We just bought our first car in US, a 2006 Toyota Highlander basic. Then winter arrives. I've never driven during winter (coming from a tropical country), so it's a bit confusing for me right now. The recommended tire pressure is 30 psi, the previous owner suggested 35-36 psi, my colleague suggested 32 psi, another suggested I should reduce pressure during winter, another suggested I should increase tire pressure. The tire pressure sensor light came on the day we brought the car back so I'm unsure what to do but feeling uneasy about everything. Can anyone give me a clearer suggestion? Thanks a lot!
Katzesaurus
The placards on vehicles are set for a soft ride. Typically it’s a little low if you do a chalk test. Running 32 psi on a 1st Gen HL is a good pressure year round.
As for reduced pressure in snow, it depends on the snow. The right tire for traction in the winter area you’re in (east coast snow is completely different than mountain snow) can make a world of difference without airing down. If you’re ever having trouble with traction in snow, reducing pressure helps a lot. But don’t bother unless you’re really getting stuck. When we reduce for snow wheeling, we’re talking 15 psi and lower. That comes with its own risks: popping the tire off the wheel, sidewall pinching, etc.
Being new to winter climates, best advice is to do things very gently (i.e. no sudden movements...that goes for steering, accelerating, and braking). Leave lots of distance between cars. And when you start out on snow, test it to get an idea of traction. Get moving up to 15 mph then brake while increasing brake pressure to learn how quick you can stop before losing traction. Obviously, don’t do that on a downhill or with traffic around. At some point, find an empty parking lot and play around to get a feel for what it’s like losing traction. Learning your and your vehicle’s limits will pay dividends.
As for reduced pressure in snow, it depends on the snow. The right tire for traction in the winter area you’re in (east coast snow is completely different than mountain snow) can make a world of difference without airing down. If you’re ever having trouble with traction in snow, reducing pressure helps a lot. But don’t bother unless you’re really getting stuck. When we reduce for snow wheeling, we’re talking 15 psi and lower. That comes with its own risks: popping the tire off the wheel, sidewall pinching, etc.
Being new to winter climates, best advice is to do things very gently (i.e. no sudden movements...that goes for steering, accelerating, and braking). Leave lots of distance between cars. And when you start out on snow, test it to get an idea of traction. Get moving up to 15 mph then brake while increasing brake pressure to learn how quick you can stop before losing traction. Obviously, don’t do that on a downhill or with traffic around. At some point, find an empty parking lot and play around to get a feel for what it’s like losing traction. Learning your and your vehicle’s limits will pay dividends.
Reducing tire pressure in snow was from WAY WAY back in the old days before radial ply tires were used here in the US. On a modern radial tire actually increasing pressures a little gives you a better overall traction profile in poor weather (rain, ice and snow). Mine you I am not saying going from 30 to 40 PSI. Keeping them in the range of 32 to 35 certainly though. One important thing is to NEVER exceed the sidewall rating. Though honestly only a sadist would want to ride around with their tires at that pressure. That is meant for maximum load weights. The poster saying the pressures are only meant for a smooth ride is wrong (especially since the days of the old Ford Exploder) which due to tires from Firestone and recommended UNDER inflation by Ford for that "smooth" ride gave many folks the last smooth ride on this earth a trip in a Hearse and up to the pearly gates.
Auto companies test these things like crazy. 30 (as is recommended) is a GOOD all around pressure. However personally in the winter especially I run just a little higher. Due to a couple reasons. A slightly harder (radial tire ONLY here) will "bite" through some of the muck on the roads a little better. Also you'll have less likelihood of finding yourself in a low pressure situation if temps drop drastically. Though I see you're in Tennessee and extreme low temps are pretty unlikely as is dealing with the types of temps and extreme driving conditions we have here in the frozen northland
Although one disadvantage you WILL have there in TN is they (public works/road maintenance crews) don't know how to deal with really bad stuff or have the required equipment to do so. So, what would be here a VERY minor event becomes a major catastrophe in the south.
