You got that right, extra tall bead lock rib designed for airing down not popping the tire off the bead. Inboard bead not so bad, outboard Damnnn. Try breaking the bead it's an experience you'll never forget if dismounting and mounting your own tyres. Michelin tyres nothing special. I have seen between 46 and 52 psi seating pressures even with tyre mounting lube, cleaned rim bead and seating lip spotless. Lube a white cream in gallon plastic buckets from a local tyre shop equipment supplier. Wait for it, wait them boom a check your shorts moment. .....~~=o&o>......
Airing down 19" tires
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You got that right, extra tall bead lock rib designed for airing down not popping the tire off the bead. Inboard bead not so bad, outboard Damnnn. Try breaking the bead it's an experience you'll never forget if dismounting and mounting your own tyres. Michelin tyres nothing special. I have seen between 46 and 52 psi seating pressures even with tyre mounting lube, cleaned rim bead and seating lip spotless. Lube a white cream in gallon plastic buckets from a local tyre shop equipment supplier. Wait for it, wait them boom a check your shorts moment. .....~~=o&o>......
hatch
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Well, that's really good to hear. Certainly helps resolve worries about breaking a bead when airing down 19s. Doesn't help w/ concerns about sidewall damage when airing down 19s, but something is better than nothing!
manoftaste
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I have driven my LR3 and LR4 a LOT on the sand for the past 14 years. I have to air down.
If I go out at 42/36 psi I get stuck in soft sand. If it's really soft, it happens almost immediately. I'm talking soft fine beach sand when it hasn't rained in a while...
...so, now I always air down. If I think the beach is pretty firm I'll go down to the low 22-24. If I just want to be safe side I'll drop them all to 19-20 and not worry about just about anything. If I get stuck, I drop them to 15-16, put it in 4Low and I can drive right out.
When I say "stuck" I can tell when the truck is digging itself down so I stop before I'm resting on my frame. Then I drop the pressure, make sure all 4 wheels have a clear path by removing sand from in front of them, put it in 4Low and ease out. Works every time. In 14 years I have only needed a beach pull out once.
When I first used to drop the air down I would worry about the tire rolling off the rim on the road when I went around turns. I mentioned it to my mechanic and he commented on how hard it is to break a bead on our wheels, and not to worry about it. So, now when I have a beach vacation, and I'm driving every day, I just drop the air down on the first day and leave it there for the week. I don't leave it below 20, and I'm not typically driving over 50mph on pavement, but have never had any issues related to tire wear or anything. I know driving around that low isn't recommended, but it takes a while to air down and air up if you do it every time you get on/off the sand, and I have not had any issues.
Once you have driven the truck on the sand a bit you'll start to get a feel for when it's working hard and when it's driving easy. When I can tell it's working more than it should, I drop the air further and the thing feels like a dune buggy floating along the tops. Very cool. 5,000 lbs on 19" rims. Amazing.
That's my take, anyway.
Very, very informative. Thank you.
With zero experience in on beach driving, I got stuck once only forty or fifty feet into the sand. The sand was slightly firm/wet on the surface but dry underneath. I had gone in with proper factory spec 36/42 on my '13 with stock contis. Tried every TR mode and rocking back and forth, would clear the sand away around the tires but a few inches of progress and all corners would start to dig again. Finally a lifeguard on one of those Ford Rangers pickup type of 4x4 truck showed up and asked me to air down to about 16 psi and truck rolled right out like nothing has ever happened and all the way thru to the pavement without a hiccup.
Drove to the nearest gas station to air up a mile or so away but very slowly as I was worried about stressing the sidewalls.
Fun times and lesson learned
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toddjb122
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Don't worry about the sidewalls. They'll handle it. Air down, have fun, tires will survive.
hatch
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I like that attitude. That said, there's been a lot of conflicting opinions on this one.
toddjb122
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I like that attitude. That said, there's been a lot of conflicting opinions on this one.
I can only speak from personal experience on this one, but I always get very good tire life, even with my beach driving process mentioned in a long post above. Obviously, a sidewall blowout at highway speeds would be a bad thing, but I honestly have not seen an impact on the outside of the tire, or at the end of their life when they are taken off the rims and I inspect them from the inside. Note, after a beach week you will notice abrasions outside the tire since the contact pattern is different, but that goes away quickly when you're back home and have been through rain and washes.Also, of course I'm not inspecting them under a microscope, and yeah, I could have just gotten lucky. But the sidewall rubber is pretty durable by design and if this is an occasional air-down you go through on vacation once in a while... you're okay.
That said, my driving is all sand. The rock crawlers who are scraping the sides of the tire up against pointy things, well, that's another dynamic I have no experience with.
YMMV
I like that attitude. That said, there's been a lot of conflicting opinions on this one.
