrain tires they were more intended for off road - and while they are OK on a highway they would not be as smooth ride on a highway. I told him we primarily drive on highways.  I had looked at another tire - the same name as this tire we were talking about but was described as an All Season tire. It had many of the hard wearing characteristics of the tire we were talking about - there was a minor difference in specs. He looked that tire up and said it would be just as good for the Roadtrek and would drive much smoother on highways than the tire that was the All Terrain version of this tire. He ordered four Bridgestone - DURAVIS R500 HD in LT245/75R16E. They were coming from a Bridgestone distribution facility in Allentown, PA and would arrive in four days - a Friday - the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend. He told us that he personally would do the install.  They would call us when they came in.

That Friday morning we got a call. The tires were there  - when did we want to come in to have them installed. I took a shot and said - "We can be there this afternoon if you can take us!" Sure - either 3 or 4 pm. I picked 3:00 pm.

I have written about how long it can take us to back the Roadtrek out of our driveway into the four lane road our house is on. It can take up to a half hour to get a clear break in traffic to back up across the the lanes on our side of the street. It took only fifteen minutes that afternoon - Meryl in the street with a walkie talkie telling me - "NOW!".  The weather report was for rain starting at 7:00 pm - no problem at all! We headed over to Costco which is a half hour drive all on streets - the Roadtrek cannot go on any of the parkways that would get us there quicker. 

It was 2:45 when we walked into the tire center and handed the Assistant Manager the keys. We would go into Costco and walk around while the tires were installed. I asked about how long and he told us about two to two and a half hours - because he had to use the floor jack. OK.

I set a timer on my phone to go off in two hours.  We walked around the store in those two hours - some of it through parts of the store we had walked earlier again.  We went outside to see what was happening. I did not want to go into the Tire Center - we could see where we parked the Roadtrek and into the garage from a distance. As we got outside it was raining. So much for 7 pm!  The Roadtrek was no longer in the parking lot. It was in a bay in the garage being worked on. We went back into the store to walk around - some more! I set my phone alarm to go off in another hour. 

Before Covid, it would not be hard to waste time in Costco. There would be food samples being given out. The snack bar/lunch counter would have tables set up all around to bring a hot dog, soda, pizza, etc. to a table to eat - but with Covid-19, the tables were all removed and the snack/lunch bar became take out only. While it is open like this, there is no place to sit. In fact there is no place to sit in the store. We kept walking. 

The alarm went off - now three hours after we arrived. We were very tired of walking. We went back outside  and it was raining harder. Now there was a white Sprinter van sitting next to the Roadtrek in the next bay - just as tall - but it did not look like an RV conversion. The Roadtrek was not finished yet.  We went into the Tire Center and there was a young man at the counter. We asked about the Roadtrek - he said that it takes a long time. We asked if they had our cell number to call us when it was ready. He looked up our service ticket on the computer and read us our home number. I said if he calls us on that to tell us it is ready, we will not be there because we are in the store! He took down the cell number. 

We returned to the store wondering when store security would come over to question us for wandering around the store for more than three hours. This time I did not set the timer - I set the stopwatch on the phone going to see when we got the call to come and get the Roadtrek. We continued walking through the store. At a half hour I could not walk around the store any longer. We had not gotten a call and we left the store and walked into the tire center. We saw that the rain had gotten worse. As we went through the door to the tire center we saw the young man standing at the counter holding up the keys to give us. I just smiled. I did not ask why he had not called us. I just wanted to see the Roadtrek with its new tires. and go home. I asked where it was parked. He told us. We went out into the rain and ran through the rain to the Roadtrek - Meryl got in and I walked quickly around to see the tires. They were hard to see in the rain. It was 7:00 pm as we were driving home. 

I do not know why it took this long. I can tell you just about where everything you might be looking for is located at this Costco. It will be awhile before I want to go to shop in a Costco.  

They did us a favor putting the tires on the Roadtrek when they don't usually do this. We are very happy that we were able to get tires put on and they are good tires. They rode very well driving home in the heavy pouring rain and it was a smooth ride.