Good luck run maybe 32 PSI all around and keep your head on slippery stuff, You'll be fine. The good thing also is the Highlander is a fantastic handling machine in bad stuff with the AWD models
Auto companies test these things like crazy. 30 (as is recommended) is a GOOD all around pressure. However personally in the winter especially I run just a little higher. Due to a couple reasons. A slightly harder (radial tire ONLY here) will "bite" through some of the muck on the roads a little better. Also you'll have less likelihood of finding yourself in a low pressure situation if temps drop drastically. Though I see you're in Tennessee and extreme low temps are pretty unlikely as is dealing with the types of temps and extreme driving conditions we have here in the frozen northland
Although one disadvantage you WILL have there in TN is they (public works/road maintenance crews) don't know how to deal with really bad stuff or have the required equipment to do so. So, what would be here a VERY minor event becomes a major catastrophe in the south.
Good luck run maybe 32 PSI all around and keep your head on slippery stuff, You'll be fine. The good thing also is the Highlander is a fantastic handling machine in bad stuff with the AWD models
OK, he asked for advice and we gave him exactly what he had before - opposing opinions.
OP, physics is physics. Friction between road and tire is directly proportionate to tire footprint on the road. You lower pressure, tire flattens some, you get more contact, you have more surface area, you have more friction. It is a s simple as that. This is why ALL vehicles that are designed for crappy roads up in real north of Earth have very large, soft tires with controlled inflation. But that is beyond a simple point. So you lower pressure to about 30 to drive on snow, then you get to normal cleaned asphalt or concrete freeway or arterial. You have to raise pressure back to whatever the plaquet on the door says - 32, or you will ruin tires very fast on the edges. Are you really going to do this game every time you drive? Set it to 32 and don't bother.
Question most important - do you have all wheel drive or not? AWD surely makes life much easier. You are not off roading in Yakutsk. You are driving on normally well maintained roads in the USA and AWD, if nothing stupid is done, usually does just fine as is.
Question of second most importance. GET WINTER TIRES. Go to Discount Tire website, pick best priced winter tires for your car. Unless you have to drive on ice a lot, you do not need studded tires. If you want to be super frugal, go to a junk yard tire shop. They will sell you wheels and winter tires for fraction of the cost of the new ones, as you will use them for only few months. It is much faster and easier, to simply put winter tires on cheap wheels on, for winter, and take them off, for spring and so on. Instead of paying tire shop every time to mount and dismount and balance them. Storage of course becomes and issue, I don't know your housing situation.
Plenty Canadians here with advice. Here's mine, from a guy who drove for years a manual car, in very cold and snowy country, on bad no traction tires in the city, situated on 7 hills, so whichever way you go, it's up or down the hill, with very poorly maintained roads:
1. winter tires
2. very gentle accelerations. VERY
3. very gentle steering wheel maneuvers. VERY. What means a lot of ahead planning.
4. lots of engine braking instead of pedal braking
5. if you hit the patch and went into glide, do NOT brake. IMMEDIATELY shift into neutral. THEN do pulse braking. Again, NO sudden steering wheel movements.
Basically, you triple your distance to a car in front of you and make everything else very slow and well planned ahead. Going up hill or down hill, you get right side of your car off the road, onto shoulder, as it's always filled with rocks and pebbles, what results in high friction surface. Stay away from anything black on the road. If possible, drive on SNOW as snow is high friction, when not compacted.
Remember one thing. Even if you have AWD or 4x4, if you do stupid, you go from four wheel drive to four wheel slide.
OP, physics is physics. Friction between road and tire is directly proportionate to tire footprint on the road. You lower pressure, tire flattens some, you get more contact, you have more surface area, you have more friction. It is a s simple as that. This is why ALL vehicles that are designed for crappy roads up in real north of Earth have very large, soft tires with controlled inflation. But that is beyond a simple point. So you lower pressure to about 30 to drive on snow, then you get to normal cleaned asphalt or concrete freeway or arterial. You have to raise pressure back to whatever the plaquet on the door says - 32, or you will ruin tires very fast on the edges. Are you really going to do this game every time you drive? Set it to 32 and don't bother.
