Tires....what psi do you use? Do you let out air off roading?

My take on tire pressure, wheels and tires.

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.

jzweedyk

My take on tire pressure, wheels and tires.

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.

Excellent thanks. There is a learning curve even for an experienced off roader (dirt bikes, enduros, ATV and side by side - never a truck). With dirt bikes you run low anyway. With large enduro bikes I run low in technical off road situations or to get out of a jam. If I'm on the road, then dirt roads and dirt mountain roads it is just easy to leave the tire pressure the same and at higher speeds you are not going to damage the rims with a 600 pound bike. I hit some deep sand at dusk coming home a month ago at about 60 mph and it brought me to a quick stop and I thought I was going over. A lower tire pressure would have been helpful then; however, I shouldn't have been out at dusk and I was probably going too quick.

I am going to speak with my Baja friend and find out more details on why he likes to ride hard. It will be interesting to see what he says. Everything you said sounds very logical to me and makes a lot of sense. I do appreciate all that good information. Everyone else's as well. I think finding a pressure I can run on dirt roads, logging roads and paved roads is the way to go for me and to have a built in compressor and deflate when I am doing more technical stuff. We shall see. I am going to do something different now that is for sure. Thanks

I use the ARB twin compressor. Expensive, but really works well. If your tires are less than 35s, the single will work, but on bigger tires it takes too long.

Roughstock11

This came up in another thread. I did a quick search and nothing came up. If there is an old thread that would be great as well.

My dealership had the tires at 30 psi and they had no real reason for it. They said they do 30 psi for all their vehicles. I put them to 39 as soon as I could. It was a Saturday and the vehicle was in another building because it was raining so I didn't get them to do it. I have 35" tires (KO2's) put on after the Ford build and 39 psi, as per the door, seemed reasonable. Tire max is 45 psi.

30 is too low for street use. I'm assuming the KO2s you are running are the 315/70/17 size, Load C. These have a slightly lower load rating (113 vs. 116) compared to the 285/70/17s that are stock on Badlands non-Sasquatch. 39 psi is Ford's recommended psi for the 285s. Keep in mind that the recommended psi is not based on maximum psi that the tire can handle, but on weight of the vehicle, contact patch at given tire pressures, etc.

That said, I'd probably run 39 if I was going with the 315s, though 35 is going to be fine as well.

Roughstock11

I will only let out pressure if I need to get out of a rough spot. I don't lower tires on my large enduro bike (BMW 1250 GSA) as well since it is a lot of weight and I don't want to damage the rims. So I plan on doing the same with my Bronco. My experienced Baja racing friend only lets out tire pressure to get out of a rough spot also. I found that interesting. He had the same concerns.

I am wondering what everyone else does. There is no right or wrong way to do it. Just a personal preference from what I see.

Most basic off-roading does not require airing down. If you are going to be doing moderate or heavy-duty rock climbing and need more grip and a more flexible sidewall, air down to the mid 20s. If you have a lot of good-sized sharp-edged rocks on your trail, you can also air down to give the tire less resistance to the rocks, so you're less likely to puncture. But level 1, 2, 3 off-roading or typical dirt/rutted roads don't need airing down at all. If I was on a mixed trail and needed to air down, I wouldn't bother airing back up when I got past the rough areas, unless that was the only part of the trail that required airing down for the day. It's too much of a pain, even with a fast compressor, airing down and back up and down and up again. (Ironically, deflating takes more time than inflating with my 5.65 CFM compressor.) Airing down and back up would be a 10-15 minute process. For some, that might be acceptable to do multiple times a day, but I'd rather spend the time on the trail. If you're really into it, you could rig up a 4-way distribution to air up all of the tires at once, but that's only going to save you the time you'd otherwise spend going from wheel to wheel since the compressor can't work any faster.

Don't worry about wheel damage unless you are planning on some serious speeds with hard obstacles. Typical off-roading that requires airing down never sees the kinds of hard-hitting that would damage wheels. Finesse is how you get over obstacles--with steady accelerator inputs and not charging obstacles like you're going into battle. 😁

Jakob1972

I roll on 39psi Ride seems fine for me, the 1000 miles we put on it this weekend was very comfy, I like a firmer ride. Off-Roading I usually air down to ~20psi

Right where I run them

Calgecko

30 is low for daily driving .. 39 is way too high for my comfort level, I like mine at 34 for daily driving. For off roading, if it's just a dirt trail, I'll go to about 18psi to help smooth out the ride .. if it's a dirt trail with some obstacles or puncture risks, I'll go to 14-15psi ... for deep snow, also around 15psi (some guys are comfortable going to 12psi without bead locks).

I have the ARB Twin compressor with the under-hood mount kit from @4x4TruckLEDs.com and absolutely LOVE it. I bought it last year when it went on sale - either a Memorial or Labor day sale, I can't remember, but it was less than $800 shipped with the mount kit, and worth EVERY penny.

