Airing down

Snow Shovel · August 25, 2018

Looking for some advice. What air pressure is recommended to drive on the beach? Just driving out so we can set up camp for the day; do some surf fishing and exploring. Not high speed, high performance 4 wheeling.

I have a 2500HD, running 65 psi up front and 75 psi in the rear tires on the road.

Appreciate any input.

Mikey52 · August 25, 2018

Stock size tires?

Road tread? Mud Tires?

If sand on beach is hard, you probably don't have to, if it's really soft you'll probably get stuck either way.

Snow Shovel · August 25, 2018

Yes, they're stock tires. LT265/60R20.

Mid Atlantic beach, Assategue Island. Coarse sand, not like on the gulf coast.

Supreme Pizza · August 25, 2018

That's a fairly low profile tire, air pressure is not as much of a factor. You could drop them to 30 PSI, but my advice would be to just keep your speed up, and be careful with the brakes. I have driven a lot of different rigs on the beach before - trucks, cars, dirt bikes, buggies, quads, etc. As long as your moving at 15-20 mph, you wont get stuck. If you come to a stop, you might not get going again. Avoid going up any hills, even slight inclines. If you start to bog down, there is really only one thing you can do: Pin it to win it! Lay down as much power as you can, and get your speed up again. Stay away from the water's edge, that's a BAD place to get stuck (tide comes in quickly). Bring lots of supplies such as shovels, tow ropes, boards and other things you can put on the ground to help get traction when your trying to get "unstuck". Having AAA road side assistance is a great idea, as beach rescues can be expensive. Also, leave it in 4x4 high range. Only use low range if you are trying to get unstuck.

My profile picture was taken at the Oregon sand dunes.

2017Darkness · August 25, 2018

If it's rutted or deep sand, I usually air down into the 20's. I had a 2015 Sierra with the factory 20's and it did well with about 25 psi, my 2017 with 35's I ran about 27 and almost got stuck

Snow Shovel · August 26, 2018

Thanks for the input. This is what I was looking for.

Snow Shovel · September 5, 2018

To close the loop on the subject, last weekend we went to the national seashore in Assateague Virginia. It was about 5.5-mile drive across the sand and we had a blast. We found a place that was fairly secluded; we could see other people and if we needed help I am sure they could see us, but otherwise it was like we had a private beach. At the end of the day we had to drive back to the main beach to get out of the park. The main beach was a mad house with every parking space taken, very crowded, game wardens and state police with flashing lights gathered around one car. It all underscored how restful our day at the beach had been. We are doing this again.

To get out there I aired down but got impatient, so I went with 50 psi. Promptly got stuck. Aired down to 30 psi and I was OK. Next time I'll take my time and go with 25.

A couple of lessons learned. I’m going to get a set of auto deflators. $25 and should make the whole process quicker. Onstar sent an email for each tire saying it was dangerously low on air. I wasn’t expecting that. At the end of the second day when we aired up the horn sounded when the air pressure got up to 60 (70 for the rear tires). How cool was that? What a helpful feature.