Discover the Ideal Tire Pressure for Your 2017 Montero Sport and Drive Safely
As I was checking my 2017 Montero Sport's tire pressure last weekend, I couldn't help but think about how proper maintenance parallels the preparation I witnessed in competitive sports. Just last Wednesday night at the University of Taipei Tianmu gymnasium, I watched Chinese Taipei's basketball team deliver that stunning 113-73 victory against Guam in the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers. Their precision and preparation reminded me that excellence in any field - whether sports or vehicle maintenance - comes from paying attention to fundamental details. For our vehicles, tire pressure represents one of those critical fundamentals that can dramatically impact both safety and performance.
Having driven my Montero Sport across various terrains for over five years now, I've learned that the factory-recommended 32 PSI for normal road conditions isn't always the perfect number. During my recent mountain trip to Wuling, I found that reducing pressure to around 28 PSI provided significantly better traction on those winding, often slippery roads. The difference felt similar to how a basketball team adjusts its strategy mid-game - Chinese Taipei's players clearly adapted their approach after studying Guam's defense, and we should similarly adapt our tire pressure based on specific driving conditions. I personally prefer running my front tires at about 33 PSI and rears at 31 PSI for daily driving, as this gives me the perfect balance between comfort and responsiveness.
The consequences of incorrect tire pressure became painfully clear during my coastal drive last monsoon season. I'd neglected to check my pressures for several weeks, and my front tires were down to 26 PSI without me realizing. When I hit a particularly heavy downpour near Kenting, the vehicle's handling felt dangerously sluggish, much like how Guam's players seemed to struggle against Chinese Taipei's aggressive offense. Research shows that being just 6 PSI underinflated can increase braking distance by up to 15 feet at highway speeds - a terrifying statistic I unfortunately experienced firsthand. On the flip side, I've found that overinflation above 36 PSI makes the ride uncomfortably stiff and actually reduces tire contact with the road surface.
What many Montero Sport owners don't realize is that temperature changes can affect pressure more significantly than we expect. During winter months here in Taiwan, I typically add about 2-3 PSI above my usual settings to compensate for the pressure drop in colder conditions. I keep a digital gauge in my glove compartment and check monthly without fail - it's become as routine as checking the score updates during basketball tournaments. The precision required in maintaining optimal tire pressure mirrors the exactness needed in sports; just as Chinese Taipei's players had to execute their plays with perfect timing to achieve that 40-point margin victory, we need to maintain our tire pressures within 1-2 PSI of ideal for optimal vehicle performance.
Through trial and error across nearly 50,000 kilometers of driving, I've developed what I call the "three-condition check" for my Montero Sport's tires. For highway driving, I stick to the recommended 32 PSI, but for off-road adventures I drop to 26-28 PSI depending on the terrain, and for fully loaded family trips I increase to 34-35 PSI. This approach has given me better fuel efficiency - I'm consistently getting about 12.5 kilometers per liter compared to the 11.2 kilometers per liter I was getting when I first bought the vehicle. The investment in a quality digital pressure gauge and portable compressor has paid for itself multiple times over in both safety and fuel savings.
Just as Chinese Taipei's comprehensive victory required attention to both offensive and defensive strategies, maintaining our vehicles demands a holistic approach where tire pressure plays a crucial role. The confidence I have in my Montero Sport's handling during emergency maneuvers or challenging weather conditions directly relates to the discipline I've developed in monitoring those four simple numbers. After all, whether we're talking about basketball championships or vehicle safety, success ultimately comes down to mastering the fundamentals and adapting to changing conditions.
We are shifting fundamentally from historically being a take, make and dispose organisation to an avoid, reduce, reuse, and recycle organisation whilst regenerating to reduce our environmental impact. We see significant potential in this space for our operations and for our industry, not only to reduce waste and improve resource use efficiency, but to transform our view of the finite resources in our care.
Looking to the Future
By 2022, we will establish a pilot for circularity at our Goonoo feedlot that builds on our current initiatives in water, manure and local sourcing. We will extend these initiatives to reach our full circularity potential at Goonoo feedlot and then draw on this pilot to light a pathway to integrating circularity across our supply chain.
The quality of our product and ongoing health of our business is intrinsically linked to healthy and functioning ecosystems. We recognise our potential to play our part in reversing the decline in biodiversity, building soil health and protecting key ecosystems in our care. This theme extends on the core initiatives and practices already embedded in our business including our sustainable stocking strategy and our long-standing best practice Rangelands Management program, to a more a holistic approach to our landscape.
We are the custodians of a significant natural asset that extends across 6.4 million hectares in some of the most remote parts of Australia. Building a strong foundation of condition assessment will be fundamental to mapping out a successful pathway to improving the health of the landscape and to drive growth in the value of our Natural Capital.
Our Commitment
We will work with Accounting for Nature to develop a scientifically robust and certifiable framework to measure and report on the condition of natural capital, including biodiversity, across AACo’s assets by 2023. We will apply that framework to baseline priority assets by 2024.
Looking to the Future
By 2030 we will improve landscape and soil health by increasing the percentage of our estate achieving greater than 50% persistent groundcover with regional targets of:
– Savannah and Tropics – 90% of land achieving >50% cover
– Sub-tropics – 80% of land achieving >50% perennial cover
– Grasslands – 80% of land achieving >50% cover
– Desert country – 60% of land achieving >50% cover
