Prado Tyre pressures offroad

[Guest Close Guest]

I run 35 around town & HWY. 37 in wet on long trips. 26 on gravel rough stuff and keep my speed below 90. Beach anywhere from 24 Down.. Was at 8 PSI the other day on a particularly super soft section of the Coorong. Only car to make it through that day..

I find if I need to Air down to 18/20. I pull the valve out, then walk to the other side and pull that one.. By the time I get back the Air release tone changes slightly (deep whistle) I then stick valve back in and usually adjust down with my digital tyre inflator the last couple pounds.. Air release Noise seems to change at about 22.

[MacroP Member Find all posts View Profile Close MacroP]

I have my deflators set to 15-16pound - my idea is if I go down to 20 I might as well go to 15 pound as there is a lot a traction difference between these two pressures on soft sand even though it is only 5pound difference. It doesn't take much time to get from the standard tyre pressure (which is only 29PSI anyways) down to these settings. By the time I've put all 4 deflators on, the first one is ready to take back off. I've never found the need to remove my valves though I do carry spares. I have a small digital pressure gauge to double check things and put my Bluetooth wheel cap sensors back on to keep on eye on things when I'm fishing or whatever.

I'm down south and am always on the beach from Preston down to Busselton. Preston to Bunbury can be very soft at times and this pressure is a good compromise. Most times High-4 AWD is fine at these pressures. I rarely engage the centre diff lock (or low-range) on the sand and only ever engage the rear diff lock if I'm towing my camping trailer on the beach and taking off from a stop. I have a Kakadu as well. I also happily travel back on the highway at 15 pound with these tyres for a short while if I can't be bothered re-inflating.

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

For a little more dollars I get tubes put in my tyres, a bit more piece of mind.

[pradokakadudavid Member Find all posts View Profile Close pradokakadudavid]

Ha ha great advice and well deserved. I guess as a newby I have just copied what other mates have done so I will pass on the agro to them lol. Good advice as always in any case.

PS: Far better to waste my hard earned money on me rather than let my wife waste it on crap!

Cheers.

David.

[pradokakadudavid Member Find all posts View Profile Close pradokakadudavid]

Thanks Steve. Can you advise the advantages of getting tubes into your tubeless tyres. I would be interested to know.

Regards

David

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

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

Hello Dave,
I know you may be new to forum and new to 4 by 4, (and please this is a friendly comment so please don't misinterpret my post, this is a very friendly comment)..... but if only you knew the pages and pages and pages of discussion on this very topic, and the variety of opinionsabout tyres and tyre pressures.

The right answer, is there is no right answer..."it all depends"

It depends on the tyres you have, the terrain you are driving on, the speed you are driving, the load you are carrying, the temperature of your tyres (hot or cold), and if you have a tyre pump so you can pump the tyres back up again etc...and how you hold your tongue.

As a rough guide, I use a 75%, 50% rule, others don't, but that's fine....but it works for me. I use All terrain tyres of LT (Light truck) construction. I drive beaches, dirt, gravel and all over the place, and I have two sets of tyre deflaters. One set is set at approx 75% of the usual highway pressure, and I tend to use that on rough, rocky gravel roads, and another set is set at 50% of the highway pressure, and I use that on soft sand when beach driving or on the sand dunes in the desert.

So I have one set of tyre deflators set at around 32-34psi, and another set of deflators at about 20psi. I just haven't needed to go any lower than very that much at all. Some people do lower tyre pressures further regularly, but I haven't needed to, and it just means you have further to inflate, and if you go too low you start to loose ground clearance.

If I did lower the tyres as low as 14psi, it would be only to briefly, and I certainly wouldn't drive far or fast and I would personally want to pump the tryres up a bit again after I got myself out of a sandy bog.

Personally, and its only me, but I have rarely lowered pressures to 14psi, and yes I have been bogged, but rarely, and it is when I have stopped to help someone in a location where I didn't want to stop and lost momentum, or if I was lazy and didn't lower the tyre pressures in the first place for a short trip across soft sand ..but then its been a quick "max trax" extrication or a little bit of digging and I'm away anyway. I drive Fraser Island, Rainbow beach, Bribie Island, MOreton Island and Stradbroke island.

