Tire air psi- BFG A/Ts recommendation

[corneileous]

Just curious what you all with the stock-size BFG all-terrains on the later-model 4th gen half-tons run for tire pressures and if you go by the factory recommendation of 39 psi with these tires.

I know that BFG’s tend to ride a little rougher, or well, at least they used to since they had that tri-guard sidewall but, I’ve always kinda wondered why the factory psi on the door sticker says 39 and not 35 like on the 3rd gens. Just seems excessive to me, even considering that the spare is only at 35.


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[corneileous]

Just curious what you all with the stock-size BFG all-terrains on the later-model 4th gen half-tons run for tire pressures and if you go by the factory recommendation of 39 psi with these tires.

I know that BFG’s tend to ride a little rougher, or well, at least they used to since they had that tri-guard sidewall but, I’ve always kinda wondered why the factory psi on the door sticker says 39 and not 35 like on the 3rd gens. Just seems excessive to me, even considering that the spare is only at 35.


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[homeguy]

Do a chalk test. That will tell you were your tire pressure-should be at.


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[corneileous]

Chalk test?


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[yortnodnarb]

Chalk test?


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Smear chalk across width of tire and drive on it to see where the chalk gets rubbed off. If it's only missing in the center then pressure is too high causing the tire to crown in the middle.

Side note I run my General Grabber AT2's (very similar to BFG's) at 50psi front and 48 rear.

 

[corneileous]

Smear chalk across width of tire and drive on it to see where the chalk gets rubbed off. If it's only missing in the center then pressure is too high causing the tire to crown in the middle.

Side note I run my General Grabber AT2's (very similar to BFG's) at 50psi front and 48 rear.

That’s kinda what I thought that was but even at recommended pressure,
my back tires are still making full tread contact with the road.

The only time I ever had a problem with tires running like they had way too much air pressure in them was way back when I used to run a 33 inch tire on the stock 7 inch wide 16 inch rims that came on the old 2nd gen half-tons because those narrow wheels pulled the sidewalls to close together causing them to excessively crown like they had way too much air in them.

But on a side note, you run that much air pressure in your tires?...lol. I would think your tires would feel like rolling on solid concrete wheels being pumped up that much.


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[yortnodnarb]

That’s kinda what I thought that was but even at recommended pressure,
my back tires are still making full tread contact with the road.

The only time I ever had a problem with tires running like they had way too much air pressure in them was way back when I used to run a 33 inch tire on the stock 7 inch wide 16 inch rims that came on the old 2nd gen half-tons because those narrow wheels pulled the sidewalls to close together.

But on a side note, you that much air pressure in your tires?...lol. I would think your tires would feel like concrete being pumped up that much.


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"E" rated tires are going to feel like that regardless. I started with low 40's and wanted to try more air and the mpg went up so I stayed there. Considering max psi is 80, 50 isn't that bad considering.

 

[corneileous]

"E" rated tires are going to feel like that regardless. I started with low 40's and wanted to try more air and the mpg went up so I stayed there. Considering max psi is 80, 50 isn't that bad considering.

Damn, you run 10 ply tires on a half ton??...lol. Why? 10 ply are what most people run on 3/4 tons and 1 tons that do a lot of towing.. I would never dream of running that heavy duty of a tire on that light of a vehicle. That second generation Ram that I had that I was talking about, it came with load range D BFG AT’s on it when I bought it and it rode like a tank. Put much softer C range Yokohama Geolanders on it and rode like a Cadillac after. Those BFGs might not have been D tires, but I do remember them having a max inflation of 65 psi. The Yokos was only 44. I don’t remember what the stockers on this new truck are, or what the max pressure is on them.

I’m assuming your truck still rides smooth with 50 psi in those heavy tires? Fuel mileage is one thing but I’ll take a little bit smoother ride over mileage. Lol.


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[yortnodnarb]

Damn, you run 10 ply tires on a half ton??...lol. Why? 10 ply are what most people run on 3/4 tons and 1 tons that do a lot of towing.. I would never dream of running that heavy duty of a tire on that light of a vehicle. That second generation Ram that I had that I was talking about, it came with load range D BFG AT’s on it when I bought it and it rode like a tank. Put much softer C range Yokohama Geolanders on it and rode like a Cadillac after. Those BFGs might not have been D tires, but I do remember them having a max inflation of 65 psi. The Yokos was only 44. I don’t remember what the stockers on this new truck are, or what the max pressure is on them.

