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Found out I was airing down my tires all wrong on a trip to Moab last month
I've been airing down my 35s to 18 psi for years thinking I was doing it right for off road traction. But on a trail called Poison Spider Mesa in Moab last month a guy in a built Jeep pulled up next to me while I was airing back up at the trailhead. He asked what psi I ran and I told him 18. He just laughed and said I was basically riding on balloons and that I should be down around 12 psi for that kind of rocky terrain. I told him I was worried about popping a bead but he showed me how his beadlock wheels let him run 8 psi without issues. Even without beadlocks he said 12 is totally fine if you take it easy on sharp rocks. I tried 12 psi on the next trail and the difference was night and day. The tires actually conformed to the rocks instead of bouncing off everything. Has anyone else been running too much pressure and not realized it?
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the_brian27d ago
Roll your eyes at me if you want @rubys80 but I gotta say I think you guys are overthinking this whole thing. Ive been running 20 psi on 33s for years in the Sierras and never had a problem that made me rethink my life. Yeah sure softer tires feel nicer but its not like running 12 psi turns your rig into some unstoppable rock crawler. If youre not shearing off sidewalls or denting rims what exactly are you gaining that matters that much? Seems like a lot of hype over a few psi.
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Man I felt this one hard. I was running 20 psi in my 33s for years on trails in Colorado thinking I was being smart about it. Then a buddy finally talked me into dropping to 14 on a rocky section near Ouray and I couldn't believe how much smoother it rode. Made me feel pretty dumb for all those years of bouncing around like a jackhammer.
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