Tyres need to be inflated to their specified pressure to avoid deformation. Deformation causes the tyre footprint and sidewall shape to change, which both have serious consequences as discussed below. Research has shown the most vehicles have at least one underinflated tyre. For tar roads and high speed, above 40km/h, underinflated tyres are dangerous and also causes excess tyre wear. However, when driving slow in off-road conditions, deflating tyres to the correct and safe pressure, considerably improves traction.The tyre’s footprint on the road surface, i.e. how much of the tyre is at any moment in contact with the road surface, depends on the inflation pressure. The lower the pressure, the larger the footprint. Deflating the tyres from 2.2Bar to 0.8Bar can increase the footprint with up to 100%. When driving  on sand or in mud, it is thus essential to deflate the tyres.

Deflating tyres also have the effect of a softer ride. With tyres deflated to 1.8Bar instead of 2.2Bar, there is significantly less rattling and shaking, which not only leads to a less bumpy and more safe ride on for instance a corrugated (sinkplaat) road, but also reduces the amount of damage to the vehicle. Tyres that are too soft, will wear on the  outside of the thread pattern, and tyres too hard wear in the middle.  This can half the tyre life if not corrected timely. Tyres run at low pressure for instance for sand driving, can only be driven at low speeds. Driving at higher speeds or longer stretches causes serious damage to the tyre side wall, since the tyre side wall has to bend and straighten with each full turn of the wheel. It is important to inflate the tyres to the correct pressure as soon as one is out of the sandy or mud terrain.