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

Dont forget that airing down also reduces your chances of a tire punture because it does make your tire more plyable....Good luck out there.:yup:

I start at 15psi for most trails.
Rarely did i need to go lower with Bfgs, but Toyos have a much stiffer side wall so i find my self going down around 10psi.

Don't be that preson holding up the group on the trail becuase you did not feel like airing down at the trail head.

x2 on the whole better ride on fire roads

I go from 12-16psi and don't change it with lockers included ull never have a problem and almost every obstacle will seem like a little speed bump

I go down to 12 for deep mud.

Rocky terrain w/no mud, I go down to 25.

This is on my stock Bridgestone Duelers.

For just about every off road terrain, airing down is preferred. How much depends on the terrain and the tires.

Just remember that if you're able to easily sustain 20 mph, don't air down below 15-20 psi. Sidewall flex builds heat quickly, and heat will kill the tires. So, go slow or risk delaminating the sidewall plies and trashing the tires.

Where there is constant debate is whether or not to air down for snow.

Much depends on the depth of the snow. If you are in 3 feet of snow, airing down can help you. If in 18" or less, don't bother. The trade off is increased frontal area versus a small increase in bite. I've driven through more than 2 feet of snow without airing down and had no troubling traction issues. I later aired down to 15 PSI and saw no improvement. The bigger contact patch was offset by having to push more snow.

The debate also argues that friction is increased by increasing contact patch pressure. This is why tire manufacturers recommend going to a narrower tire for snow. Balancing this is the concern that in really deep snow, you'll sink in enough to bottom on the frame and body floor, unloading the tires, thus losing traction. Experience is the key here. Knowing when and where to air down for snow is important.

it also helps when driving over somewhat sharp rocks and skinny tree stumps

less pressure in the tire makes it harder for something to pierce them

Aired down is the way to be if you are offroad. It first improves the ride and secondly improves the traction to incredible levels. Just get one of those cig plug inflators and take a break at the end of the days trails to air back up and your Jeep will thank you for it. 10-15 psi depending on the kind of trails you are running.

Definitely air down on soft sand. Got stuck on a soft beach today pretty much buried the jeep not too far from the waterline. Thought I was running about 20 psi. Turns out I was running about 30psi due to a dodgy gauge.

Passerby lent me his gauge, dropped it to 15psi and drove it straight out.

Although I do have couple of small bumps in the sidewall of two tires after that. Better than having it under water though.

I'm far from a expery myself but I air down at the beginning of the day along with everyone else. And I air down to 13lbs. These Nitto's are stiff.
As others have said,, big differance smoothing out the ride even if I don't happen across anything overly difficult during the day. And it creates a good time to shoot the bull with the others :thumbsup::beer:

My recent experience with airing down was my Rubicon BFGs at 18psi molded great around rocks and gave a smooth ride. My friend's BFG ATs at 18psi are load range E and they looked like he hardly let out any air. So you'll have to figure out what works for you but it is very worth the effort.

I run 9 psi offroad. Not only do you need to account for terrain and sidewall stiffness you need to also consider wheel,tire width and tire size. I run a 10 wide wheel with 37x14-16 Iroks. I run mostly rocks and wooded trails in the Ozarks. I have plenty Tire height so I am not as concerned about over compressing the sidewalls and bottoming out the wheel.

So keep asking questions and plan to experiment on tire pressure until you find a value that suits you best.

always air down. who wants to get out in the mud and whatever else to air down at the obstacle when you can do it comfortably at the trailhead and not piss everybody else off when they have to wait for you. there's a reason everybody airs down all at the same time before heading out. plus, if you wait to do it on the trail and ur tires are full of mud and sand and everything, you have a greater risk of getting debris in your valve and having issues with leaks later on.

Airdown all the time you are not on road. It helps so much, before I never aired down and it just gives you a huge advantage.

Ok, so what if you have nitro instead of just air. I got it from the dealer that way and was told it would hold the pressure better and cause less wear. It's expensive to refill though. Any thoughts on air vs. nitro?

Nitrogen or air. take your pick, there is nothing difference between the two. There is like 78 %nitrogen in the air we breath. And all the thing they tell you about it is all a markiting gimmic. It does change pressure with heat and cold, it does leak.

Or you can just have one of these meet you at the trailhead. He can air you back up with N2.

http://www.bigeaglehydrovac.com/imag...trogenUnit.jpg

The advantages to running N2 in a Jeep are miniscule. The advantages to airing down at the trailhead and airing back up when you're done are huge. It's an easy choice.

And don't worry about just putting plain old air back into a tire that was filled with N2. As another poster said, the air we breathe is 78% nitrogen, so there's nothing to be concerned about.

We did some snow wheeling in northern Michigan this past weekend and none of us in the group initially aired down. After some very slow going in about 18-24" of snow we started to air down, what a night and day difference! I am running the stock Dueler's for now on my Sahara and initially aired down to 20psi and could tell a huge difference. After not being able to make it up a hill in the trail I aired down to 12psi and just walked right up the hill no problem. Our entire group learned that air pressure is key in snow!!

I disagree. Nitrogen does not expand and contract with heat like normal air does. The military has done a lot of research on this and that is why airplane tires are filled with nitro. That being said. The advantages of airing down a tire at the trail far out weigh the benefits of having nitro in your tires. I run nitro in my cars and regular air in my Jeep. If you get tires at costco they are filled with Nitro.

And I disagree with your statement :bleh:

Airplanes fly at like 35,000 feet. So it makes since that they have nitrogen. I don't think that my Jeep is ever going to go up that high. It's a gimmic and it's been shown that nitrogen in autos is not worth it.

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/...instead-of-air

Gauge quality...
 

I had a very similar result after losing the bead on 3 different BFG KM's, on two outings, thinking I was at 18psi- thanks to a shoddy gauge.

So how far can I air down my stock Rubi tires. So far, I haven't gone any lower than 15psi. It looks like I'm gonna be snow wheeling this weekend, and I'm not sure if it's safe to go lower. I don't want to risk blowing a bead, but a little less air might help.

With the stock rubi tires I had on before I aired down to single digits on more than one occasion and never blew a bead.. But that's low for those tires. In hindsight I probably shouldn't have. I found that if I really needed traction, 11-12 psi worked well.. If I was just doing a trek out I'd air down to 15 and then air down more if I needed more traction further down the trail.