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Tire & Wheel Forum sponsored by The Tire Rack |
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01-23-2021, 02:36 PM | #1 |
Scooby Guru
Member#: 53558
Join Date: Jan 2004
Chapter/Region:
NWIC
Location: Deadford, OR
Vehicle:2005 Baja Turbo White/Silver/Black 3tone |
Tire Pressure: What to run, where to run it?
So, I do mixed driving. Dry pavement, wet pavement, ice, snow, offroad on gravel, offroad on dirt, offroad on rocky hellscapes.
The only surface I don't drive on is sand. (Cough. Anymore. Cough.) So, I know that for best traction on wet pavement, using either summer tires, all season tires, or snow tires, higher, but still reasonable, tire pressure is ideal for grip. I also know that when driving on loose surfaces, sad, dirt, or gravel, lower, but still reasonable, tire pressure is best. And for driving on rough surfaces (the rocky hellscape), higher tire pressure is ideal, since you can wreck tires with low tire pressure (unless they're meant for this). So, what about snow and ice? I've never seen anything detailing tire pressure for snow and ice driving... I usually just leave my tire pressure on the 'high' side, and normally don't have issues, but I'm wondering if this is ideal.
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01-23-2021, 07:05 PM | #2 |
Scooby Specialist
Member#: 8365
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Massachusetts
Vehicle:2019 Mazda MX-5 RF Machine Grey |
Mazda puts "use 3 PSI more in winter tires" but it may be more about ambient temperature.
Early morning temperature may be very different from mid day. Myself I use sticker PSI + 10%. Krzys |
01-23-2021, 07:52 PM | #3 | |
Scooby Guru
Member#: 53558
Join Date: Jan 2004
Chapter/Region:
NWIC
Location: Deadford, OR
Vehicle:2005 Baja Turbo White/Silver/Black 3tone |
Quote:
But yeah, I guess it makes sense to run a bit more air pressure during the winter in a snow tire. |
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01-24-2021, 06:38 PM | #4 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 233053
Join Date: Dec 2009
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Are these cold tire pressures you guys are talking about? I have tried running 37front and 35 rear cold on my 18" wrx and have crazy tramlining issues on the highway. How are you guys not experiencing this with even higher air pressures! I'm running 265/35/18 which probably has something to do with it.
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01-25-2021, 12:24 PM | #5 | |
Scooby Guru
Member#: 53558
Join Date: Jan 2004
Chapter/Region:
NWIC
Location: Deadford, OR
Vehicle:2005 Baja Turbo White/Silver/Black 3tone |
Quote:
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01-25-2021, 05:46 PM | #6 |
Scooby Specialist
Member#: 8365
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Massachusetts
Vehicle:2019 Mazda MX-5 RF Machine Grey |
All PSI cold.
Only racers care about hot pressures, AFAIK. Krzy***347; |
01-27-2021, 08:00 PM | #7 |
Scooby Newbie
Member#: 386600
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Western Canada
Vehicle:2015 WRX |
A larger contact patch (lower pressure) is better for ice grip.
A smaller contact patch (higher pressure) is better in snow in most conditions. Usually you want the tire to dig down to a grippier surface underneath. In some situations it's better to try to stay on top of the snow with a larger contact patch though (more like a snowmobile). This is the case when the snow is too deep or maybe if there is a layer of ice underneath. I would just run similar pressures to summer. If you get caught in some bad freezing rain you could think about maybe dropping the pressure by a few psi. If you're using winter tires in warm weather, higher pressure might be better to keep their temperature down for reduced wear. I typically run 36psi front, 30 psi rear. |
01-28-2021, 07:39 PM | #8 |
Scooby Specialist
Member#: 45076
Join Date: Oct 2003
Chapter/Region:
Tri-State
Location: Rockland County, NY
Vehicle:2004 Stg 2 wagon AT 16 BRZ. Both silver |
35 all around, no issues at all.
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01-28-2021, 08:13 PM | #9 |
Scooby Specialist
Member#: 373868
Join Date: Nov 2013
Chapter/Region:
Tri-State
Location: Queens, NY
Vehicle:'04 STi WRB |
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