What should my tyre pressure be while off-roading?

When driving on a tarred road, the vehicle manufacturer will provide the optimum tyre pressures for a general ride and handling of the vehicle and can be found in the vehicle's user manual or as a sticker in the door or fuel flap of the vehicle.

When driving in off-road conditions there are three factors to be considered, traction, comfort and heat build-up.

When the inflation pressure is decreased with constant load, the speed needs to be reduced to minimize heat build-up, excessive heat can damage or destroy tyres.

By decreasing inflation pressure in off-road conditions, one increases the level of traction as the footprint of the tyre lengthens and the comfort is improved due to more tyre deflection. The lower the inflation pressure, the more the footprint extends with higher levels of traction, however, speed must be decreased to reduce heat build-up.