But...it all depends...and if you don't do any stony tracks, then maybe don't worry about the 75% pressure deflaters, and go with the lower pressure. Give it a go, but I would be careful at 14psi, as the tyre can roll off the rim, or the side wall can be more exposed to a puncture.

Have a scan through the forum and see if you can find some other discussions, because there has been pages and pages of banter on tyre pressures.

Let us know how you go.

[glen_ep Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close glen_ep]

Many times in the parking area of a meet, people will ask, what type pressure do you recommend today - I'd never answer without checking their vehicle first.

If everyone set them to, let's say 20 PSI for offroad, the difference in "bagging out" between each vehicle can be huge. I've seen Prado's on 17"/18" rims have results like below from 20 PSI... yet the second pic there's very little bagging out, that's mine on 17 PSI.

So my answer would be, for sand between 10-20 and offroad between 18-28 depending on conditions, tyres, rims, load, temps, etc

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

Many times in the parking area of a meet, people will ask, what type pressure do you recommend today - I'd never answer without checking their vehicle first.

If everyone set them to, let's say 20 PSI for offroad, the difference in "bagging out" between each vehicle can be huge. I've seen Prado's on 17"/18" rims have results like below from 20 PSI... yet the second pic there's very little bagging out, that's mine on 17 PSI.

So my answer would be, for sand between 10-20 and offroad between 18-28 depending on conditions, tyres, rims, load, temps, etc

There's very little bagging out in the second pic because the tyre doesn't look like it's under load and it's not the same perspective. But you are right, tyre construction and vehicle weight play a big role.

I also think driving style is a huge factor , I have a friend who does heaps of soft sand driving and can get through just about anything with pretty hard tyres while I get bogged. Difference is that he drives absolutely flat out whenever he is on sand while I'm probably too conservative.

[glen_ep Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close glen_ep]

There's very little bagging out in the second pic because the tyre doesn't look like it's under load and it's not the same perspective.

Incorrect. This is at the beginning of a steep drop off. The fronts are just starting to go down, which means there's slightly more weight on them than normal.

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

Incorrect. This is at the beginning of a steep drop off. The fronts are just starting to go down, which means there's slightly more weight on them than normal.

My mistake it's hard to tell from the photo,would be easier comparison if both photos were the same perspective

I was looking at the suspension which usually compresses under load.

[glen_ep Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close glen_ep]

You're right that these photos are not replicating exact same circumstances. I tried to find some level ones but seems air-down tyre shots isn't something I do, lol. However, I hoped these photos would help illustrate the point - that different tyres/rim profiles bag very differently, so what works for one vehicle setup won't necessarily work on another. The profile on mine are tall, whilst lower profie tyres (and perhaps different tyre construction), will bag very easily and if let down too far will be constantly exposing their sidewalls.

Here's another pic after the drop off.. Again, 17 PSI, very slight decent, but this time significantly more pressure on the front-passenger side. Finally bagging!

[120D4D Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close 120D4D]

Illustrating your point Glen or showing off!!

Nice shot mate...

[glen_ep Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close glen_ep]

lol could be both, but my thoughts during the first reply was that a picture is worth a thousand words

Or maybe it's just a Facebook thing...

[pradokakadudavid Member Find all posts View Profile Close pradokakadudavid]

All sounds like very good advice. Thanks.

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

Thanks Steve. Can you advise the advantages of getting tubes into your tubeless tyres. I would be interested to know.

Regards

David

Hi David

At low psi you can roll the bead of the rim tubeless, tube will keep the tyre up and push bead back on, well that's what we done in nz. This was one of the things your 4x4 had to have in many 4x4 clubs. Plus it is easy to blow a tyre back on to the rim with a tube, but its just the way we were brought up in NZ 4X4ing, cheers Steve.