Sand Driving Tires

What kinda tires would y'all recommend? I don't mud, I do drive in some rain. Mostly its highway, dirt roads and sand. What tires would y'all recommend?

 

The stock tires actually do well. The Dirt Every Day guys aired down their Michelins at the sand dunes in this video. One tire lost its bead, but that's because they were being super aggressive.

 

Well I actually have the TSS package so Im on heavy 20's

 

Well, for sand you generally want a less aggressive tire, and you will want to air down. The idea is for the tire to "float" over the sand instead of digging itself down into it. In spots where it seems the sand may be pretty deep, you want to keep momentum going, and don't turn your steering wheel while not moving, as this digs your tires down into the sand.

 

Contrary to what I believed, street tires do float well on soft sand. Apparently more aggressive tires dig much harder so its much easier for them to sink and get high centered.

 

Are you willing to ditch the 20s for more rubber? Makes it easier to air down if you aren't on rubber bands.

 

So, I do know a good bit about sand driving. Get the right tire and you don't even need to air down. I used to run 265/75/16 wild peaks with great success. My main question is what tire can I get on my 20" rim that best fits sand driving?

 

I would love to ditch the 20s! I want the 18" black toyota rims, but Id even more rather not spend money right now.

 

Grabber atx do well in sand. The also have some kind of heat technology in the rubber. Wear well too

 

Michelin Defenders do very well in all those situations you mention.

 

My KO2's are excellent in the sand even up to as high as 30 psi, but I usually run 18-20 psi. Admittedly I dont see much rain in cali, and while I have not had any issues in the rain, I have heard that people say they are only about average in the wet. I do do alot of snow driving with KO2's and i have to say they are excellent.

 

Yup. Had KO2 on my Ram, and the only thing they struggled with was wet weather. So long as the snow/ice was not wet they were a solid tire. Tossed a bunch of rocks, but such is the price of AT tires.

 

Since I work in Saudi Arabia, I do a lot of driving in sand - in my experience the tread does not matter as much as the amount of sidewall and the durability of that sidewall. If I'm going through soft sand and dunes, I typically air down to about 10 psi (those are on 315/70/17 tires, currently using BFG's) - I try to avoid being sideways to the slope, and I try to avoid sudden strong turns - I've never de-beaded a tire, but I've been with others who have.

If you are stuck, air down to 5 psi or even less, until you get out, then reinflate.

If you are driving faster than about 35, keep the tires at about 20 psi, again remembering not to jerk the wheel.

Some tires have such stiff sidewalls that they do not deflate well... those would not be great.

Some tires have such soft sidewalls that every little stick or sharp rock you run over will puncture the sidewall.... that's not great either.

There are people here in the desert who swear by balloon / sand tires, and they do work well, but their side walls are so weak that in my experience we spend more time changing or repairing puncture flats that their slight advantage over normal, AT, or MT tires doesn't make balloon tires worth it.

The bigger the rim compared to the tire diameter, the less sidewall you have, and the more chance you will damage the rim or tire if you run over something hard while deflated.

The firmer the sand, the less important airing down becomes.

Its amazing how a "hopelessly stuck" vehicle can self-recover just by going down to almost zero psi. I've seen them buried up to the frame and thought a snatch recovery or winch recovery was mandatory, but then they just drive out without assistance after airing down to nothing. Of course if you don't have an air compressor, this could be problematic for your trip home.

 

The guy above has sound advice.

We have driven a few hundred miles on the sand roads at the Outer Banks in NC.

My Tundra is running Hankook Dynapro ATs. We aired down to 18 psi and had 0 problems. Overall, these tires have been solid over 45,000 miles so far. I would guess I will see another 10-15k out of them.