There haven't been conflicting opinions that I've seen with regard to blowing a bead, or even just airing down on a beach.
But I'd never air down the tires available for a 19" wheel on the rocks.
hatch
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That's what I've read, mostly, from those that have responded in detail, but the poll suggests otherwise ... several folks that say they'd never air down at all, some only to 25 lbs (even on sand), etc.
I will say I do feel more confident than I did before starting the thread in regards to airing down 19s on sand.
Bead lock rims research and testing results I investigated. Don't shoot me because these tests were performed on my ("old POS antique 95 D1"). A 5 spd with warmed over 4.6 engine a street only vehicle. Factory stance, HD springs, a lot stiffer anti-roll bars with poly bushings.
Last time ever having a tire shop dismount a tire on a horizontal mounted tire machine with single shoe applying pressure from the bottom, they warped the rim of 5 spoke design This warp noticed by checking the balance before the dismount as the rim spun like a top. After the dismount, new tire mounted the rim wobbled on the balance machine. Plain as day they had warped my rim. Caught the rim by the shoe rim wobbling with both beads in unison. Replacement check for $100 rim replacement locating a like new looking used rim.
Took that warped rim, mounted it on the Bridgeport and milled the face it at the hub contact area, now a straight true running rim used as a spare. Took that rim and removed that nasty outboard and now much less off the inboard safety, outboard bead down to zero and flush with the rim. Remounted the original half worn Michelin of 255/65-16 tire. Mounted it on the front of the D1, kept airing down to 18 psi then the excitement happened. Parking lot circles tightening up at app 20 mph finally felt the tread folding under now riding up 1 1/2" up on the sidewall by the scuff marks. That rim with no bead lock stayed seated on the rim. Granted a fully inflated tire drifting into a curb impact on the street can possibly break or unseat a bead with loss of air. By then those independent suspensions links would have already been wadded up with less of a side force impact. Solid axles way stronger with trouble free alignments. After this experiment replaced the new Michelin back onto the test mule rim, it's now a second backup spare. A friend with his 96 D1 was present during this experiment and had me reduce the outboard bead lock height on his D1's rims to what a normal street rim has as he's also a street plus light ranch off road road duty. He also collects several flats a year this why I reduced his beads allowing him DIY tire dismount patch repairs. A 16" rim's circumference is 102 inches x 18 psi, that's 3,619 psi side pressure seating the tire onto the rim at 18 psi. Deflate to a whopping 22 psi your at 4,423 psi of bead retaining side force before retaining action by the bead lock has been added. If you can achieve higher lateral traction forces in the dirt or sand than this dry asphalt test down to 18 psi i'll be impressed unless your riding on sticky NASCAR tires......~~=o&o>......
Last time ever having a tire shop dismount a tire on a horizontal mounted tire machine with single shoe applying pressure from the bottom, they warped the rim of 5 spoke design This warp noticed by checking the balance before the dismount as the rim spun like a top. After the dismount, new tire mounted the rim wobbled on the balance machine. Plain as day they had warped my rim. Caught the rim by the shoe rim wobbling with both beads in unison. Replacement check for $100 rim replacement locating a like new looking used rim.
Took that warped rim, mounted it on the Bridgeport and milled the face it at the hub contact area, now a straight true running rim used as a spare. Took that rim and removed that nasty outboard and now much less off the inboard safety, outboard bead down to zero and flush with the rim. Remounted the original half worn Michelin of 255/65-16 tire. Mounted it on the front of the D1, kept airing down to 18 psi then the excitement happened. Parking lot circles tightening up at app 20 mph finally felt the tread folding under now riding up 1 1/2" up on the sidewall by the scuff marks. That rim with no bead lock stayed seated on the rim. Granted a fully inflated tire drifting into a curb impact on the street can possibly break or unseat a bead with loss of air. By then those independent suspensions links would have already been wadded up with less of a side force impact. Solid axles way stronger with trouble free alignments. After this experiment replaced the new Michelin back onto the test mule rim, it's now a second backup spare. A friend with his 96 D1 was present during this experiment and had me reduce the outboard bead lock height on his D1's rims to what a normal street rim has as he's also a street plus light ranch off road road duty. He also collects several flats a year this why I reduced his beads allowing him DIY tire dismount patch repairs. A 16" rim's circumference is 102 inches x 18 psi, that's 3,619 psi side pressure seating the tire onto the rim at 18 psi. Deflate to a whopping 22 psi your at 4,423 psi of bead retaining side force before retaining action by the bead lock has been added. If you can achieve higher lateral traction forces in the dirt or sand than this dry asphalt test down to 18 psi i'll be impressed unless your riding on sticky NASCAR tires......~~=o&o>......
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