[want33s]

Myles wrote:

So I'm going to double island on saturday in my zuk with 235 all terrains.. will have 2 adults in it and a bit of gear.. i was planning on taking i down to 12psi but after reading all this im thinking ill just go down to 18 psi? I'm also thinking ill take it up from 22psi to 25ish psi for the highway drive up?

Miles the tyre placard on your car recommends 20-22psi for road use. Any more than that will increase the harshness of the ride and possibly wear the centre of your tyres.
People have firm ideas about pressures for sand driving but every piece of sand "road" is different.
You will get onto the North Shore without deflating and you will get all the way up the beach at low tide without deflating but if you want to get over to Rainbow Bay via the Leisha Track or use the Freshwater Track then I'd suggest you go down to at least 12 or maybe even 10 psi.

[Myles]

Aight cool so soft choppy stuff - 12psi or less depending how soft.. Awesome

[want33s]

Yeah remember that 20psi down to 10 is only a 50% pressure reduction...
Guys with Patrols/Cruisers often run 40psi on road and as little as 14 off road... Thats almost 65% reduction.

[royce]

Remeber too to lower you go the slower you go, lower pressure creates a lot of heat in the tyre and it will fail it you travel at high speed without pumping them up 1st

and you stand a lot more chance of blowing a bead and rolling it when you chose to do silly buggers on a nice wide looking bit of sand

[steve]

royce wrote:

Remeber too to lower you go the slower you go, lower pressure creates a lot of heat in the tyre and it will fail it you travel at high speed without pumping them up 1st

yeah, and ya might get the death wobbles if you don't pump them up after the beach

[zukenutter]

Myles wrote:

So I'm going to double island on saturday

We'll be up there camping this weekend. Keep an eye out for us. We'll probably be hiding behind a dune though.

[Myles]

Aight cool, will keep an eye out for ya My boss is camping at double island this weekend aswell so hoping to catch up with him in his navara should be good.. I'm stating at mooloolaba all weekend so I'll probably go up to double island on Sunday aswell depending what the weathers like.. Hoping to see lots of zuks

[Myles]

Edit: posted the same thing twice... Silly iPhones

[SuziBlu]

steve wrote:

royce wrote:

Remeber too to lower you go the slower you go, lower pressure creates a lot of heat in the tyre and it will fail it you travel at high speed without pumping them up 1st

yeah, and ya might get the death wobbles if you don't pump them up after the beach

I am not advocating people drive with low tyre pressures, but when I first got my lil toy, very quickly things altered in it, naturally, and when the claws went on, I thought, sweet, no need to pump them up from sand pressure.

I only take it on the road to get to the offroad zone, 95% of the time that is only 9k on the blacktop.

I ran suzi at 5psi for ages till I saw a brand new set of claws and thought, shit, much more tred than mine, damit.

So now I pump them up, I used to drive at about 60K @ 5psi, no drama, no wobbles, steering was quite direct, so I had no thoughts of rolling a tyre or it being a danger to me or anyone on the road.

It is heavier to steer on the blacktop at low pressures, but thats really only on the street and turning street corners, on the road, you do not notice it, fuel takes a bit of an upward trend, but then fuel is not a consideration in a toy as I see it.

Even the very light weight of a suzi will wear tyres at low pressure quite quickly when on the black stuff.

[Bruce]

steve wrote:

royce wrote:

Remeber too to lower you go the slower you go, lower pressure creates a lot of heat in the tyre and it will fail it you travel at high speed without pumping them up 1st

yeah, and ya might get the death wobbles if you don't pump them up after the beach

Yes you were heading all over the road hey. LOL

[steve]

not sure, everything went blury

[Reubs]

SuziBlu wrote:

So now I pump them up, I used to drive at about 60K @ 5psi, no drama, no wobbles, steering was quite direct, so I had no thoughts of rolling a tyre or it being a danger to me or anyone on the road.

It is heavier to steer on the blacktop at low pressures, but thats really only on the street and turning street corners, on the road, you do not notice it, fuel takes a bit of an upward trend, but then fuel is not a consideration in a toy as I see it.

...Also should be mentioned that 5PSI in a 31x10.50" is VERY different to 5PSI in a 205/70 or even 235/75...

[Myles]

Yeah, I'm not game to go under 10psi with 235-75's on stocko rims lol. Hopefully I won't need to..

[Reubs]

Myles wrote:

Yeah, I'm not game to go under 10psi with 235-75's on stocko rims lol. Hopefully I won't need to..

I don't think you would need to lower 235s to less than the placard at all ever on a 'regular' beach. You drive a Sierra, not a big heavy Range Rover.

You also need to remember most of the beach at DI is zoned at 80km/h. Unnecessarily low pressures and speed doesn't mix.

I don't think it is a good idea to let all of the air out for the entire drive. Try going to 20PSI (I ran my 29s on about 23-25PSI on-road). If you have trouble go lower, but I think you will find you don't need to.

[SuziBlu]

Reubs wrote:

Myles wrote:

Yeah, I'm not game to go under 10psi with 235-75's on stocko rims lol. Hopefully I won't need to..

