I'm headed to the Sand dunes in Colorado in a few weeks for a camping trip and I've never aired down my tires for sand. Do any of you sand/beach drivers have some advice? I have BFG 265 75 R16's on my 4runner.

Oh, one other thing; after crossing the sand, I'll be back on dirt and rocks to get to the camp site. Should I pump back up or will I okay being aired down?

Thanks!

 

when i wheel as pismo dunes i usually air down to 12-15psi. when driving in town during the trip i'm usually lazy and only air back up to ~20psi.

even airing down a little bit more in sand can make a big difference. the lowest i've gone is 5psi, when i was towing someone uphill in some soft sand.

 

I normally air down to 20psi when driving in the Sand in the Outer Banks. When I'm off I just take it easy until I need to air back up.

 

I usually run 8 to 10 psi in sand. With your trip back to camp you could just take it easy over the rocks and you shouldnt have a problem.

I read a test somewhere that proved that if you decrese the pressure by half you will go twice as far up a sand hill, this was running street pressure and then running half of that. I would air down to 15psi maximum and go lower from there depending on your rigs weight ect.

 

i went with 15 psi in my explorer with 31s....

this did great in the sand however a couple times i blew the beads....

when i ran 20 psi, i never lsot a bead and to me, it felt like the ride was the same

jsut a note, in my yota, i run 20 psi all the time....

 

I have some tips and links to airing down for sand driving on my web page:

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/PismoBea...#DrivingInSand

Specifically, see the link to "Tire Pressure for 4 Wheeling". Excellent technique outlined there for determ ining your vehicle's sand pressure. At Pismo, I started off at 10 psi and ended up around 2 psi (33x15.50 tires).

 

You guys rock!!!!

Thanks for the info. I'm not concerned now...I'll go at about 10-15psi and see how it goes. I just didn't want to blow the bead out in the middle of nowhere...if you know what I mean...

Thanks again...

 

15 was fine on my explorer throughout the day, but i popped the beads several times when i went to do donuts in the sand wash.....

 

You definitely don't need to air down for the Medano road unless you want a softer ride for the other sections. However, for what is open this time of year (about a mile into the Preserve), it really isn't worth the time. You really don't need 4WD, either.

Incidentally, I spent the weekend down there. The creek is flowing real nice right now.

 

That explains the popped beads then...

All of us always ran 8-10 on the sand and never had a problem, that's 20 rigs over a 20 year span. Even doing donuts actually.... The difference between 15+ and 10 or less is astounding.