Oodnadatta Track Feedback

Just to clarrify - we followed the track back to the main road at Marla. Didn't continue north to Finke, in case you were thinking of doing that.

thanks for your advise. how about fuel consumption. may i need several spare fuel tank! cheers

60ltr tank should get you 600km but I carry 40 lt in jerry cans on the trailer

I mostly agree, except that 25 PSI is about right, but I reckon 90 kph on 25 PSI is, well, a bit courageous. We're talking serious gibber and gravel here, hence the 25 PSI, plus corrugations, and the tyres will run cooler at 75 to 80.
I have wrecked two or three tyres on the Birdsville by running at 90 to 95 kph on soft tyres, so I sort of know what the risks are!!

I know the risks as well, 25psi isn't realy that low for vehicle as light as an X-Trail.

We run 28psi for high speed dirt.

We have Coopers and they recommend 32psi on the bitumen with a vehicle weighing 3 tons traveling at 110Kph.

The Oodnadatta Track is not realy that rough and how did you wreck tyres on the Birdsville track?

Heres something you might find interesting.

http://www.pinkroadhouse.com.au/Pink/graphics/docimages/tyre-pressure-pdf.pdf





X-TRAIL KLA have a look at these links.

http://www.pinkroadhouse.com.au/Pink/graphics/docimages/July06pg1.pdf

http://www.pinkroadhouse.com.au/

You're right, olcoolone, the Oodnadatta Track isn't that rough, and neither is the Birdsville Track. Both have their share of gibber, stones and the occasional Tek screw, and this is why I have learned to drop pressure to around 25 PSI. I also learned the hard way to drop speed as well, hence my suggestions.
25 PSI is relatively low for me, since I run 37 to 38 PSI on the bitumen.
I don't know of any theory that says 90 KPH is OK at 25 PSI, and certainly Coopers don't write a special chapter in their guide for light vehicles, except to say don't drop pressures when using HT tyres, only for LT (or words to that effect).
My Birdsville Track dramas were one Tek screw and two sharp rocks, all before I learned the 25PSI and 70 - 75 KPH combination. Since then, no such problems. And I hvae not had a single puncture on the Oodnadatta or even across the desert.
So all my serious tyre damage has been on major tracks, and relatively high speed. One off the major tracks and into the rough, I've had no worries at all.

Tyres and pressure are a funny thing, everyone has there own idea of it.

Most tracks these days are not bad except for some sections, most of the time we will sit on 100 to 110Kph on the dirt...now before someone says I'm an idiot which I'm not; it depends on what you are comfortable with, vehicle type, tyres and experience not forgetting road conditions.

Everyone drives differently and what some people will apply caution to others wont and vice versa.

We always run good tyres with at least 50% tread and have never punctured a tyre until we did the Northern Simpson where we did four a couple of months ago.

The main thing to remember is PRESSURE,PRESSURE,PRESSURE.

I'm with Tenpounder. At 25psi, I wouldn't want to go over 80 kmh. The issue is not the amount of tread, or the road surface, or driver experience. The issue is the bagging in the tyre at lower pressures. At 25psi you will have a significant amount of bagging. As your speed builds up, you have a"flat spot", which gives the bagging, moving rapidly around the tyre. It is this flexing/unflexing at speed which is the problem. It causes excessive heat build up and tyre failure. Lowering tyre pressure is the way to do bush roads, but you must lower speed as well. Take the pressure down to 20psi for sand or sharp rocks etc and 80kmh would be too fast because the tyres will get that much hotter again. 20psi at 80kmh for extended time on bitumen is just as likely to result in tyre failure due to overflexing/heating.

I agree with you that you should not travel anymore then 80Kph with 25psi pressure....what you are forgetting this guy has an X-Trail that weighs proberly 500 to 800Kg less then you Landcruiser....hence less bagging and flex.

If you can travel safely a 80 Kph with 25psi, I don't see why an X-Trail weighing 2/3rds the weight of a landcruiser can't travel 10 Kph faster.

It also depends on tyre type and construction.

As I said before everyone has there own ideas.

Have a look at Adam Plates tyre pressure guide.

Just a thought...how many people know what tyre pressures they are running when they use a uncalibrated tyre pressure gauge, even the best can be out by upto 3 psi.

OK, I'm not familiar with an xtrail, but the same principle applies. If he isn't getting bagging to some degree at 25psi, then he needs lower pressures again, that's the point of running them at lower pressure. And once he gets bagging, he needs to slow accordingly.

Arrrr sort of.

haha! i am confusing about tyre pressure!

