Airing Down Advice

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!

This is what I've done and use to inflate all four tired at the same time - also good as all will have the exactly same pressure. Good air compressor is key for fast inflate process (mine takes about 4-5 minutes from 16 psi.)

Dakotagirl

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.

The TPMS warning threshold is 35 PSI so just air up past that, drive for a few minutes to have the warning clear.

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!

Actually, at the Off-Roadeo in Moab, they air down to 26 PSI. Besides the ride quality mentioned by others, if your terrain involves jagged rocks like I see, airing down will substantially reduce your risk of getting a puncture. For your husband: increased tire pressure = increased resistance to flex. The lower pressure allows the tire to conform to the rock rather than resist it. I have been airing down to 23-26 PSI, which is great for Moab as well as rougher trails, especially if you want to take them at speeds above 20mph.

You don't need to go lower than the low 20s unless you are getting into serious crawling, and you wouldn't want to go lower than 16-18 unless you are going to use beadlock wheels.

Here's an example of where I absolutely would air down:

Here's an example where it's not necessary but does soften the ride, so I'd still do it:

I have video clips to better show an example, but for the life of me, I can't figure out what format the "Upload Video" button will accept. It doesn't seem to like MP4, M4V, MOV, or HEVC.

Here's TrailRecon's video on airing down:

Kenneth

Here's TrailRecon's video on airing down:

Brad is one of my favorites!

Dakotagirl

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.

That is weird advice. Tire guys should know that the proper tire inflation is listed in the door jamb on a sticker provided by the manufacturer. I don't have the Sasquatch tires, but I'm pretty sure that I've heard other Sas owners say the sticker shows 39 psi. In any event, you can check yourself. The plug they applied can handle 39, so don't worry that just because you caught a nail and had to have it plugged, you can no longer do the normal pressure.

That said, different people have different reasons for changing from the recommended pressure, and it wouldn't ruin the tires running at 35, but it would affect other factors such as load-carrying capability, wear, perceived softness over bumps, handling in corners, etc. At that difference, you might not notice much in any of those--a few hundred pounds less load carrying that you might not even use, however-many thousand miles the tires wear out sooner, slightly softer ride, maybe just a little less sure-footed in fast corners. Long story short, if you were at 39 before and happy with that, you can go back to 39. If you like 35 better now that you've had the tires set there, it's not going to make a big difference in normal use.

Also, with an inexpensive OBD II device and free software (or the more expensive Ford Performance tune), you can adjust the psi at which the TMPS warning activates.

Yeah, here's my door jam sticker @ 39psi on the GY Territory 315s:

knowing there are already 2 pages of responses that are probably very similar to what I have to say.. I'll say it anyways.

So much of it depends on what kind of terrain you're going to be on.
Some people like rock crawling and obstacles (not me because I broke my neck 23 years ago and need to be careful about jarring impacts).
Some people like mellow/moderate trails (or even fire trails) that take them to scenic views and/or good camp spots (this is where I fall, with the exception of the camping)
Some people like sand dunes
Some people can't wait for the snow to go snow-wheeling

They're all different - but here's my input - for the rock crawling, it's absolutely necessary to drop way down in PSI to help the tire "grab" the edge of the rocks you're crawling up.
For the stuff I like, mellow/moderate trails - I always air down for a couple reasons - if there's a jagged rock that I don't see on the trail, there's less chance of me getting a puncture. Additionally, the improvement in ride quality is tremendous (I usually run 34-35psi on the streets, and go down to about 18psi for trails).. not just due to my neck, but my wife appreciates it too as a passenger - much less of a jarring ride (and I have a '22 Badlands Sasquatch for reference).
Sand dunes - definitely air down
Snow - definitely air down, but if you go TOO low, be careful about making sharp turns while moving - there may be a log/rock under the snow that you don't see, which could knock your sidewall off if you're not running beadlocks.. but I usually go with about 12-15psi on snow (and I don't have beadlocks)

it takes me about 8 minutes to air down, and about 12-15 to air back up after a run - it's absolutely worth the time to have the ride quality exponentially better.

I polled a bunch of people on airing down. Personally, I've been around 12-15 when I'm at offroad parks with dirt, sand, mud, and obstacles. I carry a C02 tank rather than a compressor.
In my pool generally, most people who reported why they lowered pressure it was for comfort more than traction. I had a report from someone that they used low pressures on their Diesel truck that was much heavier than a Bronco. And there were a couple of notes on how important it is to be careful of excess wheel spinning or pinching the sidewall when lowering the air and generally just driving smart.

It seems a couple of things are clear

If someone is running higher than 17 PSI because they are concerned about losing a bead, it seems you don't need to worry so much.

On rocky terrain or Fire Service Roads, you likely could get way lower for more comfort.

One last point, if you air down more, that does mean more time to air up; as someone pointed out, they actually upgraded their air system due to how long it could take to air up.



Here you can see I was at 12psi.