Airing down tires-a question...

when you air a 2015 down to the magic 10 psi, and the tpi triggers the dash light what other things get crazy with a Taco? My wife's CR-V shuts off the traction control (What the actual F? Why????) Any way, just wondering what magical fuqu'ery Toyota planned up for unsuspecting users.

 

Just the dash light

 

Shit gets real

 

Just the light comes on, don't fret.

The 2016+ models are cool when deflating they show as yellow for warning, I never went to 10psi but 15psi often, and it wouldn't trigger the light, just yellow numbers.

Some cars will disable traction depending on how the AWD system work and how the TPMS is registered. Toyota doesn't do this.

 

At 10 PSI, there’s a greater risk of debeading a tire. Especially on the front tires. 12 PSI is safer.

 

What kind of driving? I like 18-20 when the highway is snowy

 

I agree. I only have heresay info to offer ... unless you have E-rated tires, you dont want to go that low. I've gotten satifactory results going with 20 psi. Save the 10 psi for emergency situations. Matter of fact I carry two sets of deflators. One set is set at about 20 psi and the other at about 15 psi. That 5 psi difference is a lot when inflating the tires back up.

 

I think he may be referring to a 10psi drop in tire pressure. A set pressure of 36psi and you lower the tire's pressure below 26psi.

 

My tpms light is on 24/7

 

As someone that just had to have a tire re set on a wheel due to 10 psi and wheeling, I concur. 12 PSI is the lowest Im going until i get beadlocks.

And to caveat that, I do have e-rated tires.

 

just put a little bit of black tape over the light. fixed

 

That 5 psi only matters when inflating if your air compressor is struggling. I bought the hella big smittybuilt compressor and itll fill a 35 from 15 psi to 31 in 2 and a half minutes

 

Good info thanks!

 

I can't answer your Toyota specific question. But if you need to air down to get traction the last thing you want is the traction control turned on. Traction control is for use on wet pavement or light snow. The 1st thing you should do when driving off road is turn off traction control. Many 4X4's automatically turn it off when you switch to 4X4, or on some vehicles 4X4 lo range.

In slick off road conditions trying to drive with traction control turned on is like trying to drive while dragging an anchor behind you. Every time one of your wheels starts to spin traction control applies brakes to that wheel. Which is fine on wet pavement when the others have traction. But in off road conditions you're driving constantly while at least one of your brakes is engaging. It is better to just let the wheels spin so they can throw the mud out of the tread.

 

Depending on how the CR-V AWD system works, it may disable traction control to allow normal driving without the TCS constantly trying to fight the low pressure wheel spinning slower, or maybe to preserve the center differential if it has a viscous or clutch type LSD. Most AWD systems do not like wheels that have different effective diameters unless they have all open diffs, which is kind of pointless outside of perfect dry pavement performance.

 

Thank you-that is good information. I watched a 3rd gen that was stuck in sand trying to get out and that is what it looked like I was seeing and therefore why it wasn't working.