Airing Down Advice

Here is my 2c as I also live in Colorado. Airing down gives a much better ride quality on most of these trails. Other more difficult trails airing down does appear to provide some extra traction. These are trails that aren’t just county roads or forest roads. Most of the people I go with air down to 16-22 PSI but also have on-board air systems to come back up at the end. I do notice a much better experience on the trails when I air down - I can’t tell you technically if its better but ride quality is much better.

Nogame24

Here is my 2c as I also live in Colorado. Airing down gives a much better ride quality on most of these trails. Other more difficult trails airing down does appear to provide some extra traction. These are trails that aren’t just county roads or forest roads. Most of the people I go with air down to 16-22 PSI but also have on-board air systems to come back up at the end. I do notice a much better experience on the trails when I air down - I can’t tell you technically if its better but ride quality is much better.

Solid advice

When I did OffRodeo in Moab they had us aired down to 26-27 psi (normal is 39)….

The Bronco I drove was fine on the hwy and great on the trails and obstacles…. The air down was a compromise so that we didn’t spend all day airing up and down (there were fifteen rigs participating)…

I keep mine at 39ish for daily driving (all pavement), but would certainly air down if I was going into the dunes…

@kbeckhardt I keep my Squatched Badlands at 34 PSI for on road driving (which is 5 PSI less than the recommended pressure) and I feel that the Bronco rides much better at this tire pressure. But, depending on the trails I am going to enjoy I will adjust this pressure down to as low as 20 for hard core rock crawling. The less air pressure, the softer the tire so they are able to obtain the maximum grip patch. You don’t want to spin tires as this not only degrades the trail but can possible cause the treads to “chunk out” on hard surfaces. Remember to Tread Lightly and have fun!

Try airing down to about 25-26 next trail ride. You'll feel a difference in ride quality immediately. Without airing down, you'll feel every rock. That can get old quickly. The added traction is nice too.
When I was at off roadeo, they told me they aired down to 25.
With beadlocks, you can go quite a bit lower.

Sozzy1269

Try airing down to about 25-26 next trail ride. You'll feel a difference in ride quality immediately. Without airing down, you'll feel every rock. That can get old quickly. The added traction is nice too.
When I was at off roadeo, they told me they aired down to 25.
With beadlocks, you can go quite a bit lower.

So it's interesting that we've gotten different info about airing down for the off roadeo. I can see that each of the 4 different sites might have different decisions based on the differences in the trails. At present, I have a very slow air compressor and will plan to purchase a more powerful one, assuming that I will be airing down regularly.
I do like the suggestion to try a medium air down for the next trail ride, which will be this coming week. If the ride is more comfortable, I might be able to convince my husband to ride with me more often. He says he hates the bouncing on the rocks.....

Bschurr

@kbeckhardt I keep my Squatched Badlands at 34 PSI for on road driving (which is 5 PSI less than the recommended pressure) and I feel that the Bronco rides much better at this tire pressure. But, depending on the trails I am going to enjoy I will adjust this pressure down to as low as 20 for hard core rock crawling. The less air pressure, the softer the tire so they are able to obtain the maximum grip patch. You don’t want to spin tires as this not only degrades the trail but can possible cause the treads to “chunk out” on hard surfaces. Remember to Tread Lightly and have fun!

Huh. You raised a point that I hadn't connected to the air down issue. I have encountered a few situations where I spun my tires and put on my rear lockers to get out. So, perhaps if I had aired down, my tires might not have spun. I know that's why I have lockers, but I know how much cost and effort it takes to maintain these trails so if I can avoid degrading them, I will. I totally subscribe to Tread Lightly principles. Thanks!

kbeckhardt

So it's interesting that we've gotten different info about airing down for the off roadeo. I can see that each of the 4 different sites might have different decisions based on the differences in the trails. At present, I have a very slow air compressor and will plan to purchase a more powerful one, assuming that I will be airing down regularly.
I do like the suggestion to try a medium air down for the next trail ride, which will be this coming week. If the ride is more comfortable, I might be able to convince my husband to ride with me more often. He says he hates the bouncing on the rocks.....

I know that when I went to the Moab OffRoadeo, they ran the tire pressure around 25lbs due to the long drive on paved roads to get to the trail head. I air down to 18-20 lbs when I hit dirt and that really softens up the ride nicely. And the compressor, whether portable or installed is a must.

