Subaru: Tire pressure for winter tires

When getting my winter tires installed, the mechanic mentioned that they
recommend setting the pressure to a couple of PSI less than summers. This
seems sensible, but I wondered if anyone had any experience or facts to back
this up?

His reasoning is you want a slightly softer tire to grip the road better.
Coupled, I would guess, with the idea that you are not as likely to be
cornering as hard! Since I usually run about 2 PSI above the suggested
inflation, this would actually bring me down to normal anyway.
Cheers,
Tim

"Tim Reeve" <com> wrote in message news:<_1dwb.1793$bellglobal.com>... 

within reason, lower air pressure means more traction and more wear.
before this winter i drove in an area that was snowy, but not very
icy, now i'm in an icy/snowy winter and this is my first year with
real winter tires. on my subaru, i'm keeping my eagle hp all seasons,
but on my old 4runner i decided to go with the winter dueler (light
truck blizzak). i haven't run them very far so i can't comment on
wear, but i'm only running 20psi in the tires and i have excellent
(better than studs) traction. i've known people to run as low as 8psi
in their blizzaks when it's really icy out, but i think my truck it
too heavy to do that without serious tire damage.

i've never been one to really believe the sticker in the door that
says what tire pressure to run. that value may be true for the oe
tires, but even going to a different brand or model in the same size
tire, you may have to change pressure to get the handling
characteristics to be optimal. as a rough guide the total contact
patch of your tires times the pressure in your tires is equal to the
weight of your car. so if you go to a little wider tire, you can
safely lower your pressure (within reason). my advice is to play
around with the pressures until you find what gives you the handling
characteristics that make you feel comfortable, and then watch tire
wear to make sure everything is even. one thing the sticker on the
door is good for it telling you the weight distribution. on my truck
it says to run 32/30 psi in the front/rear. that means the front it
probably about 7% heaver so i should run about 7% more pressure in my
fronts than my rears, that's what i do and it handles great. i do the
same for my car and have never had any problems.

mike