All I can guess at on that would be to absolutely minimize pounds per square inch loading where the tire meets the dirt. That would be contrary to power efficiency. Yes it would seem to be like driving with half flat tires.

They were paranoid about some places having soft fluffy dust that could bury people and machines. By Apollo 15 they had a lot of knowledge about the surface, but remember, each LEM touched down in a geologically different area. Although the surface dust turned out pretty much the same in hindsight.

There may have been other reasons.