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Old 03-07-2016, 03:23 PM   #11
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If I am planning to be offroad for more than a short while or I know the trail is sandy I will air down to 25 psi. I only run 40psi fully aired up so it doesn't take long.

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Old 03-07-2016, 04:31 PM   #12
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I would think they would have to tell you to run them w/i specs just for liability purposes.
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Old 03-07-2016, 04:53 PM   #13
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The takeaway for me was that if we choose to use the tires this way, we are kind of on our own, and outside of the design envelop for durability and reliability.
I think that BFG designs and tests for scenarios where people air down. I just think they their lawyers and accountants don't want them telling people to do so, because, of course, airing down means we're getting someplace that we need to air down, which is much more likely to cause damage to the tires or vehicle.
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Old 03-08-2016, 06:59 AM   #14
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This is one of the reasons I buy my tires from America's Tire Co. (along w Discount Tire) I get the certificates that offer free replacement on any on or off road hazard. I have had two replaced so far from non-repairable off road damage on my 4Runner. The certs are not cheap but neither are oversize BFG AT/ KO's , they are the only company I know that offers this for off road damage.
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Old 03-08-2016, 07:24 AM   #15
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Out of curiosity, I called BF Goodrich customer support line today, and asked if they supported the practice of airing down when driving off-pavement. I was not surprised when they told me the tires should never be used with pressures below the vehicle manufacturer's specifications (the placard).
As a representative of the company you're not going to get much more than the standard response. They don't want to open themselves up to liability by talking outside of the specs.

If I'm going to be on washboard for any sort of distance I want to cover, I air down to 35 psi. It's like driving on a waterbed instead of in a paint mixer. As has been said, much easier on you and your rig, not to mention the noise reduction.
When I get to the beach, I'll keep it at 35, but did get very stuck last October in deep, coarse sand/crushed shell down in Baja that took us an afternoon of digging and winching to a buried spare tire to get out. Once I took it down to 10 psi we ran up and down that beach with no problem.
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Old 03-08-2016, 09:03 AM   #16
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In hind sight I have never regretted taking the time to air down and back up. When in the van I seem to measure time in days not minutes so the time involved has always proved to be a nice break to stop and take in the location before moving on. I only become aware of "is it worth it to stop" when I've traveled with ambitious 4x4 folks that are in a rush to "get to camp", which is not very often. I suggest to take time and experiment with airing down on your particular rig. Find what works well for your set up. Most importantly take time, stressing over a schedule has hurt or killed many people.

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Old 03-09-2016, 01:57 PM   #17
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I typically run about 55-60 psi in my tires on the road, and when I go off road, I put them down to around 40. Most of my driving is on gravel roads in Baja when I do this, and my concern about going lower, is that the lower pressure creates more heat, due to the sidewall flex, and therefore more risk of failure. Although it would be a far more comfortable ride to air down to 25 psi, it is not worth the risk to me for a potential tire failure, even with the two spares that I bring. I just don't want to go through the hassle of changing a tire, if a bit more discomfort will give me more durability.
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Old 03-09-2016, 03:03 PM   #18
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I have not used less than 25 lbs in the van tires. I have not been in any really tough situations with the van yet. I have aired down much lower in my lighter 4Runner. Once I was beginning to get stuck in soft sand after going down to 20 lbs. I stopped immediately and went down to 5 pounds and the truck popped right out, and there were no further losses in traction and floatation. I also think that heat is a minor issue when aired way down because speed is usually reduced accordingly. I would not go way low in pressure then fly down the road, fun as that might be.
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Old 03-09-2016, 03:28 PM   #19
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I have not used less than 25 lbs in the van tires. I have not been in any really tough situations with the van yet. I have aired down much lower in my lighter 4Runner. Once I was beginning to get stuck in soft sand after going down to 20 lbs. I stopped immediately and went down to 5 pounds and the truck popped right out, and there were no further losses in traction and floatation. I also think that heat is a minor issue when aired way down because speed is usually reduced accordingly. I would not go way low in pressure then fly down the road, fun as that might be.
My speeds on the roads in Baja actually go up when I air down.
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Old 03-31-2016, 05:20 AM   #20
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You guys who are "airing down" to anything over 20psi are wasting time. I'm usually at 14psi on graded roads, and instantly down to 12psi on ANY sort of trail. When I'm in rocks, deep sand, or mud...it's at 10psi. Never had a tire problem (van weighs around 7000lbs.)

I often drive 50-60 miles at 20psi on the highway. I keep my speed below 60mph.

Try 17psi once and you'll see what I mean.

Here's my van at 10psi, and I've done 100's of miles like this (just last week!)
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