We catch up with Steve Howat, Continental’s ‘born and bred’ technical specialist for a campervan and motorhome tyre 101.
Join us for an exclusive chat with Continental’s tyre guru Steve Howat to get answers around campervan tyres, their benefits, how to look after them, and how they’re shaping up for the future. Strap in...
Q: So Steve, what do you do, and how did you get into the world of tyres?
A: “I've worked in the tyre industry since 1986, so nearly 40 years.I studied mechanical and production engineering in the mid- ‘80s. At the time all heavy engineering was basically being decimated, so it was tricky to find a job, but I was looking at the university notice board it said: CUP (Continental Uniroyal Products) - looking for engineers.
So, I joined Uniroyal
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Whereas motorhomes are usually built from the ground up, with their own chassis design, body, and everything else. They're usually a lot larger as well. And — I’ll be careful what I say — but they are usually even more luxurious.
But, between these two differentiations, while there may be 30 different models, they're all coming from a relatively small number of base chassis. And because of that, there’s relatively few campervan and motorhome tyre sizes.”
Q: What makes a van tyre different from a standard car tyre?
A: “The requirements are significantly different. Car tyres only go to a certain limit in terms of the load, and as such there is only a certain requirement as far as the pressure is concerned. But get into the van tyre world, and there is a significant increase in load.
Image credit: Data courtesy of Continental tyres
Looking at this, people usually go: what the heck do 6PR, 8PR and 10PR mean? It's like the last bastion of the old way to classifying load: ply rating. In vans, ply rating is still frequently used to define how much a tyre can carry. It's a bit old fashioned, but it’s 6 ply, 8 ply, and 10 ply, each with increasing capacity, reflecting the days when either have 6, 8, or 10 layers of material were used to increase tyre strength.
And why is this increase needed? With higher loads, there is a lot, lot more potential for stress on a van tyre — especially in the lower areas and the tyre shoulder, where we now tend to put some ‘belt edge wraps’ or ‘double wraps’ to support and avoid distortion. Now, in modern day, when it comes to car tyres, you’ll tend to find just one ply, while van tyres can be two. Within van tyre ply there will also be a different type of twist in the construction elements, and we may also use a different material altogether for durability.
Q: Is there a further difference for campervan/motorhome tyres?
A: “About 20 years ago, Continental recognised that in addition to van tyres, we needed a campervan specific tyre: the ‘CP’ version, with the letters marked on the tyre sidewall to indicate this specialisation. Fun fact: CP stands for ‘Camping Pneus’, the French word for tyre.
Image credit: Information courtesy of Continental tyres
Copyright: Adam Lievesley – AdamLVPhotography
Image credit: Information courtesy of Continental tyres