Thread: How low can I go?

I regularly run my General Grabbers down to 14psi for the soft sand over here in WA, (18-20psi in the rockier parts). I have run as low as 10psi to get out of trouble, you just have to be careful not to be too aggressive when cornering.

Obviously the lower the pressure, the lower you must keep your speed!!

I have two friends with Defenders. They struggle in sand at the pressures we use (16- 18 PSI ) They go down another 2 - 3 psi and they manage fine. Amazing what difference a few PSI actually makes.

Originally Posted by ADMIRAL

I have two friends with Defenders. They struggle in sand at the pressures we use (16- 18 PSI ) They go down another 2 - 3 psi and they manage fine. Amazing what difference a few PSI actually makes.

Do they run these low pressures loaded with all their camping gear or empty?

Sounds like I can go a bit lower then...I don't often run with much of a load on board so I'm not too worried about weight, just rolling the trye off the rim on a corner.

Thanks for the advice!

Chops110

in an emergancy, with suitable care for steering and right boot inputs you can go as low as 4psi.

Remember to apply the golden rule... As tyre pressure comes down so does speed and agression.

I usually recommend 15psi as the usual minimum pressure you want to go down to.

Originally Posted by yt110

Do they run these low pressures loaded with all their camping gear or empty?

In sand yes loaded to the gills, and even towing a camper trailer. Note the camper trailer also has the pressures dropped, but only to 16- 18, as it runs 285/75 x16's.

A case of being sensible once the pressures have been dropped. Once you are down around 10 -12 psi, aggressive driving is asking for trouble. Even go down to 6 psi to debog, but ' gently bentley' is the name of the game, and air up a bit as soon as conditions allow.

I have always worked on the thirds rule. 1/3 off bitumen for rough gravel, another 1/3 off for sand. If using say around 40 for bitumen, try 28 for gravel, and 16 for sand. It's only a general average. Works for me.

Thanks for the tips

I think I'll set the Stauns a bit lower then

Cheers

Chops110

The first thing you have to remember is that air pressure at sea level is 16psi, any lower than that and you run the risk of the tyre rolling off the rim.however as most have said you can go much lower with careful driving. Just be careful if you are cornering as it isn't much fun trying to reseal a tyre on the sand