So, you’re cruising down the white sand beaches of Mexico inyour truck with a Diesel Turbocharger, and all your buddies are flying by. What’s going on? How come they seem to befloating on the sand while you’re struggling? They have exactly the samevehicle as you, right down to the exact same Diesel Injector. The answer is probably tire pressure.You may have heard people say that it is good to lower yourtire pressure anytime you go off-roading, but might have never known why. Youprobably don’t want to ask, because not knowing something about off-roadingwould make you seem unmanly. Well, no need to wonder anymore, because I amabout to tell you. The answer is a simple one word solution, FOOTPRINT. Justthink of a camel. Those things havebigger feet than Shaq, and Mother Nature gave the camel those aircraft carriersfor a reason. The bigger the foot, thelarger the area to distribute the weight of the camel, which keeps the camel ontop of the sand instead of sinking into it.
When you let air out of you tires it increases the size ofyour cars footprint. More of your tiretouches the sand. When you do this youmay think that more of the tire touches in width just by looking at it, but itactually increases the length of the footprint. With this increased length your friends will no longer be leaving you inthe dust… or should I say sand?Driving in the sand is not the only time when lowering yourtire pressure optimizes your ride. Anytime you are off-road it will help, especially bumpy or rockyroads. When you go over a rock, a fullyinflated tire has to climb it. Even a small rock can cause the car to thinkit’s about to go up a steep hill. Just driving over a 2x4 piece of wood createsthe same increase in angle as a hill with a 30 degree incline. When you lower your tire pressure the tiredoesn’t climb the rock or piece of wood, it engulfs it. Your car stays flat on the road while yourtire eats up the rock and spits it out the back.
Remember when you get back on a hard surface to reflate yourtires. Tires with low pressure easilybend and break wheels, and driving too fast could overheat your tires. Thelower your pressures are set the lower the speed you should drive.