Same here. They ran a great deal

Appreciate all the handy suggestions from everyone. Have only aired down to get through some soft sand, once. Rest of the time, whatever the door advises.

timhood

30 is too low for street use. I'm assuming the KO2s you are running are the 315/70/17 size, Load C. These have a slightly lower load rating (113 vs. 116) compared to the 285/70/17s that are stock on Badlands non-Sasquatch. 39 psi is Ford's recommended psi for the 285s. Keep in mind that the recommended psi is not based on maximum psi that the tire can handle, but on weight of the vehicle, contact patch at given tire pressures, etc.

That said, I'd probably run 39 if I was going with the 315s, though 35 is going to be fine as well.

Most off-roading does not require airing down. If you are going to be doing moderate or heavy-duty rock climbing and need more grip and a more flexible sidewall, air down to the mid 20s. If you have a lot of good-sized sharp-edged rocks on your trail, you can also air down to give the tire less resistance to the rocks, so you're less likely to puncture. But level 1, 2, 3 off-roading or typical dirt/rutted roads don't need airing down at all. If I was on a mixed trail and needed to air down, I wouldn't bother airing back up when I got past the rough areas, unless that was the only part of the trail that required airing down for the day. It's too much of a pain, even with a fast compressor, airing down and back up and down and up again. Don't worry about wheel damage unless you are planning on some serious speeds. Typical off-roading that requires airing down never sees the kinds of hard-hitting that would damage wheels. Finesse is how you get over obstacles--with steady accelerator inputs and not charging obstacles like you're going into battle. 😁

Awesome thanks and yes 315/70/17 Load C. I am learning a lot and appreciate that. My Baja friend was saying there seems to be two types of people. The finesse (as you say) and the hard hitters (as you say). He was saying most dirt bike riders (like me) are finesse from his experience. I said I could see that because you need to finesse on a bike. He also said from teaching off roading women have been better then the men. Probably because they finesse. I will be seeing him later this year and want to get some training from him for sure. He said I could drive his cart back but I was having too much fun laughing as he rode in a fast well controlled style and he was taking it easy with me in the cart. I could see years of experience as he made it look easy. After a few quick turns in succession he explained the loading of the tires to achieve the exit he was looking for. I certainly need to learn more.

It is all coming together with the tire pressures. I appreciate your experience and everyone else's. It is good to figure out a important item like a tire.

jzweedyk

My take on tire pressure, wheels and tires.

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.

Thanks! as good a summary or air pressure and tire dynamics as I've seen. Good, clear writing.

It has been an interesting conversation about tire pressure. I had a talk with my Baja friend about tire pressures again. His family has a big off road heritage and he has ridden off road his entire life and raced off road for most of it. He is a humble guys so he doesn't talk about it much unless you ask him.

See link about his family's heritage and his dad's induction in the off road hall of fame.

https://ormhof.org/lynn-chenowth

My friend is in the video with his dad in a few spots and is driving one of the off road vehicles.

Also check out the Chenoworth Advanced Light Strike Vehicle (everyone needs one of these).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chenowth_Advanced_Light_Strike_Vehicle

Please keep in mind everyone has an opinion and this is just the way he likes to run.

He said he would keep my tires at 39 psi. He only deflates for traction and if need be. Unless he is in the Baja on the beach then he would run 8-10 lbs. He didn't think the vehicle would get damaged running at 39 psi and he felt that in order to damage the rims you would have to be hitting in extreme situations. As far as tire punctures he thought 39 is fine unless there is some really sharp rocks around then 20-25 lbs would be better. Other than that I would be fine. We didn't have time to go deeper as he was on a 12 mile dirt road going camping and his phone cut out towards the end of our conversation so we didn't get into rock climbing and stuff like that. I would imagine he would run lower for sure as well in those situations.

He runs an Airbnb (a few different buildings) in NM/AZ border where he takes some guests out, as an extra bonus, on his 48,000 acre ranch off roading (lightly for people he doesn't know). It may be a great place to organize an AZ off road day and perhaps he could do some training. Just a thought. I know I will be requesting some training when back in November.

Roughstock11

This came up in another thread. I did a quick search and nothing came up. If there is an old thread that would be great as well.

My dealership had the tires at 30 psi and they had no real reason for it. They said they do 30 psi for all their vehicles. I put them to 39 as soon as I could. It was a Saturday and the vehicle was in another building because it was raining so I didn't get them to do it. I have 35" tires (KO2's) put on after the Ford build and 39 psi, as per the door, seemed reasonable. Tire max is 45 psi.

I will only let out pressure if I need to get out of a rough spot. I don't lower tires on my large enduro bike (BMW 1250 GSA) as well since it is a lot of weight and I don't want to damage the rims. So I plan on doing the same with my Bronco. My experienced Baja racing friend only lets out tire pressure to get out of a rough spot also. I found that interesting. He had the same concerns.

I am wondering what everyone else does. There is no right or wrong way to do it. Just a personal preference from what I see.

I got my new 2023 badlands and it seemed like it road hard checked the tires about 2 months after I got it they had put them at 46 lbs I reduced them to 39 also drives better

carman

I got my new 2023 badlands and it seemed like it road hard checked the tires about 2 months after I got it they had put them at 46 lbs I reduced them to 39 also drives better

go down to 35 and it's so much better.

