tyre pressure

this is great advice i go 18 all round but will give this a go next time it makes good sense. thanks Bruce.

G'day, may I ask what sort of pressure monitoring system you use please?

We use the Sensa Tyre 14 unit system. Accurate, robust but you need to make sure the people who fit it set it up correctly and show you how to adjust the system and alarms as you will need to do this (same with all TPMS) each time you adjust pressures. This one has a second antenna which is fitted in the rear of the 4WD to pickup the sensors on the camper trailer.

They are expensive but about the same as everything else but we consider it the best in our experience as if a sensor fails then you have to have the exact one. For example if a LHF fails you can only replace it with a LHF if you have a Tyre Dog for example

We also use the Schraeder Air Aware system on our second set of rims and tyres when not towing. You see we run Goodyear MTR with Kevlar when touring and Bridgestone D694 LT when not touring so have two sets of rims and tyres to deal with

Apart from that we have beaten the living daylights out of both systems and never found them wanting

I hope that helps

Regards

Rob

Rob

A tyre engineer from Bridgestone told me that LT tyres WON'T handle low pressures better than passenger construction tyres due to the thick walls. LT tyres need to run at higher pressures, about 6psi from memory, you can actually see that from their website.
This is due to the thicker walls being more susceptible to heat build up, they can't dissapate the heat as well. I think I kept his e mail somewhere if you need it, you can MM me. I run D694 LT as well.
Needless to say if you control your speed as you obviously do, you won't have these heat build up problems.
On my one trip to Fraser Island, from vehicle behaviour on the main beach "road" I thought 60km/hr was a minimum speed, I wouldn't want to be at 16psi at > 60km/hr for too long.

Mark

Mark I actually work with the Bridgestone tyre engineers on 4WD durability testing as well as with Goodyear and a couple of others. With respect and based on an average of 15,000km off bitumen every year running training and tours and based on two years of durability testing of the D694 LT and AT I disagree. We collect a huge amount of data during testing including pressure and more importantly temperature. In doing that we use a laser pyrometer to check each tyre at 9 different spots every time as well as recording pressure. Our TPMS is calibrated against the pyrometer for benchmarking and to ensure consistency in all measurements

Keep in mind we are talking relatively short distances up to 100 or so km per day in the Simpson and similiar. At Beachport the runs are around 30km or so. I have never had a problem with our tyres or any client tyres (all makes and models including HT) in this sort of going

The great advantage is the LT's can handle the weight, slow speeds and constant pounding experienced in places like the Simpson quite easily. But an AT in the right hands will do pretty much the same but has a higher risk of puncture and rolling off a rim simply due to the softer sidewall. But there is still no such thing as a puncture proof tyre

For the record our D694LT are run at 34 psi when lightly loaded and when heavy and towing we go up to 38 psi in the rears. The MTR with Kevlar are run at 32 psi when light and 34 and 38 when loaded. Ulti is no more than 32psi when loaded and is fitted with MTR with Kevlar

Regards

Rob

Rob
Just repeating what the tyre company engineer e mailed me, I quoted the source.
Glad to send it to you if you MM me.

Mark