Best tire pressure for driving in snow?

[HareRazor]

I have a 2wd truck that I have been running 8 bags of salt(320lbs) right up against the cab this year with about 30 psi in my tires and it has been doing great. I have cheap walmart douglas xterra tires on it, and they are a big improvement on the ones I have ran on my truck in previous years.

 

[Will]

skinny tires do better in deep snow especially, get down to the road surface easier than fat tires. fatter tires are better on ice, more rubber in contact with the slick surface.

You've definately got it bass akwards.

Whenever I get stuck in deep snow it's because it's packed up into the frame of the truck. On ice, you are interested in as much pressure in as small an area as possible.

 

[rockwerks]

You've definately got it bass akwards.

Whenever I get stuck in deep snow it's because it's packed up into the frame of the truck. On ice, you are interested in as much pressure in as small an area as possible.

Skinny tire on both for onroad is the best. even rock crawling a skinny tire is better (within reason). the smaller the contact patch the HIGHER the weight per square inch of contact patch.

 

[strvger]

on ice you want to max the amount of contact area between the tire and the ice. bigger tire footprint, the better you'll be. pressure has little bearing on solid ice, friction does. fatter tires (more rubber) do better on ice.
skinny tires are usually taller as well due to the aspect ratio. taller tires raise your axles, frame, etc. farther your truck parts are from the snow, the better. little traction on snow, need to get down to the hard surface if possible which is why big, open tire lugs clear themselves of snow (and mud). if you don't have any idea how deep the snow is, then your best finding another route.

 

[Original_Ranger84]

Actually in general its better to have skinnier tires in the winter. A fat area on the ice especially mud tires is the worse. The reason Ice is so slick is because as your itres or anything go over it the very top thinnest part of the ice melts into water making it really slick so a large surface area especially the big flat bloocks of Mud tires is al floating on the water making it super slick. A skinny winter tire will still do that but with less surface area there is like said before more weight on the tires per inch with the siping pushes through the water better.

As for deep snow its better to have a skinny tire to sink down to the grippy stuff underneith you can get a tall skinny tire for the ground clearance, We run 235 85 16's or something like that on our for the winter.

 

[strvger]

perhaps it boils down more to your driving style. i've got close to 2 ft. of snow on the ground here and most of the side streets and secondary roads have been hard packed snow and ice for over 2 weeks now. it will stay this way (at best) for the next 2-3 months. having driven in these conditions (and many others) for the past 46+ years, you tend to learn for yourself what to do and what not to do as well as what works best for you. as with any other subject, the most important factor is usually the individual. what i've learned that works best for me will not be the same for most other folks i'm sure. but, i've gotten by... only 1 accident on ice when i was young and still learning. so, i guess the only correct answer, imho, is finding what is best for you, your driving style, and your vehicle and stick with it.

 

[Original_Ranger84]

Yeah I guess... I never use different size tires really. I just drive and adapt to what I have but I have generally heard and found that skinner tires work better overall... plus I always look into the physics of things to see if its possible...

 

[thebigyellowtruck]

on my truck i had a fat street tire last winter. it just made me slip and slide all over. this year i picked up a set of all season tires off of craigslist for $60. we just had our first real snow accumulation today. at the beginning of the day i had no weight in my truck and i was sliding everywhere even with my tall, skinny all season tire. i added 400 lbs of sand right over top the axle and now i can keep up with the 4x4's in the snow. the weight seemed to make all the difference in the world.

 

[Nater]

Well....I got a wild hair today and decided to rotate the Pirelli Scorpions to the front and the Michellin XCXs to the rear.......



Result...100x better in the snow. We had about 7 inches of powder last night and I decided to play a little bit today. Had my tractor on standby incase, but ended up not needing it. The Michellin's were digging thru it all.

 

[JohnnyO]

Factory recommended pressure on Rangers with 31's is 30 psi.

 

[MountainMike]

I run 35... But then again I have winter tire with lots of siping so the higher pressure opens up the sipes for more grip. But with street tires I would reccomend probably around 30 as an average...

The guy from northern Canada recommends you follow the Alaskan's advice

 

[Slim]

ok...They are predicting more snow this week...Yesterday was a pain to drive in...got sideways yesterday on the way home from work...luckily there was no one else on the road otherwise it would have been worse. Rear end lost traction and came around on me. The current tires that I have right now are Pirelli Scorpions with good tread still on them.

lol

Do we know how many different versions of the Scorpion that Pirelli has? Tire pressure isn't gonna help an all season tire that sucks in the snow, period ... and neither is 100 measly pounds of weight in the back.

You gotta man up, boy. At least do yourself, and everyone around you (in front), a favour and get matching Michelins up front. Think brakes now that you have the acceleration part sorted out.

 

[MountainMike]

Hopefully they are atleast Scorpion ATR's for an iota of traction. I recomend winter tires or at the very least a matching set of good all terrains like the Wrangler Silent Armour.

 

[Nater]

Yes, they are the ATRs...The wife wants me to wait till Spring before I get some new rubber. She said I could get the lift kit in the spring too....hmmmmm....I wonder if I can get her to agree to a re-gear too...

 

[Slim]

Yes, they are the ATRs...The wife wants me to wait till Spring before I get some new rubber. She said I could get the lift kit in the spring too....hmmmmm....I wonder if I can get her to agree to a re-gear too...

Just do it and claim ignorance of assumption if confronted. "But honey, you HAVE TO re-gear if you put bigger tires". Back it up with some good ol' fashioned practical reasoning like how it'll TOTALLY trash your fuel economy without a re-gear and you should be set.

This great advice will cost you an additional $29.99. I'll let you off the hook this time though since, you know, you have to ask permission to spend money and all. (sorry, had to)