tire air down
 

New to off roading. I seen a lot about air down tires when off roading. Is this only for sand and rocks? Do you want to air down for mud? How much do you air down?:beer:

i am fairly new to airing down as well. the offroading club i got with airs down to any where from 3-6 psi depending on the rig. airing down is mostly to get a better grip on rocks. however, they air down at the beggining of the trail and dont air up till the end of the day at the end of the trial. they are aired down for everything. hope this helps.

3-6 is pretty low unless you have beadlocks. i usually run 12-16 on the rocks.

One airs down to increase the contact patch of the tires. This also helps the tire to conform more to the terrain. Not a bad idea at all. That said I would not air down just because you saw others do it. I swear, I think some people think they should let the air out of their tires to go down a dirt road. Some people even call a dirt road a trail :blush::yup:.

So if you find your self faced with a real obstacle and you actually need more traction this is the way to do it. But, just to air down and air up at the end day is a waste of time IMO.

point taken. but airing down on even a "dirt" road makes the ride so much more smoother. really does make a difference:thumbsup: try it sometime.

X's 2...seems like running at 3-6 psi is begging to throw a bead a trash a tire.

On trails I usually run 12-14psi.

Do yourself a big favour, and air down anytime you go offroad. It will make a HUGE difference in traction on any surface where traction is an issue. Rocks, sand, snow, mud...all of it.

How much you air down is up to you. The lower your tire pressure goes, the better your traction gets...but your chances of having a tire come off the bead also increase. I ran 11 psi with my stock 32's when I was offroad, and I now run 9 psi in my 35's when I'm offroad (12.5" wide tire on a 7.5" rim, so they stay put pretty well). Most folks that are going any lower than 9 or 10 psi tend to be running beadlocks. Also understand that different tires perform different ways at different pressures...so the only way to really know what will work best for you is to plkay around with it on different outings.

Do yourself a big favour and buy a cheap 12 volt compressor so that you can air back up at the trailhead, and start experimenting. Try 20 psi...then 15...then 12...then 10...at one point, you'll go "wow...I can't beleive I was able to get traction through there" and that's where you probably want to be for tire pressure.

I go 15 PSI.

I find it depends on your tire.. the harder the rubber the more you need to air down.

if you go to low and dont have beadlocks you risk having the tire slide around the bead. This will throw out your balance and you may even have a tire slide off the wheel..

15psi is pretty safe in my opinion

air pressure is definately different between different tires

i only run 18psi in mine on the street, and air down to 10 on the trails