Winter Tire Pressure
Hi All,
Just switched over to my winter tires: 16 inch General Altimax Arctics mounted on steel rims. Am wondering if anyone has a suggested winter pressure setting. Tire placard on door jamb recommends 30 PSI but I found that to lead to very poor MPG/L per 100 kms.
Thoughts?
Just switched over to my winter tires: 16 inch General Altimax Arctics mounted on steel rims. Am wondering if anyone has a suggested winter pressure setting. Tire placard on door jamb recommends 30 PSI but I found that to lead to very poor MPG/L per 100 kms.
Thoughts?
1 - 15 of 15 Posts
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24,131 Posts
Winter tires are lousy on fuel economy. They're designed to stick as much as possible, which significantly increases rolling resistance. Keep them near the sidewall MAX PSI until you get snow or ice, then lower them to the door placard for extra traction.
Driving for over 60 years on the crap with winter tires, what was really good was studded snow tires, good on both fresh snow and ice. And would only buy a car with a limited slip differential. Than some AH's said no more studs, stiff fine if caught using them. AH's even blamed concrete slab heaving on studs.
So the studs had to be pulled out, and these were far worse for traction than using all season tires, so just stuck with those all these years. Think this was done in around 1976 so 40 years of this BS.
This totally idiotic traction control and ABS is also pure BS, never will replace a well balanced vehicle, definitely not limited slip. What really has changed, instead of driving 40-55 mph on this crap, have to slow down to around 25. Traction control darn near killed me with this stupid Cruze, good thing is I can turn the darn thing off.
So what' the problem? Have complete AH's running this country, I just stick with the label pressures, but always have to add some come winter. Not looking forward to another one.
Major reason for dumping good runners is severe salt damage, another government created problem, unibodies really suck. When you can't open a door anymore due to center vehicle sagging, have to get rid of it. Another one just bit the dust a couple of months ago.
Another thing that really has changed is that our vehicles were made for servicing, why replace an expensive component when it only needed a ten cent bushing to make it like new again. Today, just about every component is throwaway, and the pricetags have increased drastically.
How did our AH government deal with this? Invented recycling. What happened to the five mile bumper, two year old grandson on a tricycle can wreck the crap they are using today. But those sticker prices keep on going up. We are all getting screwed!
So the studs had to be pulled out, and these were far worse for traction than using all season tires, so just stuck with those all these years. Think this was done in around 1976 so 40 years of this BS.
This totally idiotic traction control and ABS is also pure BS, never will replace a well balanced vehicle, definitely not limited slip. What really has changed, instead of driving 40-55 mph on this crap, have to slow down to around 25. Traction control darn near killed me with this stupid Cruze, good thing is I can turn the darn thing off.
So what' the problem? Have complete AH's running this country, I just stick with the label pressures, but always have to add some come winter. Not looking forward to another one.
Major reason for dumping good runners is severe salt damage, another government created problem, unibodies really suck. When you can't open a door anymore due to center vehicle sagging, have to get rid of it. Another one just bit the dust a couple of months ago.
Another thing that really has changed is that our vehicles were made for servicing, why replace an expensive component when it only needed a ten cent bushing to make it like new again. Today, just about every component is throwaway, and the pricetags have increased drastically.
How did our AH government deal with this? Invented recycling. What happened to the five mile bumper, two year old grandson on a tricycle can wreck the crap they are using today. But those sticker prices keep on going up. We are all getting screwed!
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958 Posts
Nick remember when you used to be able to jack up the car by the bumper?
Now you can rip the bumper off by hand.
My tires are at 37-38 now. But I'll bump them up to 40 so wen it gets really cold the pressure might only drop to 35. I usually don't drive the cruze in the snow. Have the 2003 S-10 with a decent amount of rust for that. I try to keep the salt on one vehicle during the winter.
Now you can rip the bumper off by hand.
My tires are at 37-38 now. But I'll bump them up to 40 so wen it gets really cold the pressure might only drop to 35. I usually don't drive the cruze in the snow. Have the 2003 S-10 with a decent amount of rust for that. I try to keep the salt on one vehicle during the winter.
Our Michelin Xi3s actually aren't terrible on fuel. Somehow they managed to make it an LRR tire - yet be one of the best snow tires out there. Guess that's why you pay a premium for them.
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3,261 Posts
Junk I declare!
Tire Rack would beg to differ. They only rank the Blizzak WS80 better - and it just came out recently.
Xi3 is far better on fuel for a minimal difference in snow performance. It's not as good in deep snow, but it's still great (we drove through easily 8-10" before - well over the ground clearance of the car - and it never even initiated traction control), and wayyyy better than any no-season tire.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=W&VT=C
I did my research. There's a reason I bought them.
If I decide to buy winter tires for the Cav, because why not, I will likely go with the General Altimax Artics.
Back to the thread at hand though, on tire pressure...
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6,727 Posts
Tire rack testing as well as their user reviews are for brand new tires. I've found that even a slightly worn tire will not hold up to their claimed numbers. I've purchased tires they claimed where good as well as had very good user reviews, and not been happy for long.
Why do so many people post useless reviews of tires before they even put 20-30K on them? Let me know what you think after a few seasons.
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97 Posts
You are barking up the wrong tree. Winter tires is only a miniscule part of the overall fuel mileage drop in cold weather. Here is an article by our AH government about all the factors. This article is very factual. No opinions in it. https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/coldweather.shtml
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2,811 Posts
Interesting article. I really like my seat heaters. Not going to worry about the tiny bit of gas they use.
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4 Posts
I always recommand 32 psi at the front and 30 at the rear , tires are using similar . If you re using cheap tires , look for 35 psi
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I bought a set of 15 inch steelies and Altimax for the winter.. Will be mounting them soon. Coming from an AWD Subaru with All Seasons so will be interesting to see how this performs when taking off compared to AWD.. Stopping and cornerning will obviously be better.
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