I usually air down to about 22psi but this last time out we dropped it to 18psi and that was a much nicer ride. You do loose a little bit of ground clearance so that might come into play. You should be good to air down to the low teens and still be fine lower than that and you might need beadlocks. And remember from off roadeo you need to take it slow and let it purr not roar. You can always adjust you air pressure as you need it, airing down most likely. I do carry a portable compressor cause I have plenty of room in the 4-door, and I can buy 7 portables for the price of the ARBs. It’s a fast compressor it takes about 8 minutes to air up all tires from 18-39psi. https://td-distributing.myshopify.com/collections/automotive-inflation

We were down to 20psi at the New Hampshire off rodeo.

Great thread here...thanks for posing the question. FWIW, I purchased the Ford Performance Parts portable ARB compressor kit using Ford points. Haven't used it trail-side yet. But tested it out with MILINI Tire Deflator kit (Amazon) in the driveway this weekend. The auto tire deflators worked very nicely - ending up +/- 2 psi from set pressure and taking ~2 min to air down from 45 psi to 25 psi. The ARB then aired them back up (one at a time) at about 10 psi/min.

My 2 cents. I do wheel mostly in Moab, but also Colorado, Arizona and Nevada.

It seems to me that there are a lot of questions on tires and wheels. I have never worked in a tire shop, but I have bought a lot of tires, wheeled off-road for over 20 years, belonged to a couple of Jeep clubs and have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express. Here are my thoughts, which are worth what you paid for them.
Wheel size; If you are driving a high performance sports car you want a large wheel for larger brakes and a shorter side wall on the tire (low profile) to give you quick response to steering input. (Very little sidewall flex)
If you are driving an off-road vehicle you want the opposite. A lot of side wall to soak up the irregularities in the trail, and to be able to air down without the wheel coming into contact with the tire tread. Since you also need brakes, the generally best wheel for this is 17 inches. Big enough for good brakes, but small enough for a lot of sidewall on 35”+ tires.
Tires; The size and tread pattern that will be best for you depends on what terrain you are going to be in. Knobby tires will big tread blocks and a lot of void areas are best for mud, as they can not only grip in the mud, but clean out quickly. Tires with small voids will turn into slicks in the mud, and therefore have little traction. Knobby tires can also work well if you are climbing a craggy rock face and need to grab on to the edges of rocks to get traction.
I do a lot of wheeling in Moab which has a lot of “slick rock”, which despite its name is basically sand paper on rock. So, the more rubber you put down (less voids) the greater the traction you will get.
Tread patterns are very personal, so use the one that fits your needs.
Tire size; Generally speaking, bigger is better. The downside to bigger is they are heavier, cost more and put more of a strain on vehicle components. If the tire is big, with a big tire patch, it will test other components, and the weakest link will break. Why is bigger better? The easiest way to understand this is to take it to the extreme. Think of a pebble rolling on cement and coming into contact with an expansion joint. It probably will get stuck and not be able to cross it. Now think of a 40” tire rolling on cement, when it reaches the expansion joint it won’t even slow down. So bigger tires can climb higher obstacles, give you more ground clearance, have a bigger sidewall to absorb shocks and bumps, and cross small “cracks” easily.
Tire Pressure; This is the most misunderstood area of tires. On road follow the vehicle manufacturer instructions. At speed low pressure tires will build heat quickly, and heat is the enemy of tires. Off-road is a different story. What does lower pressure do for you? One, more comfort. The sidewall can flex and absorb shocks better with less pressure. Take a tire inflated to the max and drop it a couple of feet, it will bounce back almost all the way up. Take a tire inflated to 10 psi and drop it, and it will hardly bounce. Two, wrap around obstacles for more grip. Three, increase the tire patch, which is the amount of the tire that is in contact with the ground. This accomplishes three things, one, lowers the pressure per square inch on the ground, which can keep you from sinking into things like sand. Two, gives you more rubber on the ground to increase the chance of getting some traction when climbing an obstacle. Three, lessons the chance of a tire puncture. Again, take it to the extreme. Think of a balloon. If it has hardly any air in it, you can push a pin in quite a way before it will pop. Inflate it to the max and the pin will pop it easily.
So, how low? It depends on several things. First what load range are your tires? C range will have the most flexible sidewalls, and as you go up the alphabet the sidewalls get stiffer. I have bead locks on my Jeep with 39” C range tires. However, the Jeep weighs 6,200 pounds, so if I go much below 10 psi and come down a steep grade where all the weight is on the front the tires will wrinkle up and get too close to the wheel. When I had load range E tires on it, I could go down to 4 psi before they would wrinkle too much. I like C range as it allows the tires to conform to the rocks and get a good grip.
Second what are you going to do? A gravel road will feel better if you drop about 10 pounds from street pressure. For medium trails 18-20 psi can work well. For more serious trails I go down to about 12.
Everyone always worries about blowing a bead. First, if you just had your tires remounted, wait a couple of days. That way the stuff they put on the bead to set them, will have totally dried. Low pressure too quickly may allow the tire to rotate on the rim and change the balance. Second if you are really low 8 – 12 psi, don’t do donuts or try to turn a stuck tire when it is wedged in a rock crevice. With non-bead lock wheels, I have never heard of someone blowing a bead when they had 12+ pounds of air in the tires. You CAN do it, but you will have to work at it. Even with bead locks, most bead locks only work on the outside of the wheel, it can be possible (although unlikely) to blow the inside of the wheel.
To conclude, run the pressure you are comfortable with. Experiment and try different pressures. Buy a good quality HD air compressor. You will pay more for it, but only once. A cheap one you will cuss out every time you use it. The biggest mistake I see on the trails is that most tires have too much air in them. If you are spinning your tires, they may be over inflated.

