Airing Down?

[LibertyFever]

I'm curious, do you guys air down your tires before entering a trail and if so how low?

My experience in the past with my Liberty Sport is that when I air down I end up lowering my Jeep reducing the clearance under my Jeep and a Liberty on stock wheels doesn't have much ground clearance.

 

[tjkj2002]

I air down for trails here in CO,gives a better ride and traction.I go from 43psi to 10-14psi,depending on trail.Yes you loose some clearance but the added traction is well worth it.Get some good offroad tires and they will last longer at lower psi,street tires(like the OEM tires) are not for off pavement driving.

 

[J-Thompson]

Yeah if you are running OE style tires then it is not really worth it
get some good tires and then air down ,I like MT's of any brand
keeping with a load range D or E in a radial tire will allow you to run lower
than with a C ,but only about 2 psi or so
bias ply is another story
you can also run slightly lower pressure with narrower rims and wider tires

On the KJ we have 245/75 MTR's on OE wheels and easily run 14 psi
on the TJ I have 31 X 11.5 Super Swamper LTB's ,bias ply, on OE wheels and I can hardly see a difference between 12 psi ,trail pressure, and 26 psi ,street pressure

 

[offrovering]

I'm curious, do you guys air down your tires before entering a trail and if so how low?

My experience in the past with my Liberty Sport is that when I air down I end up lowering my Jeep reducing the clearance under my Jeep and a Liberty on stock wheels doesn't have much ground clearance.

what tires do you have?

 

[JeepJeepster]

Yea, I never air'ed down my stock 235/65/17 tires since the side walls were already so small. Those tires had really thin side walls and Im surprised I never cut them down.

With my yokos I only air down to ~25 psi. Never really had any problems at that psi.

 

[LibertyFever]

what tires do you have?

Yeah, I've got the wimpy OEM tires, P215/75/R16's. I'm considering buying a set of 245/75/16's since I've already seen a few lifted Libby's with them on.

I know from experience that finding the right tire pressure for your particular Jeep & trail conditions is tricky, best learned by experimentation. What works for one Jeep won't work well for another.

This past winter I did a lot of snow wheelin in my YJ. I found I got the best traction when I aired down my 33" tires to as little as four pounds.

 

[offrovering]

Yeah, I've got the wimpy OEM tires, P215/75/R16's. I'm considering buying a set of 245/75/16's since I've already seen a few lifted Libby's with them on.

I know from experience that finding the right tire pressure for your particular Jeep & trail conditions is tricky, best learned by experimentation. What works for one Jeep won't work well for another.

This past winter I did a lot of snow wheelin in my YJ. I found I got the best traction when I aired down my 33" tires to as little as four pounds.

then don't air down with the tires you have. sidewalls are too thin, youll blow out if you air down much.

you could just get some 225/75's without lift, more AT tread, air those down since they have better sidewall, and be all set. wider isnt always better but I am not going down that discussion again.