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Air down vs not air down on gravel roads, my lightbulb moment
I always thought airing down tires was just for sand or deep mud. Took my Tacoma up to the White Mountain National Forest last month on those washboard gravel roads and bounced around like crazy. Finally dropped to 20 psi and the ride was smooth as pavement, plus I barely slid on loose corners. Anybody else stubbornly refuse to air down on gravel before trying it?
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evan2954mo ago
Man, I was the exact same way for years... thought airing down was just for the really soft stuff. Finally tried it on a washboard road in Colorado and felt like an idiot for not doing it sooner. It's honestly night and day how much more control you have on those loose corners.
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butler.abby4mo ago
Did you drop pressure before or after hitting the washboard section?
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nelson.cameron4mo ago
Evan nailed it with the control on loose corners. Dropping the pressure lets the tire spread out and actually bite into the gravel instead of skating across the top of it. On those curvy forest roads with the washboard, I noticed my rear end wasn't trying to step out as much when I hit them at speed. Took me way too many bone-rattling trips to figure out that 20 psi feels like a whole different truck on that stuff.
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