Winter Tire Pressure...
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 762
Likes: 125
From: Houston TX
Winter Tire Pressure...
I keep the recommended 30 psi as I check in my garage.
With winter temps as I park at work, it reads 27 - 28. So it'll be only 27 psi for awhile before it warms up on the drive to gym & then home.
Thinking I need to up it to 32 psi to compensate for the colder winter temps...
Or keep it at 30 psi always...?
Thoughts?
With winter temps as I park at work, it reads 27 - 28. So it'll be only 27 psi for awhile before it warms up on the drive to gym & then home.
Thinking I need to up it to 32 psi to compensate for the colder winter temps...
Or keep it at 30 psi always...?
Thoughts?
Team Owner
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 46,295
Likes: 2,596
From: Northern, VA
St. Jude Donor '15
"In honor of jpee"
Yes, your garage is almost always warmer than winter outdoor conditions. I'd boost it up to match what could be 30 outdoors. For instance, my garage sits around 50 at 32 outside. If I know my car's going out and sitting somewhere, I adjust (and I do at the beginning of the season, just in case esp. for my DD) to the outside air, 32. As it goes down further (to 20) I adjust again with more air in the tires even as my garage stays between 45 and 50. Why? I'm not driving in my garage. 
As a tire engineer once said on the news, "I'd rather see someone with 2 pounds more air in their tires, than 1 below what they should have." A slight exaggeration both ways, but what he really is meaning is that someone with less air is more of a danger potentially (as temps get lower outside) than someone with a couple more.
As a tire engineer once said on the news, "I'd rather see someone with 2 pounds more air in their tires, than 1 below what they should have." A slight exaggeration both ways, but what he really is meaning is that someone with less air is more of a danger potentially (as temps get lower outside) than someone with a couple more.
Dazed Confused & Verklemp
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 1,398
Likes: 109
From: Naples, FL & Clear Lake, IA
I usually run my vehicles at higher pressures than recommended. Only negative is that too much air can affect traction slightly. Unless you really go overboard tire wear won't be affected. The upside is that when temperatures vary greatly from morning to afternoon, or day to day, you won't be getting TPMS faults. At least in the Vette you can check actual temps by tire, but in Ford and other co. products, you really don't know which tire, or how low they are.
Had my Flex give me a low tire reading on our trip back to IA at Christmas. Tires looked fine, so not wanting to dig out my pump or buy air... I just kept going. Turned out tires were like 1 lb below recommendation cold, which was due to outside temps dropping as we went North.
Had my Flex give me a low tire reading on our trip back to IA at Christmas. Tires looked fine, so not wanting to dig out my pump or buy air... I just kept going. Turned out tires were like 1 lb below recommendation cold, which was due to outside temps dropping as we went North.
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