Roughstock11

It has been an interesting conversation about tire pressure. I had a talk with my Baja friend about tire pressures again. His family has a big off road heritage and he has ridden off road his entire life and raced off road for most of it. He is a humble guys so he doesn't talk about it much unless you ask him.

See link about his family's heritage and his dad's induction in the off road hall of fame.

https://ormhof.org/lynn-chenowth

My friend is in the video with his dad in a few spots and is driving one of the off road vehicles.

Also check out the Chenoworth Advanced Light Strike Vehicle (everyone needs one of these).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chenowth_Advanced_Light_Strike_Vehicle

Please keep in mind everyone has an opinion and this is just the way he likes to run.

He said he would keep my tires at 39 psi. He only deflates for traction and if need be. Unless he is in the Baja on the beach then he would run 8-10 lbs. He didn't think the vehicle would get damaged running at 39 psi and he felt that in order to damage the rims you would have to be hitting in extreme situations. As far as tire punctures he thought 39 is fine unless there is some really sharp rocks around then 20-25 lbs would be better. Other than that I would be fine. We didn't have time to go deeper as he was on a 12 mile dirt road going camping and his phone cut out towards the end of our conversation so we didn't get into rock climbing and stuff like that. I would imagine he would run lower for sure as well in those situations.

He runs an Airbnb (a few different buildings) in NM/AZ border where he takes some guests out, as an extra bonus, on his 48,000 acre ranch off roading (lightly for people he doesn't know). It may be a great place to organize an AZ off road day and perhaps he could do some training. Just a thought. I know I will be requesting some training when back in November.

that's pretty awesome... but another consideration is that he's probably driving something with much more advanced suspension and softer shocks/springs in a dedicated baja vehicle than what we're driving... 39 for me is uncomfortable .. it's like driving on bowling balls

Calgecko

that's pretty awesome... but another consideration is that he's probably driving something with much more advanced suspension and softer shocks/springs in a dedicated baja vehicle than what we're driving... 39 for me is uncomfortable .. it's like driving on bowling balls

I agree, it will be interesting to get him driving my Bronco and to have more time to really get into it. I told him I was hooked on Broncos and he liked that. Eventually we will be able to do some trials and see what he thinks then. Have a great night.

Bronco V-8

The correct way to determine tire pressure for road use is to warm tires by driving a few miles.
Then measure tire tread temp on the outside, center, and inside.The correct pressure will have equal temps across the tread.

This will maximize tread life and have a full contact patch for traction.

Prey tell how many devices do you need for this?

Truck came at 39 new. Kinda a rough ride. They have slowly come down to 33 over a year. I bumped to 35. Ride is better than 39 and I don't care about .5MPG. Driving they heat to around 37, at 39 cold they were reading 42-44 on hot roads damn I was getting beaten to death. Stock 35" SAS tires btw.

Nminus1

Truck came at 39 new. Kinda a rough ride. They have slowly come down to 33 over a year. I bumped to 35. Ride is better than 39 and I don't care about .5MPG. Driving they heat to around 37, at 39 cold they were reading 42-44 on hot roads damn I was getting beaten to death. Stock 35" SAS tires btw.

that's exactly how I felt... when I picked it up from the dealership and made the hour and a half drive home, the whole time, I was thinking "holy crap.. this thing rides like crap... " and I was seriously wondering if I'd be able to tolerate it. I didn't want to say anything to my wife who was next to me, because for the 814 days prior to that, all I was talking about was the Bronco ... and if I was having buyers remorse, it would have been a BAD situation LOL.. I immediately started looking at what options were out there to soften the ride of the Sasquatch package... then I finally decided to check the tire pressure... and realized that they were at 39 - COLD... they'd get up to 43-44 warm, which was intolerable. dropping to 34-35 made a huge difference. I also think the suspension has softened up as I've driven it too.

Interesting, I am used to a firm or rough ride in our F250, which I keep the tires on the firm side as well. I find the Bronco much smoother than the 250 and running the tires at 39. I guess it depends on what you are used to or what you expect from a vehicle. That being said it isn't warm here yet so the tires are not heating up much. I think I saw them at 40 once. Also, I am running the stock suspension and perhaps that makes a difference as mentioned above.

Calgecko

that's exactly how I felt... when I picked it up from the dealership and made the hour and a half drive home, the whole time, I was thinking "holy crap.. this thing rides like crap... " and I was seriously wondering if I'd be able to tolerate it. I didn't want to say anything to my wife who was next to me, because for the 814 days prior to that, all I was talking about was the Bronco ... and if I was having buyers remorse, it would have been a BAD situation LOL.. I immediately started looking at what options were out there to soften the ride of the Sasquatch package... then I finally decided to check the tire pressure... and realized that they were at 39 - COLD... they'd get up to 43-44 warm, which was intolerable. dropping to 34-35 made a huge difference. I also think the suspension has softened up as I've driven it too.

Kinda had the same experience. We were driving from the dealership and I could feel every little crack in the highway. It felt like the tires had way too much air in them. When we got to the hotel that night, I checked them and they were close to 50psi. Evidently the dealership did not check them.