Oh dear, let me try to summarize. I accept olcoolones statement that pressures for the Xtrail will not be the same as for the LC, but the same principle applies. There are two reasons for reducing pressure off bitumen. The longer (not wider) footprint reduces the chances of sharp object penetration and also reduces the amount a tryre will sink/bite into sand because of the reduced pressure at any particular point. Just like a person can lie on a bed of nails because the weight is spread over a wider area and therefore less likely to penetrate. Try the same weight standing on one nail and you will see the point , so to speak, immediately. The next reason is because the vehicle uses the flex in the tyres to ride a bit softer which is much kinder to the occupants and suspension when on corrugations, gibber etc.
Your aim in reducing tyre pressure is to get the longitudinal bagging effect where these things happen. As a rule of thumb, reduce your tyre pressures by about 1/3 from whatever you would normally run them on for highway speed bitumen to get this effect. But, and it's a big but, the extra flexing of the walls will cause heat build up and significantly increase the chances of tyre failure over around 80kmh.
If the track is worse and you want to go for lower pressures, decrease speed further.

Don't get sand driving mixed up with high speed dirt road driving.

In sand you want your tyres to bag out to increase the foot print and to distribute weight over a largers area.

On high speed dirt you want the tyre to be flexable so it will mold over objects, much like a ballon that is blown right up and you hit it with a pen (not pin) and you will pop it; now blow a ballon up to 75% pressure of the previous ballon and try the same thing...the ballon will flex around the pen and you will have to apply more fource to punture the ballon.

It depends on tyre type/brand and weight of vehicle to how a tyre will perform, there is nothing set in stone...it's just a theory and experiance.

GIve Adam Plate a call at Pinks Roadhouse at Oodnadattand ask him about spoeed and tyre pressure to suit your X-trail.

Don't strees to much as the roads up that way are very good.

Hi again. Don't get too stressed about it, as olcoolone says, there are no set answers, more of a balancing act.
I have to say that I am now using Tyredog pressure and temperature sensors, and they confirm clearly that tyre temperature rises rapidly once you combine reduced pressure with speed, and that has reassured me that it plays to stay on the safe side.
There are some bits of the Oodnadatta where none of use would try to maintain 90 plus KPH, and, if you detour (AS YOU MUST) to take in the Painted Desert, you'll find some quite slow bits. There are also stretches where I have got away with 95 - 100 at over 30 PSI with no problems. So it boils down to probabilities, not absolute numbers. Also, it depends on whether or not you carry a pump, and whether or not you carry a second spare - obviously, with two spares you can take a bigger risk, and if you only have one spare, then you only need one puncture to be left with no spares at all!!

Olcoolone. There is no difference between reducing tyre pressure for sand driving and high speed dirt driving. It is just a matter of how much. As soon as you reduce pressure, they start to bag, it's just a question of how much "bag" you want for your purpose. Both achieve their outcome by spreading the vehicle weight over a larger surface area which gives a lower impact pressure at a particular point. Any reduction of pressure in the tyre will give more heating if the speed isn't reduced (on or off a bitumen roads). It's just a matter of knowing how much to reduce speed by as you reduce tyre pressure to different levels for different conditions.

We can go one for days with differant ideas and get no where.

I was wrong and I declare Mfewster the winner of this debate.

X-trail kla I would be following Mfewsters advice and forget what I have said as it is all lies and incorrect and I was reading from a book.....sorry for the inconveniance.

I don't even own a 4x4 and have do very limited driving of the bitumen.

Thank god there a people on this forum who knows betters and has no problems pointing it out when you are wrong..... to that I say thankyou!

LOL

My inherent natural modesty and honesty means I must demur. I think credit must be shared with Tenpounder who was making the same points. I merely added the explanation as to why his original statement was correct.

hehehehe
Good to see a few South Aussies have a nice debate about tyre pressure on the oodnadatta track!!! I'd love to wade in, but sorry I was up in the Flinders last week while you guys were having a heap of fun back here.

We've owned 2 Xtrails and done the Oodnadatta track maybe 20 times - in everything from a KE10 Corolla to a L-series Subaru and lots of times in bigger 4wds. But I admit that I haven't taken either of the Xtrails on those particular tracks. But I did trash 3 tyres in a day in the Corolla back in 1978.

For the T30 Xtrail, I personally would run about 22/25psi, and drive no faster than 70, maybe 80kph. The standard Bridgestone and Toyo tyres only come with 7.5mm tread when new - not your average 4wd tyre, even though the Xtrail is considerably lighter. The sharp stones on the Oodnadatta and Birdsville track penetrate the treads easily and Adam Plate doesn't like fixing tyres, so he gives good advice.

The Xtrail tyres sizes are both uncommon so its worth taking at least one extra spare casing.

hi thanks for your important information! i am worry the road conditions especially after the rain. is it very slippery and muddy? had you meet this problem?

cheers

No mud - the previous rain has dried up. It's just like any off road trip - best laid plans can change due to the weather. If it rains - well - you will need to check with the locals.

I was going to head that way from Sydney to Alice - left 28th May. Had to change the whole trip to going via Hungerford then Mt Isa due to the rain. Had a great time! As it was dry on the way home came back the Finke Oodnadatta way.

Good luck and have a great time.

:-)