A lot of the Baja guys don't air down or don't air down much. They find they get flats when they are below about 28 psi.(you can find this information in their forums and I know one guy first hand). That said the above is good advice for sure. It all depends on how hard you are on vehicle. I believe in the Raptor off rodeo they air down to 32 psi. They go a lot quicker than the other off rodeos and they are getting air with a big heavy vehicle.

I don't air down on gravel or logging roads. I bounced around a lot more with the Black Diamond than with the Raptor. I would air down if I was doing it for all day or half the day or something and then I would only go to 32 psi down from 39. I was on a fairly rough old railway track earlier today and I simply slowed down when we bounced around too much but we were only on it for a half hour or so. If on rock crawl or a slow trail then 20 psi seems good but I have done 17 with the Black Diamond. I would consider airing way down like 10 psi to get out of a tough spot then air back up. I don't find I like to rock crawl a whole lot so airing down to 12 psi above is not for me but it sounds like it works perfectly for others as stated above.

Have some fun it all comes together. Great advice above in the posts.

I think most of the information provided above lays out the pros and cons of airing down while driving off road pretty well. I would just ad my most recent experience. We had about 20 Broncos on a trail ride last weekend. The terrain was 80% rock 10% mud and 10% just a mix of water, mud, sand and rocks. I normally air down to about 25 psi, as noted, Off Roadeo used similar pressures, at least at TX and it does provide a noticeably softer ride with really good road manners.

This weekend was a two day, long hours in the seat trail ride, so I went max comfort to about 15psi. The ride was substantially better. We did do some short stints at 30mph on pavement and I noticed some squirm, but no issues with the tires heating up or any lack of control at the lower speeds. I have been in several large groups with 6G Broncos and had no issues with pressures as low as 10psi (without bead locks). I say run as much pressure as you can where you get a ride that is comfortable. If you have to do long pavement sections and do not want to air down or use a compressor, 25 is probably a good place to start. Getting beat up and want to go max comfort? 15 PSI seems to leave quite a good margin of safety for your bead to stay on and to do some brief, low speed pavement sections.

Traction is a different story. Sand is pretty much lower=better to 10-12psi. Rocks isn't my specialty, but if it's wet and slippery, it seems pretty much the same, as low as you can go while maintaining the bead and not loosing to much ground clearance. In some cases, ice can benefit from more pressure and snow is a mixed bag in my experience.

Bottom line, you are right and hubby is wrong :)

Mattwings

Bottom line, you are right and hubby is wrong :)

truer words have never been spoken.

At our house we call that rule number one. Well the rule is…never argue with mom, she is always right.

Mattwings

I think most of the information provided above lays out the pros and cons of airing down while driving off road pretty well. I would just ad my most recent experience. We had about 20 Broncos on a trail ride last weekend. The terrain was 80% rock 10% mud and 10% just a mix of water, mud, sand and rocks. I normally air down to about 25 psi, as noted, Off Roadeo used similar pressures, at least at TX and it does provide a noticeably softer ride with really good road manners.

This weekend was a two day, long hours in the seat trail ride, so I went max comfort to about 15psi. The ride was substantially better. We did do some short stints at 30mph on pavement and I noticed some squirm, but no issues with the tires heating up or any lack of control at the lower speeds. I have been in several large groups with 6G Broncos and had no issues with pressures as low as 10psi (without bead locks). I say run as much pressure as you can where you get a ride that is comfortable. If you have to do long pavement sections and do not want to air down or use a compressor, 25 is probably a good place to start. Getting beat up and want to go max comfort? 15 PSI seems to leave quite a good margin of safety for your bead to stay on and to do some brief, low speed pavement sections.

Traction is a different story. Sand is pretty much lower=better to 10-12psi. Rocks isn't my specialty, but if it's wet and slippery, it seems pretty much the same, as low as you can go while maintaining the bead and not loosing to much ground clearance. In some cases, ice can benefit from more pressure and snow is a mixed bag in my experience.

