soft or hard tyres outback

Nige,

it's all about the side walls.Yea and verily the bible doeth sayeth...let your tyres down! Any real damage is going to come through the sides of the tyres. Most tyres these days, regardless of creed, have a sh1t-load of steel belts that only the most treacherous of stakes could penetrate. Your best tools are your eye's, caution and taking the tracks slow!

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Cheers. Mick

Nigel.
If you have any concerns about letting your tyres down do a simple experiment. Get hold of a wheel and tyre that is worn out and inflate it to 20 lbs, then hit it with a pick or wood splitter, then inflate it to 50 lbs and hit it again with the same force. you will notice a big difference. Eric.

I hate to sound negative, but have you searched the archives ? There is more info than you can poke a stick at :)))))

I always air down when on dirt.
For what pressure for me depends on load.
I run Maxxis bighorns 32 x 11.5 x 16 in the cape 20psi front and 24 rear.
If travelling the oddnadata track it would be 24 front and about 28-30 rear as I said above depends on load.
On lower pressures I never travel over 80kph.

All the best
Eric

Nigel the answer really depends on what you mean by outback. If you are travelling the Oodnadatta/Birdsvile/Strazlecki etc then 26 psi or thereabouts is the norm for all our vehicles regardless of weight and tyre type. We also run 26 psi in the Flinders on all the tracks as this allows you a softer footprint which offers more grip and so less wheel spin therefore you are not damaging the tracks as much

The Simpson starts at 20 psi and we can normally sustain that or 18 psi for most of the trip. Although if we are on the French Line and it is really soft then 16 psi is the go

About the only rule that is constant is that there is no such thing as a puncture proof tyre

As well when you lower your tyre pressures you lower your speed otherwise you will significantly increase the risk of a puncture

Regards

RobA