What I have learned since is that airing down too far is dangerous for the sidewalls. It makes them protrude more, and airing down increases heat generation. I think 30 psi is a good place to try on that size and type of tire. Always go over obstacles with your tires if you can.

 

I'd like to pile on with a question about this. I have 20-inch wheels with the OEM Goodyear Wrangler Adventure tires. What should I air down to for beach sand?

I tried to drive out on a beach at the end of last summer without airing down (there was a Toyota minivan already parked out on the beach!!!). I bogged down very quickly. I used every off-road setting to back out (I have the locking diff and advanced off-road pack).

I've driven on the beach before in our Jeep and usually air down to 12-15-psi, but I'm running 35-inch BFG KO2s with 17-inch rims on that car. I assume I cannot go that low in the Defender, but I'm not sure what the right psi is. The beach--of course--does not have rocks/sharp protrusions, so I don't think I'm worried about the sidewall.

 

20 for 20’s is a safe bet and will get you through most sand. 18 if it’s really soft, but you risk roll off in turns if you go much lower. I drove for forty miles on Assateague at 20psi with my Adventures on 20” wheels and had no problems in all kinds of sand.

 

So, a post mortem on my trip to Big Bend National Park (Texas). I ended up airing down to 32/36 which worked out great. It provided a nice balance when driving on the off-road trails and the paved park roads (higher speed limits). Tire traction was fine, ride was smooth enough, and unlike TFL's "experience" I fortunately didn't have any flats.

I'll post some photos in the "Defenders in the wild" section soon.

 

I'm quite late to this thread I'm afraid, but I feel it's important to address this topic. At JLR it was very painful for us to watch the TFL video in which they experienced multiple flat tyres on the trail with their new Defender. The video received many views and misled perhaps millions about our vehicle. The tyres on that vehicle were NOT running the appropriate pressure and thus easily pinch-flatted on a rock.

I can't emphasize enough that you DO NOT lower the pressure on low-profile tyres. Period. You need sufficient sidewall height to do this and low-profile tyres do not possess this sidewall height. I define low profile tyres on an SUV as anything with less than 7" (180mm) of sidewall height. You can manipulate pressures and go below factory pressures with 18" wheels, but the 19-22" wheels should stick to comfort settings. 2.2 Bar/32psi is the bare minimum, but you'd be safer at 2.3Bar/34psi.

More importantly, there is very little to be gained on a low profile tyre by doing this. Traction is a function of surface area, vehicle weight, compound, tread, etc. I can assure you that our terrain response systems are calibrated to deal with the tyres at factory recommended pressures.

When you see press videos or films of our vehicles flying across deserts or climbing through remote parts of the African continent- I can assure you we are not running low pressure.

 

Please do not go below 32psi with a 20" wheel and the factory tires on a new Defender.

 

@insider On a different note, could you comment on the use of the screw on rear towing eye for recovery purposes? I know the manual says it is not meant for off road recovery, but given the fact that fixed recovery points are an accessory option, is it really that simple?

 

I appreciate this post (along with many of yours).

My primary off-road use is probably a little unique (well it is on the Jeep forum, maybe less so on the JLR forum). It's deep, loose, rutted sugar-sands in the Outer Banks.... the beach and dunes necessary to get in and out of the houses on the 4x4 section.

In the decade or more we've been frequenting a family house there (generally for a week or more multiple times a year) I rarely visit without helping get a few vehicles unstuck. And those vehicles, often include Land Rovers who haven't aired down (or pickup trucks who didn't, or SUVs who didn't, and the occasional Jeep owner who forgot to put it in 4WD).

Anyway, I don't doubt JLR's experience running deserts at high speeds etc, but it airing down does seem critical in the OBX and truthfully is the most common reason people get stuck.

Not to mention (and this is just a technicality) it's actually required by law to air down < 20 psi (not that I've ever heard of someone getting a ticket for not).

Anyway, we have aired down the OEM Pirelli Scorpions (on 19" wheels) for a week at a time (though confession I'm not fully in compliance with the law keeping it in the low 20's psi). During such time we drive up and down the beach, across the dunes back and forth to the house, and once in a while a couple of miles back on the pavement to the markets, shops, restaurants. Everything below maybe 30-35 mph at max, most of it a good bit slower. The Defender has, as you would expect, performed flawlessly. Maybe I'm fooling myself and perhaps I should just try it next time fully aired and see, I can always stop and air down if it starts to dig in instead of making progress. Especially if it's early in or before season as there is very little LEO presence at those times.

 

Based om my 3 trips to the beach last summer in the Defender I have to agree with this. I just selected sand mode and had no issues driving through very soft sand. (On the OEM 20" Goodyears) I figured I would just try it at full tire pressure and air down if I lost momentum and bogged down. But the Defender terrain response seems far more intelligent/capable than our old LR4. When beach driving the LR4, we would start off in sand mode, low gear and manual shift mode to keep the revs high and never lose momentum. But typically after parking we would have a hard time getting forward momentum. As soon as I felt it sink rather move forward I would air down the LR4's 19" tires to 20 PSI then drive right out. On the Defender, I used the low traction launch mode to get started in soft sand from being parked and it worked great . Again, no need to air down or use low gear...yet.

As soon as these Goodyears wear out I'll replace them with Falken Wildpeak AT Trail tires in 275 width. A little more width will help in sand but more important the Falkens have really strong sidewalls that hold up well when aired down.

 

This sounds like our typical experience in Nantucket. In my case, I had just left the hard-packed "parking area" to go through a vehicle access point between two dunes. The Defender seemed to sink within a few feet and we stopped making any forward progress (this is leaving the tires at the factory tire pressure of 47-50 psi). I tried the low traction launch, but it did not get us going (I admit I may not have done that correctly...just followed the on-screen instructions). I was able to back straight out.

It sounds like airing down to the low-30s is what I should do.