I see a lot of guys airing up immediately when they get off a trail. I know that I am running another trail tomorrow -- how bad is it to drive down the highway at about 40 running on 18 lbs of air? Is the best practice to air up after every trail or ??

 

Also wondering this bc sometimes theres a bit of pavement driving from trailhead to trailhead

 

Interesting question, as I'm here in Moab for EJS and see this frequently. Folks air down when they get here and air back up Easter Sunday. Not a hard & fast rule on this but it's best to be at street pressures when on highway for safety and liability reasons. Your sidewalls and tread edges will thank you as well. OTOH, if you're only going a short distance at lower speeds it's not a big deal. Judgement is required.

Yesterday we ended a trail in a wind & rain storm and I blew off airing back up from 12 psi so as not to be wet & frozen. Kept the speed down heading back to Moab. Handling characteristics sucked.

 

I usually drive home about 10 miles on 9 lbs of air in each tire. 37" E rated tire. I normally run 24lbs for on road.

 

when in Moab I air down to 14psi and never air back up until we head home. I have evic that shows individual psi and driving back to moab from top of the world at the speed limit my psi went up to 16psi which means the tires did not get overly heated up which means they were fine. I would not drive 80 but 45mph or even 50mph for 20 miles has not hurt anything. this is on Toyo 35x12.5-17's.

 

I've been on the hiway at 12 PSI with my 37" MTR's with no problem.... Between trails Whens there's a bit of a drive I'm at 6 psi with my new trail ready beadlocks ... You should be fine

 

Thanks everyone, I am actually at EJS as well and forgot my compressor at home and didn't want to air back up multiple times at the gas station. We did trails on Sunday and Monday and then today, Thursday and Saturday. I appreciate the info.

 

18PSI is not aired down, it will be fine.

 

I run about 22psi for about 10 miles home. No issues

 

As other have said, it's a judgement call. I wouldn't go long or fast with tires at 18 psi. But a couple miles at a slow pace will hurt nothing.

The type of tire and load rating can also make a difference. Having a tire build for big trucks with a high load rating might be affected less than older flotation size and bias ply tires.