ATV tire pressure

[Minerva]

Why so low? They recommend 2.7 PSI. That's hard to read accurately when 1/2 psi difference makes it pull. The tire itself says 30 PSI MAX! The tires had 10 psi and it rides OK and steers good. We dropped to 4 PSI and the tires are louder even on gravel and it's harder to turn the handlebars. Some run their tires nearly flat. Does it really help traction?

Quad is Honda Four Trax rancher 350.

 

[Jumpem]

Traction on off road surfaces. That said I always filled mine to 10-15psi and never had an issue.

 

[brblx]

less pressure means a bigger contact patch and an easier time deforming to the shape of the ground. it's all about traction. the increased friction is why you can't turn your handlebars.

if you're driving at any kind of speed, though, i definately wouldn't recommend flat tires. if 10psi is enough to keep the tire from looking flat while you're on it, i'd go with that.

 

[iamwiz82]

low pressure is for low speed, offroad driving. It's not unusual to run single digit PSI with Beadlocks: http://image.automotive.com/f/...ads+off_road_tires.jpg

 

[Minerva]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
low pressure is for low speed, offroad driving. It's not unusual to run single digit PSI with Beadlocks: http://image.automotive.com/f/...ads+off_road_tires.jpg

Haha that reminds me single digit you say? What units though???! I about flipped out when my brother hands me a gauge and you can clearly see the tire is quite low. I'd say it's damn near flat. Put the gauge on and it reads 25! :Q The gauge was for a gas boiler and reads a scale of INCHES OF WATER COLUMN, or INCH-WC. Theres about 27 inches of water column to a single pound per square inch so the tires were <1PSI! He likes to run near flat but says you cannot read the pressure with a convential gauge so the WC gauge is accurate to ~1/54th PSIG. :Q

That is kind of scary.

 

[rstrohkirch]

They make low psi tire gauges....the atv should have came with one in the tool kit. Any motorsport store should have 1 in stock.

I run 3-4psi in razr 2

 

[Minerva]

Originally posted by: rstrohkirch
They make low psi tire gauges....the atv should have came with one in the tool kit. Any motorsport store should have 1 in stock.

I run 3-4psi in razr 2

Yup a 15 psi bourdon tube type gauge and it got ruined when used on a 100 psi trailer tire! :disgust:

I have a slime digital but its bottom end is 2.0 psig.

 

[WT]

2.7 is a very low rating, but keep in mind it is a utility quad. I looked at a friend's Blaster this weekend and his tires listed 3.5 PSI, which had us scratching our heads since we were thinking the sport quads would be around 8-10 PSI.