What PSI is everyone running with their winter tires?

I ended up going with Mich Pilot Alpines H-Rated 225/60/16. I have a 5th gen currently at 33psi all around.

 

I'd be inclined to just run them at regular stock PSI or whatever you usually run.... then again, the winters are usually pretty mild here (screwed up weather recently tho).

If it snows a lot or is icy I'd probably run a lower tire pressure (assuming you don't do lots of high-speed driving ->heat->failure) so that the tire squishes down a bit more to give you some extra contact patch and molds around the bumps a bit better.

 

I have 205/65R15 Arctic Alpins and just run standard pressures. With the extreme temperature variations, I check the PSI quite frequently though. Doesn't take much for the PSI to really sag...

 

So what PSI are you running?

 

So what PSI are you running?

 

29 PSI, stock like I said, it's usually mild here.

 

36 front 33 rear

 

33psi, give or take.

 

Inflate your tires per the owner's manual. Reducing tire pressure in the winter comes from the days of bias ply tires, and it did work (did I just let on how old I am?).

However, with radials, standard inflation holds the tread open properly and allows the tire to operate as designed (optimizing traction, snow and mud release, water dispersion, etc). If anything, soft radials heat up more and wear quicker on the outside edges.

The best cure for winter traction problems is four snows.

 

I run 33 in the front and 30 in the back...basically the stock set up, just 1 PSI higher.

 

You don't want the sidewalls to sag, this would cause the contact patch to widen. This means less traction in the snow.

 

Hmm, I don't know about that. They say for deep, fresh snow skinny tires are better because they concentrate more force on the ground and compact the snow better.

But what if the snow is already compacted (like sometimes in the city)? Wouldn't increased contact patch be desirable then because you can't really dig into the snow much more, and you'd have more of the rubber and tread in contact with the ground (snow)?

I suppose it comes down to which is gives you more; contact patch or ground pressure.... Come to think of it, this is starting to sound a lot like the weight/grip tradeoff debate with the wheel size thread!

 

I would want more pressure. Less area = more pressure.