Quote:
Originally Posted by Suberman
First you need around 1,000 km on any new tire before judging its performance. For snow tires especially most good studless winter tires seem hopeless until all the sipes are properly scrubbed in. Fastest way to scrub new tires in is to slide the car around, so you're on the right track there!
Higher pressure is needed for grip as lower pressure leads to larger slip angles for a given amount of road grip. Don't lower pressures in winter tires, run stock pressures or slightly higher.
Remember to set cold pressures allowing for any expected changes in ambient temperature between the time and place you set or check the pressures and the time and place you will be driving.
For every 5C difference in these temperatures add 1 psi for colder and remove 1 psi for expected warmer temperatures. If you check the pressures in a warm garage or tire shop (surprising how many tire monkeys forget or don't know this) at say 20C and you drive out into say -20C ( common enough in Canada) your measured tire pressure in that warm shop will drop by 8 psi (approximately) when you finally park overnight. This really means you must set those "cold" pressures 8 psi too high (not to exceed the sidewalk maximum) which for this car in stick size would be 43 psi. Yes, really.
This is one reason Canada didn't make TPMS mandatory. Canadians MUST constantly check and adjust cold tire pressures to be safe because our climate is so variable and extreme. Your TPMS is set to trigger only after you lose about 6 psi so the tires are dangerously under inflated long before the warning trips.
Finally, there's a huge trade off between studless winter tire grip on ice and snow and bare road grip. Deciding which winter tire to run is like deciding which woman you want to date: what is your objective?
Michelin X ice series of winter tires give superb grip in severe winter conditions but the trade off will be fairly heart stopping poor grip on bare roads. You pays your money and makes your choice. Pirelli Sottozeros on my car are at the other end of the choice range. Fantastic bare road performance and heart stopping poor grip on snow (adequate actually but nowhere near as good as a Michelin X ice in snow).
Smokin' hot Italian girlfriend or the girl you could take home to dinner to meet your Mom? Which is it to be gentlemen?
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I'm ordering some tires this week, thank you for your insight.