Beach Driveing - Wheel Quality & Tire Size?

[e60ral]

For regular beach driving I just keep it on the low side of normal ~30psi and haven't had a problem (Freeman park in NC, no super soft dunes or anything)

if i ever start to have a problem i plan on airing down before i dig myself in but it hasn't been an issue and i like being able to hit the road straight from the beach and only top off the tires before hitting the interstate again

 

[1engineer]

I would be careful relying on this. It's just one person's opinion. Some of the "science" is simply wrong. Tire selection depends on use. If your medium is sand/snow/soft terrain - as tall and wide as you can afford. If it's rocks, durable sticky tires are ideal. If you're going long distances on the highway - taller narrow tires might be a good choice for efficiency reasons.

I concur with [MENTION=118321]Jetboy[/MENTION] in this position.

it wasn't posted to be the holy grail it is a very good resource for tire selection. What is "wrong"? Just saying it is wrong doesn't make it so. If you have "science" to refute his data or to support yours, post it up so we can all get a better understanding.

What is "wrong" is this is simply a position paper, nothing more, nothing less. A position paper is when you take a "side" in an argument and try to prove that point. This author could have taken the "wide tire is best" side of the argument and used data to justify why a wide tire is best, for example.

When you delve into areas that are not in your area of expertise (for me that is electronics, for example) you must understand that, just because you read it does not make it right.

Go back and read the paper again. He's making an argument on tall skinny tires being best. The exact same argument could be made for wide tires by using different data.
[MENTION=118321]Jetboy[/MENTION] is correct. Take this position with a grain of salt and choose wide for flotation, skinny for hard traction and somewhere in the middle for travel.

Lastly, the guy deleting airing down (a must) from his paper should have been a dead giveaway that this is just an exercise.

 

[Jetboy]

One thing to keep in mind with very low pressure like 5 psi is that the rim seal is very weak so you want to be careful of sharp turns, especially in deep ruts. Also if spinning and the tread grabs, the weak seal can allow the rim to turn inside the tire, breaking the seal and even causing seal damage. I've seen both of these happen to folks. One damaged the seal on 2 tires, trying to tow another vehicle out of the sand, spinning furiously, then smelling rubber burning, but kept going, thinking it was the tread smoking on the sand. Spare obviously no help and tow off the beach was costly.

For our 4runners I would not run 5psi unless you have bigger tires than I do. Even with beadlocks, 5psi with a 33" tire on a 5,000lb suv isn't going to work well. You'll just be driving on the sidewalls. The low pressure is only a viable option when you have much larger tires and less weight. The point was mostly that wider tires offer more flotation and more tire volume that allow lower pressure. In basically any given scenario a wider tire of the same height will be run at lower pressure and have less ground pressure. If airing down is good for the terrain - wider tires are almost always better than skinny tires.

There are limits like fitment and efficiency. Wide tires aired down take a lot of power to spin. Wide tires are heavier. etc. For example the 16.5" wide heavy bias ply tires I have on my Land Cruiser at 5psi, my previous toyota minitruck with a 22r and 5.29 differential gears probably could not move at all in 4 hi and likely would only be able to use 1st and maybe 2nd gear in stock 2.3:1 low range due to the rolling resistance. It just wouldn't have the power to roll them. A narrower tire would be better for that vehicle.

I've had a pair of 33x9.5x15 tires on a Jeep CJ5. Worked great on that little jeep for a nice all around tire. A CJ5 only weighs 2,200lbs (less than half of what a 5th gen does). It didn't have the power to push heavy tires at low pressure very well and handled much better on the highway with the tall narrow tires. I'm not in any way opposed to tall skinny tires. They work great for some purposes. They're just not universally better. For pure off road performance wider tends to be better in my experience.

If anyone wants to put a set of 235/80/17 tires on we could compare whether a narrow tire is better than a wide one of the same height.

 

[Simpleman74]

I concur with [MENTION=118321]Jetboy[/MENTION] in this position.



What is "wrong" is this is simply a position paper, nothing more, nothing less. A position paper is when you take a "side" in an argument and try to prove that point. This author could have taken the "wide tire is best" side of the argument and used data to justify why a wide tire is best, for example.

When you delve into areas that are not in your area of expertise (for me that is electronics, for example) you must understand that, just because you read it does not make it right.

Go back and read the paper again. He's making an argument on tall skinny tires being best. The exact same argument could be made for wide tires by using different data.