I don't think you would need to lower 235s to less than the placard at all ever on a 'regular' beach. You drive a Sierra, not a big heavy Range Rover.

You also need to remember most of the beach at DI is zoned at 80km/h. Unnecessarily low pressures and speed doesn't mix.

I don't think it is a good idea to let all of the air out for the entire drive. Try going to 20PSI (I ran my 29s on about 23-25PSI on-road). If you have trouble go lower, but I think you will find you don't need to.

Isnt 20psi what the tyre placard states for the toy cars.

[Myles]

Mmm... Yeah I run 22psi normally.. I guess well have to wait and see how we go. I'll probably just stay on 22psi and see how that performs... Will be weird sand driving in the zuk. I'm used to the 2.5 tonne delica with 32inch hts at 20 psi.. It will also be weird driving on the beach withought dad and all his experience... It will also be weird driving a manual in the sand.. :O haha this will be a huge adventure LOL

[zukenutter]

You'll be fine. Don't forget to lock the hubs. LOL

[TASSIETOYUKI]

zukenutter wrote:

You'll be fine. Don't forget to lock the hubs. LOL

Thats one of the reason's behind me running drive flanges ...




That and my bastard mates that like to put one hub in or one out when you are not looking

[zukenutter]

Did you go up there on the weekend Myles? We arrived on the beach at about 6:30pm on Friday night, the tide was still pretty high.

Now back to the topic.
I have been driving sand with and without trailers for over 20 years and on a few different types of tyres. The best tyres I've used on sand were BFG ATs. They actually had a little too much grip if that's possible. I've found that a mild patterned MT also works quite well but will need a little more air out of it than the AT.

This trip to DI was the first I've done on my current tyres (Federal Couragia MTs). I have been so impressed with these tyres in the bush, massive amounts of grip and seem to be made very tough. Sadly these qualities were it's downfall on the sand. 12PSI is the lowest I usually have to go for soft sand but was finding these to have such a stiff sidewall that I had to keep dumping air.

When we were ready to drive back up the main cutting to exit the beach there were 3 vehicles bogged in the soft sand and 2 others bogging themselves trying to rescue the 3. I wasn't worried about getting up the sand but did not want risk not making it with these new tyres so I dropped to 9PSI all round. As I drove up the slope I discovered that there were 2 more vehicles stuck further up and had to drive up the steeper side slope to get around. I made it over without incident but was not as sure footed as usual. Another couple of PSI and they'll be fine next time.

P.S. I had the camper trailer on the back too.


Here's a couple of pics including the Navara bogging itself trying to pull the hilux who was in 2WD. I mentioned to him he was only spinning rear wheels so he slipped it into 4H and said something about not being able to get Low Range.

[lordviper556]

i was out bush a few weeks after i got my car and i noticed that my ride was really bumpy so i pulled up and grabed the pressure gauge off my mate to let my tyres down. checked the fronts i almost didnt belive it so it did it about 3 times but they were both @ 50psi!! i think the rears were about 40. let them all down to 30 and the ride improved so much havent been on the beach yet but cant wait to get up there.

[zukenutter]

I run my 235s at 22 PSI on road at the moment. Service centres and tyre shops always seem to put way too much pressure in them.

[zukenutter]

Hey Myles, how'd you go?

[09JimnySierra]

Thanks for the tips on tyre pressures, didn't even think to check the pressure on a brand new car. I mean it's had the pre-delivery service and the 1000k service and the tyre pressures where missed both times....WTF..anyways i checked them this morning and all four were at 35psi, dropped them to the 23 @ front and 26 @ rear as per the placard and felt little less like a jet pilot constantly trying to point the nose in the right direction and more like i was driving a car, just makes me wonder how often this happens??

[zukenutter]

09JimnySierra wrote:

just makes me wonder how often this happens??

Every time I've had dealer service

[steak_knife]

zukenutter wrote:

09JimnySierra wrote:

just makes me wonder how often this happens??

Every time I've had dealer service

That's cause you don't come to me!!

[zukenutter]

I've reverted to DIY but i'd trust ya stek

[steak_knife]

zukenutter wrote:

I've reverted to DIY but i'd trust ya stek

Oh tar!!!!



Fooled you then!!!

[woody1]

Hey guy's, I'm headen up to Blacky's tomorrow morning for a fun day with me family and 3 other family's. We will be hanging around the creek most of the day and let all the kids swim there heart out so if any of you are out that way tomorrow call in and say hello ah.
Look out for these

And a couple of dogs.

Cheers.
Woody

[mnemonix]

Will hopefully be out there tomorrow arvo myself if I finish my repairs.
Smashed the pinion gear in my rear diff climbing the dunes backing onto the creek a couple of days ago.

[zukenutter]

mnemonix wrote:

Will hopefully be out there tomorrow arvo myself if I finish my repairs.
Smashed the pinion gear in my rear diff climbing the dunes backing onto the creek a couple of days ago.

How'd that happen?