Thread: Sand driving - tyre pressure

Originally Posted by TB

I was on Moreton this January running 255/55R19 HTs before my TuffAnts turned up. The sand was deep, dry powder. Kept getting bogged on 18psi. Had to go to 15, and add an extra 30mm of suspension height above off-road, to maintain progress. No problems with the tires at that pressure.

Ah yes, extra height. I bought a set of Gordon's (GOE) suspension rods to enable travelling at 'greater heights', and access to the extended height mode before getting stuck... (I'm sure my terminology is incorrect, but the rods are a cheap, quick, simple solution for sand/rock crawling).
As mentioned, I didn't really look like getting stuck, but the extra ride height certainly gives peace of mind and reduces that from being a factor in soft, lumpy sand...

Now have an IIDTool, so would use that instead, but either way, (IMHO) extra height in soft sand is a good thing.

Rob

Originally Posted by Ghost-Who-Walks

Ah yes, extra height. I bought a set of Gordon's (GOE) suspension rods to enable travelling at 'greater heights', and access to the extended height mode before getting stuck... (I'm sure my terminology is incorrect, but the rods are a cheap, quick, simple solution for sand/rock crawling).
As mentioned, I didn't really look like getting stuck, but the extra ride height certainly gives peace of mind and reduces that from being a factor in soft, lumpy sand...

Now have an IIDTool, so would use that instead, but either way, (IMHO) extra height in soft sand is a good thing.

Rob

Yes, 100% agree. I had GOE rods when I went and have since upgraded to LLAMS as the extra height gives peace of mind in deeper sand but even sometimes hitting little washouts at speed on the beach. Being able to keep that little bit of extra height over 40km/h is definitely an advantage. Another recollection on pressures too, Gordon on his sand driving course had us go straight to 17 psi

Reminds me of a side story - when I was on Fraser last time we'd stopped on the beach with a blown tyre on one of the other vehicles and a newish D4 with a young driver came through just behind us and ploughed fast into a pretty deep - steepish banks probably about 600mm high - washout. Impact enough to set off the front airbags! Toddler screaming in the back and dad who'd been sitting in the passenger seat looking a bit agitated and suitably unimpressed. I reckon if there hadn't have been a few of us around the young bloke would have copped a fair tongue lashing. They folded up the airbags and drove off. I didn't see them again after that so not sure what they ended up doing.

David

I know I'm running 18s and the questions was about 19s. However, I've been to 10 psi (around Calcup Hill/Warren River on south coast) and no trouble with rolling tyres. Could feel the rear rims hitting the inside 'bottom' of the tyre on the harder sections, disconcerting, but no sign the tyres were going to come off. In contrast my brother rolled two (at the same time) off his 200 at 10 psi.

With a bit of trial and error, I reset my Staun Deflators to 18 psi (well actually 3 of them are at 18.5psi - just couldn't fine tune them to that degree) and am ready to use them while on the barge from River Heads.
Hope it all goes to plan!

Originally Posted by Dagilmo

I know I'm running 18s and the questions was about 19s. However, I've been to 10 psi (around Calcup Hill/Warren River on south coast) and no trouble with rolling tyres. Could feel the rear rims hitting the inside 'bottom' of the tyre on the harder sections, disconcerting, but no sign the tyres were going to come off. In contrast my brother rolled two (at the same time) off his 200 at 10 psi.

Ditto, same pressure same location

Originally Posted by pprass

With a bit of trial and error, I reset my Staun Deflators to 18 psi (well actually 3 of them are at 18.5psi - just couldn't fine tune them to that degree) and am ready to use them while on the barge from River Heads.
Hope it all goes to plan!

I've got Staun copies and I've got them set close to 18psi. I just found it good to walk around the car and stick them all in and then repeat with the valve removal type deflator for 'accurate' setting. It just speeds things up so much.

Originally I employed the same technique and just followed up with gauge and did manual tweaks … still made things fast.

I thought the 'Stauns' would become unemployed when I bought the ARB valve deflator, but it actually deflates quite slowly, so the originals came back to work :-)

Thanks for all the comments above RE tyre pressures- I've just returned from a week on Fraser running standard 19 inch rims (with Scorpion ATR's) and had no issues. I started with 22psi all round but put more in the rear tyres as they looked quite flat, ended up at 26psi. Drove on soft sand and several inland tracks without any issues. Admittedly only two passengers and minimal gear but went well. I know the pressures are a little higher than some suggested but the comments about tyre wall damage scared me off running too low. It felt safer at 80kmph on the beaches also. Cheers!