[MENTION=118321]Jetboy[/MENTION] is correct. Take this position with a grain of salt and choose wide for flotation, skinny for hard traction and somewhere in the middle for travel.

Lastly, the guy deleting airing down (a must) from his paper should have been a dead giveaway that this is just an exercise.

which doesn't make it wrong, it makes it helpful, which is why I shared it. Just like Jet boys post, helpful but not 100%. All good info to help the OP in his decision making process. Glad we. Could all collaborate our off road experiences.

 

[Salvo Jimmy]

that and airing down to 5psi on the beach is unnecessary. 15-20 is just fine

Exactly

One trick I learned years ago from some sand drivers that works for radials, don't know about others.

Load you vehicle, including passengers, like you will be on the sand. On level pavement and with tires cold and at the recommended cold street pressure, measure the height from the pavement to the bottom of the rim. Then drop the pressure until the height is 3/4 of the street pressure height. This gives an optimum flat footprint and going lower really doesn't do much for you. I found my optimum pressure was around 20 psi, give or take about 2 psi depending on load in my '04. And it can vary front to back depending on load. Haven't got around to checking on the '16 yet but have been running about 18-20 psi with no problems.

The thing this also does is give a very flat footprint and not roll the sidewall over on the edges and contact pavement. I stay like that 4-6 weeks at a time, making even 30 -60 mile trips on pavement. I just keep the speed down at about 45 mph max, especially in summer. The extra flexing of the side walls which can generate excess heat is where damage can really occur. And of course if aired down more, you would get excess wear on the outer edges of the tread and even sidewall if at real low pressure like 5 psi. I have never seen uneven or excessive tire wear using this scheme.

 

[kinnakeettom]

Been beach driving a very long time in the early 60's you rarely saw a 4x4 as they cost too much cars a couple of shovels slick wore out tires were they way to go then. Much has changed and recently tried the crawl control out. Buried my 14 trail to the frame on purpose with a friend close by incase, lowered TP to 18 set the crawl control took my foot off the pedal and steered, it took a bit but within 15 mins out she came out without any help, this new system used properly will hands down out drive anything on the beach. I traded the dunlops for michlens AT2's the day I bought the truck and never looked back awesome vehicle that will get you out of a tight spot and could only think of one thing to still look out for and thats a hidden wash out in coquina sand you cannot see it until you are stuck in a quicksand type sceniro, then yu will need help.
Stay away from deep treaded mud tires as you will only dig yourself deeper, use the computer between your ears, and watch the old timers who have been doing it for years.

 

[Salvo Jimmy]

Been beach driving a very long time in the early 60's you rarely saw a 4x4 as they cost too much cars a couple of shovels slick wore out tires were they way to go then. Much has changed and recently tried the crawl control out. Buried my 14 trail to the frame on purpose with a friend close by incase, lowered TP to 18 set the crawl control took my foot off the pedal and steered, it took a bit but within 15 mins out she came out without any help, this new system used properly will hands down out drive anything on the beach. I traded the dunlops for michlens AT2's the day I bought the truck and never looked back awesome vehicle that will get you out of a tight spot and could only think of one thing to still look out for and thats a hidden wash out in coquina sand you cannot see it until you are stuck in a quicksand type sceniro, then yu will need help.
Stay away from deep treaded mud tires as you will only dig yourself deeper, use the computer between your ears, and watch the old timers who have been doing it for years.

And my Granpappy taught me in about 1948, maybe '49 to be very wary of wet sand with no tracks.

BTW are you on Hatteras Island?

 

[05Rrunner]

If you want to drive in sand , the tires do not matter as much as the air pressure .Flatten you tires as much as possible and you will be fine.

 

[kinnakeettom]

In 1953 we didn't use cars we flew the beach in dad's super cub when we saw fish we landed above the surf line caught old drum, stripers or big blues filled the cooler up and few back to Uncle Jacks in Manteo. nailed their tails to a big piece of lumber and scaled them with a hoe the kind you use in the garden. weren't any bridges back then you rode the ferry. I went surf fishing and camping in south Australia last year it took a week of driving in 4x4 mode just to get to the beach, Hatteras used to be that way but she's gone just about, time to put the house on the market and stay overseas...Hillary goes in I will be doing just that...

 

[Knight-Errant]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the clear and obvious tire choice for beach driving...BFGoodrich makes these, I'm pretty sure.