muddy conditions

Only other thing to consider, if you ain't got the umph from your motor to spin them fast enough to clean the mud out of the lugs, then air them up for it narrows the tire pattern (less sidewall) to contact the mud. Gives you less resistance for the spin cycle. If you ain't cleaning lugs, your tires become packed. There's only 1 may to navigate thick mud and that's the skinny pedal.
 
6BangBronk said:
Only other thing to consider, if you ain't got the umph from your motor to spin them fast enough to clean the mud out of the lugs, then air them up for it narrows the tire pattern (less sidewall) to contact the mud. Gives you less resistance for the spin cycle. If you ain't cleaning lugs, your tires become packed. There's only 1 may to navigate thick mud and that's the skinny pedal.
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This, I always ran street pressure on my runner whenever it saw mud. It had a hard time just getting up hills, let alone a mud hole. If you have the power then run lower pressure 10-12 lbs maybe. That and it may really depend on the tire, there are some that I'd want to keep as skinny as possible.
 
Rule of thumb... MUD=skinny tires(more air) ROCKS&DIRT=Fatties(less air)
The theory in this is that the skinnier the tire, the less contact in the mud. But for climbing and dry terrain u want a larger surface contact, thus airing down ur tires.
-wheel on!
 
I've read that for everything except deep sand and deep snow skinnier tires are actually scientifically better for almost all other applications. They cited all the cross country expeditions that run pizza cutters exclusively. I've looked and there aren't many options for less than 12.5 wide on tires larger than 31".
 
look into 235/85r16's-they're tall & skinny, depending on how tall you want. they're usually only available in E load range, heavy carcasses and pretty stiff sidewalls
 
Give me a fat tire for mud any day, even if that means just dropping the pressure on my tires. It's mud, your going to spin if your tires directly correlate to the size and power of your rig. I'd much rather float across the top then dig my way through it.

I know a lot of the mud guys run tall a skinny tires but they have the hp to spin them once they dig in. Run a tall skinny tire on a 4 cyl jeep and as soon as it starts sinking its going to bog down.
 
got that right.
ai1218.photobucket.com_albums_dd418_tgrizzly4x4_2012_05_27_14_51_06_247.jpg
It didn't look as deep and ugly as when I got stuck and sucked down in it. Thanks to some of the guys here who arrived later that day for pulling her out and up to the service road. I should have taken off those heavy ass tool boxes on both sides of the flatbed.

That's the next day after it drained down from all the digging I did when I got stuck.
 
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As long as you have enough HP to keep the tires clean and maintain forward progress the amount of pressure should not make the difference, in my opinion...
 
I always figured, the more air pressure you have a skinnier contact surface with the mud so you will cut right through it. In some cases its good when you find a hard surface beneath the mud, but sometimes if youre not lifted high enough, you'll bottom out.
 
there's a WHOLE bunch of theory in here, so here's some more to add to it. It's pretty much a consensus that Mud = Skinny Pedal = more tire spin. the faster the tire spins, the narrow the tire gets, so you're right back to skinny tire. But when you're just rolling along down the trail, with the air pressure down you'll have a larger contact area.

I'd say 6 of one, half dozen of the other. Can't say I've ever aired down specifically for mud personally. Just drove right on through at street tire pressure.
 
I'll just add this to the mix. Chains & skinny tires worked for me in the mud. This was with a 2 wd & 80hp flat head 6.
 
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I run both a 31/10.5 mt and a 7.5/16 old school bias ply mudgrip on Nellie. By my experiences (and I ain't sceert to get down on it) I'd rather run wider and float across than dig down.The bias plys have a 2 inch wide cleat and will either dig down to a bottom or stick yo ass. I've also got a 60 horse flathead and engine RPM's are not an option.
 
I still think : if i'd had 1 more 15x10" wheel and had those ditcher's on the yota, along with taking off those heavy ass tool boxes. I'd made it outta that damn bog. I'll be back into wheeling within the next year or less.
 
its hard to say for me cause i'm used to cherokees on 36tsl or now 38 TSLs grooved and at 20psi on trail theyre pretty good/normal I guess BUT when i air down to say 7psi or so, I can go anywhere i want, especially muddy hills and holes and crap like that cause i love mud and always go through with EASE compared to at 20psi street so I always say lower psi for better comfort/traction/grip/overall performace and leave it at street psi to just ride through after no rain for entire week or so. as far as skinnier or wider tire goes, i've had 12.50,13.50,14.50, and really never notice that big a difference in "floating on top of mud" but maybe i'm not really paying attention since i run such big tires on my cherokees with stock diffs which have soooo much ground clearance and mud is my favorite thing to play in.
 
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