Quote Originally Posted by tom4bren View Post
Ironic, yes.

If you're running your tires at or near the max pressure & you hit a nice sized pothole, the tire tries to flex which will increase the air pressure in the tire & you could break a bead (tire pops off the rim ... well ... half way).

You air down off road for increased surface area & to allow the tire to flex more & 'mold' itself over obstacles. The trouble is that a lot of people air down too far & the tire flexes too much which can also break a bead.

In my limited experience, the only off road conditions you really need to air down for is rock crawling. All other conditions, the tread design has more to do with performance.
I am guestimating somewhere between 35 and 40 is probably much better than the 45 I have in there now.