I’m assuming your truck still rides smooth with 50 psi in those heavy tires? Fuel mileage is one thing but I’ll take a little bit smoother ride over mileage. Lol.


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When you go bigger than the stock 33's, you're hard pressed to find anything that isn't 10ply, it is what it is.

I wont lie and say it rides smooth like a "C" range with 35psi cause there's no way it can. But it doesn't ride bad for a 1/2 ton riding on "E"s with 50psi in them. It's a truck and it now rides like a truck instead of a car....

 

[corneileous]

When you go bigger than the stock 33's, you're hard pressed to find anything that isn't 10ply, it is what it is.

I wont lie and say it rides smooth like a "C" range with 35psi cause there's no way it can. But it doesn't ride bad for a 1/2 ton riding on "E"s with 50psi in them. It's a truck and it now rides like a truck instead of a car....

Well yeah, I keep forgetting that my BFG’s in the stock size are practicality the same size as the oversized BFG’s that came on my old 98 1500 when I bought it that came originally from the factory with 245’s. Those Yoko’s I had that I mentioned were 285/75’s also and the ride was like night and day better over those other ones. lol.

I’ve never bought tires larger than 33 so I wouldn’t know. I don’t know why most manufacturers would make them that heavy in the first place since for true off-roading, I would think you would want a tire that’s gonna be softer and more flexible to be able to conform and wrap around rocks and terrain for not only traction, but puncture and cut resistance.

But since you revealed that your truck now rides like a truck and not at all anymore like a car, that it would be safe to assume that my truck still has a very smooth ride on these BFG’s of mine and that I probably shouldn’t be worried about changing air pressures. Lol.

I just know one thing’s for certain tho, is that my ride quality went down a little since putting on the BFG’s.


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[BTD07]

I currently have my KO2s 275/65/20 at around 55 cold, but I am going to be letting out the pressure as with the TX heat over the weekend they were getting to 60 and it sure felt like it. Will most likely bring down to 50 all around since its cool out today and go from there.

 

[corneileous]

I currently have my KO2s 275/65/20 at around 55 cold, but I am going to be letting out the pressure as with the TX heat over the weekend they were getting to 60 and it sure felt like it. Will most likely bring down to 50 all around since its cool out today and go from there.

That’s pretty much the stock size except an inch taller than mine but why do you run so much air pressure?

My mileage went down a little bit since getting rid of the SRA’s but I think that’s all because my BFG’s are a lot more of an aggressive tire that has way more traction that those Goodyear’s so incredibly lacked.


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[BTD07]

That’s pretty much the stock size except an inch taller than mine but why do you run so much air pressure?

My mileage went down a little bit since getting rid of the SRA’s but I think that’s all because my BFG’s are a lot more of an aggressive tire that has way more traction that those Goodyear’s so incredibly lacked.


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No particular reason, aired them then forgot about it, didnt have a bad ride so I didnt care to change em.

 

[corneileous]

No particular reason, aired them then forgot about it, didnt have a bad ride so I didnt care to change em.

Hmm. Mine were about 40, 41 but this weekend I lowered them all to the recommended 39.

I wonder why the recommended pressure is 39 when the 3rd gens was 35? Thought about deflating mine to 35 just because of that. Spare tire’s at 35. Lol.


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[BTD07]

Hmm. Mine were about 40, 41 but this weekend I lowered them all to the recommended 39.

I wonder why the recommended pressure is 39 when the 3rd gens was 35? Thought about deflating mine to 35 just because of that. Spare tire’s at 35. Lol.


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Well thats whats recommended for stock tires. I am not sure about yours but mine are E Rated 10 ply so no way they can be recommended the same pressures as a street tire. These KO2s can inflate to 80lbs.

 

[corneileous]

Well thats whats recommended for stock tires. I am not sure about yours but mine are E Rated 10 ply so no way they can be recommended the same pressures as a street tire. These KO2s can inflate to 80lbs.

