{"id":2196,"date":"2018-03-10T16:00:12","date_gmt":"2018-03-10T05:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.4wdsupacentre.com.au\/news\/?p=2196"},"modified":"2018-03-09T07:38:58","modified_gmt":"2018-03-08T20:38:58","slug":"should-you-adjust-your-trailers-tyre-pressure-offroad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/should-you-adjust-your-trailers-tyre-pressure-offroad\/","title":{"rendered":"Should You Adjust Your Trailer\u2019s Tyre Pressure Offroad?"},"content":{"rendered":"

We all know how vital correct adjustment of tyre pressures is in a 4WD when you\u2019re heading off-road. Lowering your tyre pressures to suit the type of terrain you\u2019re driving provides you with bucketloads more traction and goes a long way to reducing the risk of tyre damage by letting your tyres mold around the terrain instead of bumping up and over it. If you carry a portable 12v air compressor<\/a><\/strong> like the Thumper air compressor<\/a><\/strong> or the Thumper Max air compressor<\/a><\/strong> then you\u2019ll always be able to reinflate your tyre pressures when you need to. Likewise, if you have a Kwiky tyre deflator<\/a><\/strong> or an Adventure Kings 3 in 1 Tyre deflator<\/a><\/strong> then you\u2019ll easily be able to drop your tyre pressures to an accurate level to suit the type of 4WDing you\u2019re doing. But what if you\u2019re towing a trailer, like a camper trailer, a caravan or a boat with you on your adventures? Should you adjust your tyre pressures on the trailer?<\/p>\n

To answer that question let\u2019s look at the reasons why we drop our tyre pressures. Carrying the appropriate gear to adjust your tyre pressures, such as a 4WD air compressor<\/a><\/strong> and a tyre gauge<\/a><\/strong>, gives you the freedom to make changes to your tyre pressures throughout your trip. What you\u2019re doing when you lower your tyre pressures, is creating a larger \u2018footprint\u2019 for each tyre \u2013 the contact patch between the tyre and the ground. At full road pressures that footprint may only be as small as a couple of hand-prints. When you use your Kwiky tyre deflator<\/a><\/strong> or Adventure Kings 3 in 1 Tyre deflator<\/a><\/strong> to lower your 4WD tyre pressures, you\u2019re dramatically increasing your footprint or contact patch with the ground. To understand the real effect this has in soft terrains like sand and mud, think about the different between walking across thick, goopy mud wearing ice skates or flippers. The ice skates have an extremely thin contact patch, the flippers have a big wide contact patch. When you adjust your 4WD tyre pressures for sand or mud, you\u2019re helping your tyres to sit up on top of the terrain, instead of digging back down again.<\/p>\n

At the same time, you also let your tyres mold around the terrain you\u2019re driving, when you come across sharp objects like tree roots, rocks or sticks. Imagine the difference between a soccer ball that\u2019s rolled over a bed of nails while fully inflated and hard as a rock, and one that is nearly flat and can mold itself over the sharp nails. It\u2019s vital however that you carry a portable air compressor if you are going to lower your tyre pressures, because you can\u2019t just leave your tyres deflated for on-road driving, and there\u2019s not always going to be a service station in easy reach either.<\/p>\n

So the answer to the question \u2018Should I adjust my trailer\u2019s tyre pressures?\u2019 is absolutely a firm yes! Always adjust your trailer tyre pressures at the same time you adjust your 4WD tyre pressures. Use your Kwiky tyre deflator<\/a><\/strong> or Adventure Kings 3 in 1 Tyre deflator<\/a><\/strong> to lower your trailer tyre pressures, and then re-inflate them with a portable air compresso<\/a><\/strong>r like the Thumper air compressor<\/a><\/strong> or Thumper Max air compresso<\/a><\/strong>r. Here at 4WD Supacentre<\/a><\/strong> we even sell a 4m extension hose<\/a><\/strong> that suits both the Thumper 12v air compressor<\/a><\/strong> and Thumper Max 4WD air compressor<\/a><\/strong>, that allows you to easily re-inflate your trailer\u2019s tyre pressures and be able to reach even the biggest caravan\u2019s tyres without a drama.<\/p>\n

However, here\u2019s the final trick you need to know when adjusting trailer tyre pressures. You shouldn\u2019t necessarily lower them to the exact same pressure as the tow vehicle. What you need to do, is first lower the tow vehicle\u2019s tyre pressures to the right level, then work out the length of the contact patch each tyre has. Grab two large sticks, place one at the very front of the contact patch and one at the rear so they stick out the side of the tyre towards you. Then, measure the length between the two sticks, and replicate that measurement on your trailer tyres by adjusting pressures to suit. You\u2019ll probably find you don\u2019t need to drop your trailer tyre pressures quite as much as the tow vehicle\u2019s, to create the same contact patch. Use your Kwiky 4WD tyre gauge<\/a><\/strong> to keep an eye on tyre pressures right throughout the day as well and you\u2019ll give your trailer a much better chance at not getting stuck, as well as going a long way towards reducing the possibility of tyre damage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We all know how vital correct adjustment of tyre pressures is in a 4WD when you\u2019re heading off-road. Lowering your tyre pressures to suit the type of terrain you\u2019re driving provides you with bucketloads more traction and goes a long way to reducing the risk of tyre damage by letting your tyres mold around the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2197,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2196"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2196"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2202,"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2196\/revisions\/2202"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}