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What matters in sand isn't vehicle weight but contact pressure, which is dictated by tire pressure. That's why tanks use tracks. A giant M1 Abrams tank has a
by sandworm101 4y ago
What matters in sand isn't vehicle weight but contact pressure, which is dictated by tire pressure. That's why tanks use tracks. A giant M1 Abrams tank has a contact pressure dramatically lower than any car. Its weight is spread across the tracks. You could drive a 30,000lb vehicle on sand, so long as it has enough soft tires to keep the contact pressure down to something like 10psi. Deflate your tires before you get stuck in the sand.
Conversely, this is why road bikes are horrible on soft surfaces. With narrow tires at 100+psi a bicycle has a higher contact pressure than any car or SUV and so sinks in sand.
- xeromal 4y agoFor sure, but you'd need big big tires to do that with a heavy truck like an EV when you can do that with a much smaller and cheaper tire with a ford maverick for instance.
- sandworm101 4y agoIf you deflate your tires from 30psi to 20psi you will add roughly 50% more contact patch, akin to adding another axel to a two-axle car.
- xeromal 4y agoYeah, already do that with my current rig.
- londons_explore 4y agoI'm surprised modern cars don't have automatic tyre inflators/deflators. That way, when going slow on the mud, you can go all the way down to 5 PSI for great traction. And on the highway you can go up to 40 PSI so you don't overheat the tyres or destroy the rims when you hit a stone. It could auto inflate or deflate depending on speed, terrain, and tyre temperature. And obviously a manual override for those who want ultimate control.
- nradov 4y agoSome specialized vehicles such as the HMMWV (Humvee) do have such systems for enhanced off road mobility. But the necessary compressor, air lines, and sensors are complex, heavy, and prone to leaks. It's just totally impractical for regular civilian vehicles. Just stick a little portable 12V air compressor in your trunk if you expect to deflate your tires for driving on soft ground.
- DrPhish 4y agoLogging trucks have this as well in some regions. The conditions for hauling can make it a requirement to just get in and out of the bush, and save wear and tear so the roads don’t get as rutted and need less maintenance in wet seasons
- linuxftw 4y agoMany off road enthusiasts add onboard air compressors for this exact reason. There's no way to make this push button as there's no way to connect the compressor directly to the tire all the time, at least with anything resembling normal wheels and tires. Normal cars don't belong in the mud.
- sandworm101 4y agoIt isn't all that complicated. Some early hummers came with inflate-on-the-move tech. https://auto.howstuffworks.com/self-inflating-tire2.htm https://auto.howstuffworks.com/self-inflating-tire2.htm
- mmh0000 4y agoThat's not correct. Many vehicles have "central tire infation", which is push button[1]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d9Ms9ia65I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d9Ms9ia65I
- vel0city 4y agoI'm not surprised modern cars don't have them, they'd add a good bit of cost to an already crazy expensive vehicle for a feature that the vast majority of people would practically never use. The vast majority of cars never leave the pavement.
- eropple 4y agoAlso given that the Maverick has a hybrid option that seems to work pretty well, it's definitely a very competitive option.
- 83 4y agoHard to blame someone for not wanting huge tires on their vehicle, once you get over 33s the prices for tires seems to climb exponentially. Plus the hit you take to gas mileage (or range in this case).
- xeromal 4y agoYeah, I run 33s exactly for that reason. After that, the price doesn't really follow a linear increase.