Question most important - do you have all wheel drive or not? AWD surely makes life much easier. You are not off roading in Yakutsk. You are driving on normally well maintained roads in the USA and AWD, if nothing stupid is done, usually does just fine as is.
Question of second most importance. GET WINTER TIRES. Go to Discount Tire website, pick best priced winter tires for your car. Unless you have to drive on ice a lot, you do not need studded tires. If you want to be super frugal, go to a junk yard tire shop. They will sell you wheels and winter tires for fraction of the cost of the new ones, as you will use them for only few months. It is much faster and easier, to simply put winter tires on cheap wheels on, for winter, and take them off, for spring and so on. Instead of paying tire shop every time to mount and dismount and balance them. Storage of course becomes and issue, I don't know your housing situation.
Plenty Canadians here with advice. Here's mine, from a guy who drove for years a manual car, in very cold and snowy country, on bad no traction tires in the city, situated on 7 hills, so whichever way you go, it's up or down the hill, with very poorly maintained roads:
1. winter tires
2. very gentle accelerations. VERY
3. very gentle steering wheel maneuvers. VERY. What means a lot of ahead planning.
4. lots of engine braking instead of pedal braking
5. if you hit the patch and went into glide, do NOT brake. IMMEDIATELY shift into neutral. THEN do pulse braking. Again, NO sudden steering wheel movements.
Basically, you triple your distance to a car in front of you and make everything else very slow and well planned ahead. Going up hill or down hill, you get right side of your car off the road, onto shoulder, as it's always filled with rocks and pebbles, what results in high friction surface. Stay away from anything black on the road. If possible, drive on SNOW as snow is high friction, when not compacted.
Remember one thing. Even if you have AWD or 4x4, if you do stupid, you go from four wheel drive to four wheel slide.
I have driven in a snowstorm that left so much ice in my wheel wells I could not turn the steering wheel enough to make a left or right turn in a normal intersection had to go through the intersection and back up to turn, until I let the ice melt, or beat it off and broke the plastic fenders on an 84 CRX, bought new. Snow is no problem, ice so pure you can see through it like glass and the crown of the road forces you into the curb, now that's another scenario altogether.
I run sidewall max or even higher on my Mirage, not so high on my Toyota pickup. I also hypermile the Mirage, not the truck, which gets driven only occasionally. Drive 30,000 miles on $1000 fuel and in a foot of fresh snow, only packed enough to not knock the front bumper off the car. Deeper and I take the truck, which sits on the street 10 feet above my garage on a 70 foot driveway. I do clear the driveway of snow and never try to drive up a fresh snowfall on a grade that steep (14%+), regardless of 2 or 4 wheel drive.
Last tank on the Mirage was 51 MPG, less than 5 cents a mile, hybrid territory. The Echo stays just under 50 MPG at 18 years age and 158k miles. It goes back on the road in April, I change between the Mirage and the Echo every 6 months, for a $2 tag transfer fee. It keeps my miles on the Mirage lower to get the full 10 years out of the 10/100 warranty (833 miles a month).
Drop the pressure in snow or ice and you increase the contact patch which reduces the pressure per square inch on the road surface.
Modern traction control will not allow you to slip tires.
My suggestion would be to compare different pressures on the same road surface to see which works best, with the actuation of traction control allowing you to accelerate and abs to allow you to brake and find out for yourself which pressure is best for you specifically. I run pressures that give me the best mileage and do not change them when there is ice or snow and I have to drive with the idiots here who have no concept of driving on ice or snow, whihc complicates things even more than driving around other drivers with years or winter driving experience.
I run sidewall max or even higher on my Mirage, not so high on my Toyota pickup. I also hypermile the Mirage, not the truck, which gets driven only occasionally. Drive 30,000 miles on $1000 fuel and in a foot of fresh snow, only packed enough to not knock the front bumper off the car. Deeper and I take the truck, which sits on the street 10 feet above my garage on a 70 foot driveway. I do clear the driveway of snow and never try to drive up a fresh snowfall on a grade that steep (14%+), regardless of 2 or 4 wheel drive.
Last tank on the Mirage was 51 MPG, less than 5 cents a mile, hybrid territory. The Echo stays just under 50 MPG at 18 years age and 158k miles. It goes back on the road in April, I change between the Mirage and the Echo every 6 months, for a $2 tag transfer fee. It keeps my miles on the Mirage lower to get the full 10 years out of the 10/100 warranty (833 miles a month).
Drop the pressure in snow or ice and you increase the contact patch which reduces the pressure per square inch on the road surface.
Modern traction control will not allow you to slip tires.
My suggestion would be to compare different pressures on the same road surface to see which works best, with the actuation of traction control allowing you to accelerate and abs to allow you to brake and find out for yourself which pressure is best for you specifically. I run pressures that give me the best mileage and do not change them when there is ice or snow and I have to drive with the idiots here who have no concept of driving on ice or snow, whihc complicates things even more than driving around other drivers with years or winter driving experience.
"OP, physics is physics. Friction between road and tire is directly proportionate to tire footprint on the road. You lower pressure, tire flattens some, you get more contact, you have more surface area, you have more friction. It is a s simple as that. This is why ALL vehicles that are designed for crappy roads up in real north of Earth have very large, soft tires with controlled inflation. But that is beyond a simple point. So you lower pressure to about 30 to drive on snow, then you get to normal cleaned asphalt or concrete freeway or arterial. You have to raise pressure back to whatever the plaquet on the door says - 32, or you will ruin tires very fast on the edges. Are you really going to do this game every time you drive? Set it to 32 and don't bother."
This is not true on radial tires. Obviously if you run ridiculously high pressures like some people do than yes. But with modern radial tires raising pressures SLIGHTLY not EXTREME will actually give s little better overall traction in wet.inclement weather, Again going to stupid extremes no. I am referring to say running 32 to 35 if the placard calls for 30. Radial tires will actually cup slightly in the center if underinflated. Again not referring to extremes here only slight deviations.
And OP you will NOT ruin your tires unless you're driving an early Ford Explorer in which Ford did NOT specify proper safe operating pressures. Which caused a huge issue and many lives lost. Of course Firestone was not completely blameless here as their inferior tires at the time came apart way too easily.
Since that time manufacturers have done much to ensure SAFE and efficient operation. Not to mention CAFE requirements are doing the same to specify less rolling resistance. Believe me no one wants to go through the s^&t Ford went through and Firestone went through with that fiasco ever again.
Going over board on inflation is nearly as dangerous as the opposite. Spec plus 10% is very safe if you feel the need to go over a little.
This is not true on radial tires. Obviously if you run ridiculously high pressures like some people do than yes. But with modern radial tires raising pressures SLIGHTLY not EXTREME will actually give s little better overall traction in wet.inclement weather, Again going to stupid extremes no. I am referring to say running 32 to 35 if the placard calls for 30. Radial tires will actually cup slightly in the center if underinflated. Again not referring to extremes here only slight deviations.
And OP you will NOT ruin your tires unless you're driving an early Ford Explorer in which Ford did NOT specify proper safe operating pressures. Which caused a huge issue and many lives lost. Of course Firestone was not completely blameless here as their inferior tires at the time came apart way too easily.
Since that time manufacturers have done much to ensure SAFE and efficient operation. Not to mention CAFE requirements are doing the same to specify less rolling resistance. Believe me no one wants to go through the s^&t Ford went through and Firestone went through with that fiasco ever again.
Going over board on inflation is nearly as dangerous as the opposite. Spec plus 10% is very safe if you feel the need to go over a little.
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