Hi guys,

Bringing family up to Big Bear Mtns. this weekend to frolic in the snow. This will be the first time the Loyale sees snow. Just wanna make sure I have the right tire pressure. I have Grabber AT2 205/75/15. Any info would help. Thanks in advance.

... I have Grabber AT2 205/75/15 ...

 

That information Shall be Written on the Tire's Sidewall...

 

Have you already checked there?

 

Usually, the Pressure goes somewhere Between 28 and 44 Psi.

 

I Run my BumbleBeast's tires (205/60 R 15) with 34 Psi.

 

Remember: The Psi is a "Pressure" Measurement and does not have a relation about the Quantity of Air Liters inside a Tire; so Small and Big Tires could run great on Same 32 Psi, but the Small one will have less air inside, than the Big one.

 

Kind Regards.

The tire sidewall only shows the maximum pressure you can put in it, not how much you need for a given installation. To make it even murkier, I understand that the load rating is at 35 psi, even if it says the tire is rated for more (some up to 50!). You can put 50 psi in, if it says it is OK, but the load rating is the same as it is at 35. You might get better gas mileage at higher pressure, but worse tire mileage. (I tried it, and gas mileage was not noticeably better, but the tires did wear in the middle. Traction was not affected for what I was doing with the car. Michelin X-Ice snowies, 155/80 R13)

 

The pressure recommended by Subaru was for a (probably, look in your owner's manual or on the door jamb) 165SR-13, which had a maximum load rating at 32 psi, so that figure is almost useless to you, running modern tires of a completely different size. It does tell you how much capacity the tires need.

 

If you can get a chart that shows the load rating of your tires at different pressures, not just at maximum, you can choose a pressure that gives you the same capacity as the original tires at recommended pressure.

 

This one of the hardest things about these old cars, re-engineering the tires to match what is available today, as 165's are almost extinct, and there are darn few 13" tires of any size still being made.

Thanks 2.7 turbo and Rob for the info..didnt know how complicated tire pressure can be..i prolly run em at 35psi..

 

Cant wait!! Got like 6-7 in. of fresh powder in the local mtns

We'll air down to 10 or 15 psi for some snow. Helps with floatation and traction about the same as it does on sand. One year it was get stuck, let some more air out, drive out of the holes. So it's always good to not go down all the way at first as insurance. I find 10 is about as low as I'll go since beadlocks are not a common thing on Soobs. And be careful when going down to low pressures with doing cookies and such. Take a tire right off a rim if you get too nutty.

 

Of course this means you have to have a decent little pump/compressor with you and a gauge for when you hit the pavement again. (which to me is a requirement in any vehicle anyway)

 

Though with 6-7 inches, airing down is proly not needed.

35 is plenty, as the tires you are running are way bigger than stock.

Oh, and the 35 PSI max. might not apply to LT tires. That is the standard for standard car tires. But it looks like from the General website, that these are standard, not LT's.

Edited February 16, 201214 yr by robm

For every day driving, 30-35 is good for such big tires on such a light car. For offroad, I'd say start at 20, so if you get stuck you can let it down to 15 or 10.

Dunno about off road, but on snowy roads, the conventional wisdom around here (northern BC, in the snowy bit between the wet coast and the cold, dry interior) is narrow, studded tires to bite down to find something to grip. I run studded 155/80-13's (at 35 psi) in the winter, and have never had traction issues, even on unplowed, 8+" deep logging roads. Going out snowshoeing, I lead the pack of vehicles, figuring the F250 behind is more likely to be able to pull me out if I get stuck, rather than me pulling him. We usually run out of places where the F250 can turn around before I run out of either traction or ground clearance.

Guys,

I wanna thank u for all ur input n wisdom...im taking the kids including the 8mo. old and just wanna take all precautionary measures before heading up

Dunno about off road, but on snowy roads, the conventional wisdom around here (northern BC, in the snowy bit between the wet coast and the cold, dry interior) is narrow, studded tires to bite down to find something to grip. I run studded 155/80-13's (at 35 psi) in the winter, and have never had traction issues, even on unplowed, 8+" deep logging roads. Going out snowshoeing, I lead the pack of vehicles, figuring the F250 behind is more likely to be able to pull me out if I get stuck, rather than me pulling him. We usually run out of places where the F250 can turn around before I run out of either traction or ground clearance.

 

Yeah a lot of it depends on the snow. If it's powdery, I'll stay at street pressure and be just fine. But 95.8% of the time it's like wet cement around here. And you want to stay on top of it or it'll pack up under the car and high center you. So I'll air down to get more contact patch. I know it works because I've gotten buried at street pressure and seemed hopelessly stuck. Let some air out and just drove on out with no other problems that day.

So part of it is reading the conditions and adjusting accordingly.

 

This time of winter the snow is so bad around here with layers of crust, slush, crust, powder, crust..... etc. I just stay the heck away from it. :-\

And our local snowcat driver is running almost around the clock pulling big fully locked 4x4s out of the hills.