Prado Tyre pressures offroad

[pradokakadudavid Member Find all posts View Profile Close pradokakadudavid]

Hi all.

As I am new to this 4x4 stuff I seek some advice re sand tyre pressures for my 2016 Prado Kakadu. On advice from my mates, I have bought two sets of Sturn deflators which are great for saving the poor old back when bending over to deflate tyres. Quite a luxury really. They come standard with a tyre pressure deflation of 18 psi which seems fine for most general off-roading in easy sand terrain.

They are presently available on-line from Super Cheap Auto for $76.50 per pair which is a large saving on the normal shop price of more than $90.

Re the second set of deflators, which I wish to preset to a lower deflation setting, do members think that a pre-set pressure of 14psi would be a good setting? I do not wish to go too low as I wish to avoid the possibility of tyre/rim separation.

So given these pressures above, I would be setting off with the deflators set for 18psi and the second set at 14psi.

How does this sound?

Cheers.

David

[LeighW Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close LeighW]

14 is pretty low, I generally start around 22psi and adjust as required.

[krypto Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close krypto]

Depends what terrain we are talking about, soft sand 14psi is not that low.

[Stoo Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Stoo]

18 psi is a good starting pressure for most off road driving. If you wanted a second set for really soft sand and recovery situations, I'd go lower than 14. You aren't getting a dramatic increase in traction by dropping only 4 psi.
Personally when I get bogged at 18 psi, my next step is down to 10-12 psi. That is assuming you are carrying a compressor to re-inflate your tyres once you are out of strife.

[OldGreyFart Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close OldGreyFart]

With Toyo Off Country II AT I am using 35 psi around town, 40 on highway, 25 on formed gravel but rough roads and 20 off road.

Don't drive on sand.

[404pug Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close 404pug]

That is exactly what I have used on the 120 for years. As for sand, start at 18 and go down as needed [eg. about 15 on Big Red]. Remember that as pressure goes down so does speed.

[Goggo Member Find all posts View Profile Close Goggo]

25psi for me seems to work on the dirt or 18psi on the sand.

[pradokakadudavid Member Find all posts View Profile Close pradokakadudavid]

Thanks guys.

Seems to be a wide range of opinions on this.

It seems that the pre-set 18psi is about right for most situations so I will set the new Sturn deflators to 12psi once I confirm this with an instructor on the sand course i am going on in a few weeks.

We have some pretty soft sand on beaches over here in the west and especially in the Lancelin sand dunes.

Good advice from all so thanks.

Cheers.

David

[pradokakadudavid Member Find all posts View Profile Close pradokakadudavid]

Yep I have an on board mounted ARB compressor mounted under the bonnet permanently which is very convenient and easy for tyre re inflation. When I first started I used to let the tyres down manually and then pump them back up manually (with a compressor) but this is all too hard so the more automated gadgets are great (and lazy!!!!).

Cheers.

David.

[Limo Guy Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Limo Guy]

Thanks guys.

Seems to be a wide range of opinions on this.

It seems that the pre-set 18psi is about right for most situations so I will set the new Sturn deflators to 12psi once I confirm this with an instructor on the sand course i am going on in a few weeks.

We have some pretty soft sand on beaches over here in the west and especially in the Lancelin sand dunes.

Good advice from all so thanks.

Cheers.

David

On the skinnies on my old Troopy I ran 12psi, 8 to climb Calcup hill in summer, been to 4psi to get off a beach with incoming tide.
Once I fitted wider tyres 18psi nearly everywhere on beaches in W.A.
Before the fancy deflators, we used to remove the valve and when the tyre whistled screw it back in, result close to 18psi (always carried spare valves and all caps were valve removers) The other trick was to place a stick or tent peg in the sand 25mm from the tyre, let it down till sidewall touched.
Thankfully there are so many gadgets out there now making life easy.

[r4ndll Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close r4ndll]

Thanks guys.

Seems to be a wide range of opinions on this.

It seems that the pre-set 18psi is about right for most situations so I will set the new Sturn deflators to 12psi once I confirm this with an instructor on the sand course i am going on in a few weeks.

We have some pretty soft sand on beaches over here in the west and especially in the Lancelin sand dunes.

Good advice from all so thanks.

Cheers.

David

yes - a huge range of opinions - I'm not a big believer in letting down tires every time you hit the dirt... but that's just me.

As always, you will find you need to adjust just try different pressures to see what works but 18 should be fine.

With my Coopers I get by fine on 20-22psi around Fraser but my mate on BFG's in a Bravo had to go to 15 to stop getting bogged (could be more his driving style as well). But I found 17-18 worked better in Tasmania. My week in the High Country (in the dry) @32psi was fine.

[krypto Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close krypto]

One of the reasons for my cracked guard was probably being a bit lazy with tyre pressures on some really bad corrugations My mate who does the same track regularly with hard tyres also copped cracked guards

[SimpleSi Member Find all posts View Profile Close SimpleSi]

So given these pressures above, I would be setting off with the deflators set for 18psi and the second set at 14psi.

How does this sound?

Sounds like you have too much money. What would be the time saving to have 1 set of Stauns set to 18psi, and if needed (really only rare occasions), manually let another 4psi out of them?

[JimmyC Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close JimmyC]

If it's the length of time squatting that is the issue maybe consider a rapid deflator?
I usually run 30PSI on high speed dirt and straight to 20 in sand. My car usually sits around the 2800kg mark though...

[bigdan Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bigdan]

Why don't you just get a kwiky tyre deflator for $24.50 and a $7 camping chair to sit on for the 1-2 minutes it takes to put it on and deflate to the conditions required
http://www.4wdsupacentre.com.au/tyre...tor-kwiky.html