Just don't fall into the old mistake that was done with the Explorers. My father and brother both work for Ford. Part of the inside story on the Bridgestone issue was that in order to soften the ride and get rid of the jarring of potholes and such, people were mistakenly told by various sources that they could let air out of their tires and run them at 26PSI or less. This causes extra heat in the tire and premature failure. In some cases people weren't observant and their pressures got even lower.

From the standpoint of most people in the know... the whole Bridgestone issue was a combination of things. One was that the tires did seem to fail at a higher rate than Goodyear tires on the same vehicle and the second was that people were either setting their tire pressures too low or not keeping track of them well enough accelerating the failures as well. As for the vehicle having a tendency to roll after a tire failure... I remember reading somewhere that once the tire failed, Chevy Yukon's actually had a slightly higher chance of rolling.... they just weren't having the same number of tire failures.

Anyway.... that was longer than necessary.... all I wanted to say is don't let anyone tell you its safe to let more air out of your tires than the recommended pressure 35PSI.

 

I have the 4WD and haven't felt any of the issues you two are discribing. I don't know if its because of the 4WD or just that I'm not sensitive to it.