Bottom line, you are right and hubby is wrong :)

Thanks to everyone for the great advice! I need to do some experimentation to determine what works best for me and the trail conditions. First, I need to purchase a good air compressor. I have a SLOW one that's only good in an emergency situation. I've only got a few more weeks of riding in the San Juans before snow shuts me down, but I'll be in Arizona for Thanksgiving so more practice there. Looking forward to it!

jzweedyk

Tire Pressure; This is the most misunderstood area of tires. On road follow the vehicle manufacturer instructions. At speed low pressure tires will build heat quickly, and heat is the enemy of tires. Off-road is a different story. What does lower pressure do for you? One, more comfort. The sidewall can flex and absorb shocks better with less pressure. Take a tire inflated to the max and drop it a couple of feet, it will bounce back almost all the way up. Take a tire inflated to 10 psi and drop it, and it will hardly bounce. Two, wrap around obstacles for more grip. Three, increase the tire patch, which is the amount of the tire that is in contact with the ground. This accomplishes three things, one, lowers the pressure per square inch on the ground, which can keep you from sinking into things like sand. Two, gives you more rubber on the ground to increase the chance of getting some traction when climbing an obstacle. Three, lessons the chance of a tire puncture. Again, take it to the extreme. Think of a balloon. If it has hardly any air in it, you can push a pin in quite a way before it will pop. Inflate it to the max and the pin will pop it easily.

Interesting comment about the chances of puncture. I got my first flat tire on Potash Road in Moab this past July. I hit a piece of metal near the potash ponds. I doubt a lower tire pressure would have prevented that flat, but it does make me wonder.

Great thread - Thanks for posting your question. We're also Colorado off-roaders in Evergreen. Now, with a WildTrak on 35s, which is much better in every way than our '76 Bronco, had couple Jeeps too..

We usually don't air down on forest service/apporach 'roads'. Examples, are the vehicle trails to Grays & Torreys mtns trailhead and historic townsites St Johns and Apex. These are relatively short distances that a teeth rattling ride is doable for both wifey & myself. However, running our typical medium (say 'blue') front range & central Colorado mtn trails, we're airing down to 20psi. Sure, 25 is OK, but 20 is better. On steeper, more challenging trails we,re down to 15-16psi. Oh should mention, I don't do paved roads on low air.

Good equipment's IMPORTANT! I luv our current portable air kit's dual cylinder compressor and 4-tire hose with gauged manifold setup. It's 'round $500 splurge, but saves a lot of time and trailside hassles.

Enjoy your new ride!!

Cheers

kbeckhardt

My 2023 Outer Banks Sasquatch lives with me in Southwest Colorado. Most of my off roading is/will be in the San Juan Mountains with occasional trips to Moab and other areas around Utah and Arizona. I have extensive experience riding ATV's, but this is my first off road vehicle. So I'm mostly a newbie to all of this.

My questions relate to if/when/and how much airing down my Sasquatch tires is appropriate for the kind of off roading I will be doing. My husband is STRONGLY of the opinion that airing down my tires is unnecessary because I already have good tires, and given the Sasquatch tires, they are already wider than the standard 33's, and therefore have more tread to grip the road surface.

I know everybody has an opinion. At the Moab Off Roadeo in this past May, I asked about airing down. I was told that the Broncos used for the Off Roadeo were aired down to 29psi, which they considered a good compromise, allowing them to safely drive them along the highway to the off road site and also provide an advantage on the trails.

To date, I have not aired down for the easy trails that I have done so far, including deep sand (using SAND GOAT Mode) where my Jeep friends needed to air down their 33's and still got stuck. But I'm ready to tackle some more difficult trails and want to be prepared.

So, are there safety concerns about not airing down? Is it mostly a comfort thing? If I do air down, how do I judge how far to go? My husband is an engineer and I need some solid advice to appeal to his need for technical info.

Would appreciate some advice on this! Thanks!

I’m fairly new to the airing down process myself but on a slightly different note I wound up with a nail in my tire this last weekend on a Boise Bronco trail ride. I stopped at a Commercial Tire outlet where they were kind enough to fix the tire at no charge but upon refilling they told me they could only fill the tires to 35 lbs and not 39lbs because of liability. They pointed out that the Goodyear 35 inch, stock on the Sasquatch package is only rated for 35 which leaves the low tire light on in the vehicle? I don’t know if that’s adjustable in the settings but it doesn’t seem right that Ford recommends 39 when the tires are not rated for that. Would love anyone’s thoughts on the matter.