My new favorite off road air pressure!

[Tooltime19]

With this current set of tires and after the nearly 15k I have on them, I recently tried a new lower air pressure that has changed my rig for the better again.
I use different pressures for different things, but my normal "go to" general off road pressure has been 25psi with these load range E tires.
The other day I was playing on one of my little rally style road courses in the desert and was searching for more forward bite. I decided to lower the pressures a little. I started at 35psi my daily street pressure, to my general off road psi of 25, down to 22psi and it felt like a new tire of a different compound and tread pattern was just installed. I was simply impressed with this small adjustment. The tire came to life. Forward bite was better, tire conformity over any abnormalities improved a bunch, and the tire overall just flat out worked like a champ! I highly suggest to any and all to play with pressures. You will be amazed at how well your tires hook up. Less tire spin, more bite which should equate to longer tread life since you will not be spinning as much.
:roadkill:

 

[tH1e swiN1e]

So the moral of the story is air down and get better traction?? :noidea:

I usually run 12-18 depending on conditions.

 

[Tooltime19]

Yeah, I always play with air pressures just like we do in motorsports.
If Im slow rock cruisin 12/18 with that big heavy tire works pretty good too. But for going fast as I like to do, you have to sneak up on the lower air pressures. I already popped a one month old BFG running too low going fast thru a corner. Part of the deal.

 

[LTDSC]

in Pismo and sand i go with 10psi fronts/15psi rear

 

[KidVermicious]

With this current set of tires and after the nearly 15k I have on them, I recently tried a new lower air pressure that has changed my rig for the better again.
I use different pressures for different things, but my normal "go to" general off road pressure has been 25psi with these load range E tires.
The other day I was playing on one of my little rally style road courses in the desert and was searching for more forward bite. I decided to lower the pressures a little. I started at 35psi my daily street pressure, to my general off road psi of 25, down to 22psi and it felt like a new tire of a different compound and tread pattern was just installed. I was simply impressed with this small adjustment. The tire came to life. Forward bite was better, tire conformity over any abnormalities improved a bunch, and the tire overall just flat out worked like a champ! I highly suggest to any and all to play with pressures. You will be amazed at how well your tires hook up. Less tire spin, more bite which should equate to longer tread life since you will not be spinning as much.
:roadkill:

Go down to 18 or 20 or so for desert rallying. You'll have such a good time you'll piss yourself.

 

[Tooltime19]

I tried close to that before and I blew a sidewall on my brand new KO'2s. Had to go up from there. Trust me, blowing a rear tire in a corner at 60mph will make a dude pucker pretty dam hard. Not even the desert racers run that low. For out here, thats more suited for ultra slow rock cruisin or even sand. I actually had descent grip in our local sand dunes that same day. Fast desert running takes a toll on tires especially if you blow one at speed. What kind and size tire are you running? When we race our 78 Toyota waay back then, we ran the BFG Mud tire and we ran with a starting cold pressure of 30 in order to not kill the tire. Too low of an air pressure builds up heat very quickly.

 

[KidVermicious]

What kind and size tire are you running? When we race our 78 Toyota waay back then, we ran the BFG Mud tire and we ran with a starting cold pressure of 30 in order to not kill the tire. Too low of an air pressure builds up heat very quickly.

33" KM2s on an '85 4Runner. But I think we have different definitions of rallying, because the Bastard sure as hell isn't going to win any races. :crybaby:

 

[BlackWorksInc]

On my LT285/70R17 (33"-ish) E-Load Nitto Terra Grapplers I run 18psi as my default "Off-Road" pressure for everything under about 35~45mph off-road. I already set my Stauns to 14~15psi in preparation of my new 35's when I get back home next week.

Post Note-

If you're running 60mph on the desert floor you're probably going to want to stick around 18~20 psi, maybe a hair more depending on the tire size you're running.

 

[Tooltime19]

Yeah, trust me, anything much under what Im running in air pressures, I run the risk of blowing a bead and having a nasty moment . Like you if Im up in the higher elevations in nasty stuff or sand, I do drop much lower. Im building my truck more as a desert pre runner style rig. Im saving up to completely re-engineer the chassis package front and rear. There is nothing more I can do to tune on my current chassis package. My other truck I own but my son drives was built from the ground up for fast desert running and soon my t4 will be able to keep up with it off road. If you go to you tube and look up Icon's Toyota 4 Runner or something like that, you will see video of what type of fast desert running Im into.

 

[Tooltime19]

So the moral of the story is air down and get better traction?? :noidea:

Moral of the story part 2, too low of an air pressure will also create a very soft sidewall and it will fail when subjected to increased speeds and heavy cornering loads.:biggrin2: