You might not have put much thought into the air pressure that you run in your 4×4 tyres, but you really should. The wrong tyre pressures can create all sorts of issues. Let us take a look at 4 things you should know about tyre pressure in your 4×4 vehicle, and how it affects handling and safety.
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Tyre pressures are critical for your safety
The only thing that makes contact with the ground on your 4×4 is four very small handprints of rubber at the bottom of each tyre (sometimes less than four if you are off-road!). The pressure inside the tyre directly relates to how well that small surface area can make your vehicle brake, steer and accelerate.
If you are running the wrong tyre pressures, your traction can be severely compromised, and that’s a big problem. Beyond this, tyre pressures that are too low can damage tyres and eventually lead to a failure, which is not something you want to experience. It’s expensive, dangerous and can leave you in a difficult situation.
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4×4 tyre pressures change often
Did you know that the pressure you put in your tyres doesn’t always stay the same when you pump them up? It actually changes, and often. Through your day-to-day braking, steering and acceleration, tyres create friction. They also flex up and down on the sidewalls, and this generates heat. With heat comes expansion, and as a result, tyre pressure increases. The colder the air inside the tyre, the lower the tyre pressure.
If you check your tyres after being parked for a night, they might read 2.4 bar. Hop in the car, and drive for more than half an hour and check them again. There’s a pretty good chance that they will now read somewhere between 2.6 and 2.8 bar, and that’s completely normal.
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The right pressure makes driving more comfortable
One of the most important reasons for removing air on rougher roads is its greater cushioning effect. As the driver, or a passenger, you can notice tyre pressure adjustments. Corrugations which were bone jarring and jaw clattering become bearable, especially when paired with a suitable speed (that is both comfortable and safe!).
Beyond that though, if you feel more comfortable, so does your 4×4. Spare a thought for your suspension moving up and down thousands of times an hour, doing its best to reduce the force passed onto the vehicle itself. Your tyres do the same thing, helping to stop those nasty corrugations being passed upwards through your 4×4 and to the occupants. Every nut, bolt, bush and electrical connection takes a huge beating off road, and by lowering air tyre pressure you cushion and look after every part of your vehicle better.
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It affects your traction and risk of punctures
Correct tyre pressures improve your traction and reduce the chances of getting punctures. When off road, traction is imperative for safety and getting where you need to go. No matter what modifications your vehicle has, if you don’t have traction to make the car move where you want it to, it’s all in vain. When you reduce pressure, the sidewall can flex more, which distributes the weight of your vehicle over a larger patch of ground, increasing your traction.
By removing some air, it allows the tyres to mould around the sharper objects instead of popping when they come in contact. A lot of people refer to a balloon, which at half pressure can be touched against something sharp without too much of an issue. Pump it up all the way and do the same thing though, and the result is a big bang. Tyres behave in the same way.
Please note that as you lower tyre pressures, the sidewall bags out, and you expose more of it (which can increase the chances of a puncture to the sidewall). It’s imperative you deflate enough, but not too much air from your tyres.
Tyre pressures are super critical
At the end of the day, your tyre pressure in your 4×4 vehicle is probably the most important factor that you easily have within your control. They need to be correct for the tar based on your vehicle’s tyre size, type and weight. Once you leave the tar roads, you should be reducing them about 30% for rough corrugated roads, and possibly more for mud, sand and rock work, but this is at working, or hot tyre pressures. Always remember to reinflate to the correct pressures when you return to the tar roads.
