Based on the recurring questions on “proper tire inflation” that I see every week on various RV forums on the internet, it sounds like there are a few people who were never told that owning an RV REQUIRES that the owner pay attention to tire inflation. There are still some folks who have never read about what the “At Max psi xxx” statement on a tire sidewall means.
This lack of understanding of the responsibility for the RV owner to do proper and basic maintenance of tire inflation is not unique to owners of any specific size, type or brand of RV.
When to check tire pressure
Sometimes people say that their tires are “slightly low” but they don’t know the proper inflation needed. This indicates to me that the owner was not following the advice any competent RV tire tech would give that “Tire pressure should be checked and set the morning of every travel day.”
I’ll bet that the owner who made the comment on “slightly low” saw a tire that looked low to him which means the tire was probably at least 20% low. That level of under-inflation means he or she was driving the tire when it was “FLAT,” according to tire industry guidelines.
Damaging tires by driving on them when under-inflated
Every RV owner needs to know that driving on a “flat” tire means that they are doing significant, permanent, internal structural damage that will probably result in a failure at some point. RV owners also should know that simply re-inflating a tire that has been driven when flat will NEVER fix or repair the damage that was done to the tire by driving on it in that condition.
I wonder how many owners—upon checking the oil level in the engine of their car or truck and learning that the drain plug had come off, and they had driven for miles with no oil in the engine—would simply pour oil in the engine and then drive off. Then, would they blame the car company when the engine failed?
Based on my 45+ years of experience as a Tire Design and Forensic Engineer, I can tell you that tires simply don’t fail because they were inflated to the PSI listed on the tire sidewall. BUT THEY WILL FAIL if run under-inflated, even for just a few miles if sufficiently low.
Running the inflation that other people use IS NOT the correct thing to do. Your RV has specifications for the maximum load on YOUR tires on YOUR RV. This Max Load and Minimum inflation is shown on the Certification Label on the side of your RV.
I have hundreds of posts here on RVtravel.com and on my blog RVTireSafety.Net that focus on proper and required maintenance of tires in RV application.
Roger Marble
MORE POSTS ON TIRE INFLATION
- What does ‘MAX’ inflation mean on tire; importance of 4-corner weights
- Do you need to balance RV trailer tires?
- Do your RV tires say ‘MAX PSI 80 psi’ or something similar? Don’t take it literally
- I don’t calculate my tires’ PSI daily. Why do you?
- My RV tire pressure is showing a significant increase. Is this OK?
- Is the tire pressure too high?
- Should you adjust tire pressure when temps get colder?
- Do not adjust your tire pressure for ambient temperature
- Understanding what temperature change does to tire pressure
- Balancing RV tires 101, and a reminder about ‘cold’ inflation
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If you have tire questions, check out Roger’s posts on RVtravel.com. There are hundreds of posts covering everything to do with tires.
If you still have a question for Roger after searching the above posts, send your inquiries to him using the form below.
RVT1240
Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS). I don’t crawl around every morning before departure checking the trailer’s tire pressure. I have a reliable TPMS. I know within a few hundred feet if my trailer tires are at the proper cold pressure. If not, I can usually pull over and correct the situation. If I can reasonably justify the situation by daily temp changes, fine, I just add (or in rare situations subtract) air. Otherwise I’m headed for a nearby garage after adding air.
Good plan Jim. I know that some TPM systems require time and or motion to get them to register in the AM. I have learned that if I shut off the monitor after parking for the evening my system resets. In the morning, I get up, turn the monitor on and go make coffee. By the time I have had my first sip, my system has recorded and displayed the current tire pressure, not the last pressure when the tires were still warm from being driven.
Roger, you hit the nail on the head so many times in this article. Inflating tires to whatever is on the side of a tire will never hurt the tire. Glad you pointed out that running a under inflated tire can do damage to tire very quickly. You have had so many great points over the past. Wish people would learn from an expert. Have a Merry Christmas!
Sometimes I think you must be about to blow your own tire Roger (so to speak). I can only imagine what goes through your mind when you have to repeat yourself time and time again. But thanks anyway.
Thank you for your consistent and clear message regarding proper tire pressure, Roger! We got 4-corner weighed while at Newmar getting repairs this fall (mainly for me hitting a moose during our trip to Alaska this summer). Newmar also set the tire pressures and gave me their printout with our axle and wheel-position weights, so that I can maintain them until we get weighed again. Have a great day, a grand 2026, and safe travels!