Thread: Moreton/tyres

I haven't been there (Morton), but have to agree with the advice you are getting. An important sand driving tip is travel as light as you can. Get rid of anything you don't need and you'll go further, use a lot less fuel and have more fun.

Originally Posted by nat_89

It just blows you away what tyre pressures can do, at Christmas time we went up to 9 Mile Beach just outside of Yeppoon Central Qld there and as i hadnt got my D4 yet took our prado 150 and we let down to about 15psi because we knew it was hot and dry, a few kms in a bit of a struggle stopped and went down to 12psi then it just walked through no problems at all just amazing 3 psi can make such a big difference!

Think of it in percentage terms. 3psi from 36 to 33 will do nothing but drop 20% and it is noticeable. 15psi dropped to 12 is 20% the "bag" effect is minimal but the tyre footprint gets considerably longer. In theory the different rims (19, 18 etc) will have the same footprint at the same pressure. It is just that there is less distance between rim and "road" with bigger rims. More prone to "bottom out" on bumps or rocks and damage tyre or rim. This is not such a problem on sand until pressures get into single digits. But in sand if you are gentle you can almost always go lower, it beats digging.

Originally Posted by Fred Nerk

Think of it in percentage terms. 3psi from 36 to 33 will do nothing but drop 20% and it is noticeable. 15psi dropped to 12 is 20% the "bag" effect is minimal but the tyre footprint gets considerably longer. In theory the different rims (19, 18 etc) will have the same footprint at the same pressure. It is just that there is less distance between rim and "road" with bigger rims. More prone to "bottom out" on bumps or rocks and damage tyre or rim. This is not such a problem on sand until pressures get into single digits. But in sand if you are gentle you can almost always go lower, it beats digging.

Well thats very true with the %'s there when you put it like that. Yeah your right you just have to take it steady and not like a maniac and you'll have no problems with bottoming out I've found about 12psi the lowest i go and seem to have no problems at all there usually start at 18psi. I have to get around to getting a set of them staun tyre deflators. ANYTHING beats digging haha not fun at all!!

Everyone thanks for the really helpful responses to my question I really appreciate it. Looking forward to getting out there