Well mine sure as hell ain’t them hard as rock 10 ply ones. Lol. Mine are just 8 ply. Don’t get me wrong, these actually ride fairly acceptable for an 8 ply tire considering the SRA’s were just the standard load- whatever the hell ply those were. Not sure if it’s the same as a 6 ply C range tire or not but who knows, a lot of my retained good ride could be because of the air suspension too.

But yeah, you bring up a good point about the little yellow tire sticker on the inside of all our door jambs. I never thought about that really only applying to the stock tires or anything else basically of similar load rating so at least by that logic, I probably would be safe to run my BFG’s at 35 psi like I ran those Cooper Discoverer AT 3’s my old 3rd gen, which apparently were standard load also. The BFG’s are load rated to 3,000 pounds a tire and the SRA’s are only little less than 400 pounds under that.


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[Gary2]

I have 35-12.50-20 KO2s for almost a year now. I always ran BFG AT's on my DD truck. These are the worst riding set I have ever had. At 35lbs in the front and 34 rear cold they still feel like concrete tires, E rated 10 plys. Cant find any 8 plys this size in a twenty. Going to sell the Chrome clads and BFG and go to 17" then I can get an 8 ply plus a lot more sidewall . That gives a better ride and are better off road. As far as I am concerned 20's have no place on a 1/2 ton truck that gets used off road unless ya have about a 40" tire on it .

 

[corneileous]

I have 35-12.50-20 KO2s for almost a year now. I always ran BFG AT's on my DD truck. These are the worst riding set I have ever had. At 35lbs in the front and 34 rear cold they still feel like concrete tires, E rated 10 plys. Cant find any 8 plys this size in a twenty. Going to sell the Chrome clads and BFG and go to 17" then I can get an 8 ply plus a lot more sidewall . That gives a better ride and are better off road. As far as I am concerned 20's have no place on a 1/2 ton truck that gets used off road unless ya have about a 40" tire on it .

That’s weird they don’t make 35’s in an 8 ply. That’s stupid. I guess I’d have to really, really, really, REALLY want 35’s... and BFG A/T’s to get them sumbitches in a damn 10 ply...lol. As I said in my opening post, these 8 ply ones are kinda bad enough, and I even have the 4-corner air suspension for chrissake....lol.

Unless you just really want a smaller rim, these 20’s I have really aren’t that bad. I’m very curious to see how mine will ride once I deflate them rock-hard suckers down to a more reasonable 35 psi and not damn near 40.


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[yortnodnarb]

I amazed you think 3-4 psi is going to make that much of a tangible difference in ride quality. My tires will fluctuate that much from dead cold to fully hot, and it's not like the ride is soft and plush when I leave the driveway to riding like a dump truck by the time I get to work.

You're basing your reasoning from a sticker on the door that is referring to stock size 4ply tire with a max of 44psi. Once you put anything other than that on your truck that sticker on the door is completely useless. If you really want to know what you should run, contact BFG tell them the application and they will tell you the recommended psi.

 

[corneileous]

I amazed you think 3-4 psi is going to make that much of a tangible difference in ride quality. My tires will fluctuate that much from dead cold to fully hot, and it's not like the ride is soft and plush when I leave the driveway to riding like a dump truck by the time I get to work.

And why would you think that taking out 3-4 pounds of pressure wouldn’t make at least a little difference? Just like you said, after a good long drive in the heat, they’ll fluctuate quite a bit from parked cold to full heated, driven on temperature. Mine will will run all the way up to dang near 45 psi where they sit now, on a hot day so, I would really think that 3-4 psi would help out quite a bit.

You're basing your reasoning from a sticker on the door that is referring to stock size 4ply tire with a max of 44psi. Once you put anything other than that on your truck that sticker on the door is completely useless. If you really want to know what you should run, contact BFG tell them the application and they will tell you the recommended psi.

Sorry but all the way up until I started this discussion, I had never really thought about it and how all this time that more than likely the tire sticker on the door jamb was really only applying to the stock tires the factory puts on.

I don’t think the factory SRA’s are a 4 ply, though. I could be wrong but I’m thinkin they’re at least a 6-ply.

But yeah, that’s a good idea about ringing up the folks over at BF Goodrich industries and asking what they think. I did call up a Discount Tire yesterday- not particularly the same one that sold me the tires but the dude I talked to said 35psi should be fine.


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