Lower tire pressure in heay snow?

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Is her car new enough to have TPMS? My low pressure light first kicks on when the pressure drops below 28 psi. It may be a major headache, not to mention add a bit of anxiety, when the tire pressure light comes on during those cold Ohio winter mornings. I keep mine set at 35 psi all year.
 
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Lowering the pressure would help the tire "float" on the snow. You don't want that. Most snow tires are narrower than the stock tires. You want to cut thru the snow and get to the pavement. If you're going to mess with tire pressure, I'd think you'd want to raise the pressure.
 
If you go the route of putting weight in the back of the RAV4, make absolutely sure that it's secure. If she's taking a curve and the ballast shifts, it's going to kick the back end out when it hits the side of the cargo area. I had a 39 lb case of water in the back of my 4WD V6 RAV4 do that, and I can attest that when it transfers its momentum to the vehicle, the back end gets squirrely.
 
Ken2 is correct. A bigger footprint is helpful when driving in mud or sand. On snow you want a smaller footprint. If anything, higher tire pressure might give you better traction. The sandbags would definitely help if it was a rear wheel drive vehicle, not sure if it will help in your case with FWD.
 
It's a rare day a tire will 'cut down to pavement' especially on iced packed road or below 20 degrees..If your not driving like Al Unser unlikely to be testing the sidewalls @25psi anyway, and you'll get more tred on the surface...The extra weight I'd pass on although kitty litter might get you started uphill on glare ice.
 
Low PSI absolutely can help in the snow. I was stuck years ago in a fwd 2wd town & country similar to the one we have now, but without track control. I used to commute 450 miles per week with regular winter snows, but ran A/S hwy tires year around.

In that car, with narrow, 70-series tires, it had to be dropped to about 12 pounds. So, it limited your top speed in places where traction may have been better, and it was hard on the tires.

BUT, it worked and worked well as a last resort. someone mentioned above that this could be detrimental-- snow tires cut through. I was on hard-pack snow with ice beneath that... there was no cutting through, just spinning. Dropped all that pressure and it allowed me to crawl home. I think we ended up with ~3.5 feet that night.

Not sure if this is best in all situations, like mentioned above. And you'd hate to be wrong and then be stuck with de-aired tires wanting a pump....
 
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