Originally Posted By: GreeCguy
I was born and raised in Florida. My father was a citrus grower so I grew up driving in the soft sand of the ridge region of Central Florida, (south Lake County). We used to run anywhere from 15 to 18 psi in our rear tires so we wouldn't get stuck in the sand, (which we rarely did - and we never owned any four wheel drive vehicles). People that drove in the grove with full pressure would get stuck every time. The biggest mistake they made was once they started to bog down, they would floor the gas pedal which would dig a hole in seconds and bury them to the axle.
The reason I share this is because when I was 19, I moved to Nebraska and drove in snow for the first time. What I discovered is that driving in snow and driving in sand have a lot in common. Go slow, do not spin your tires and run low air pressure in rear tires.
Keep in mind this is for SLOW SPEEDS, (25-30 mph max) in deep snow conditions only - DO NOT run low air pressure all the time and do not go tooling down the interstate on low tire pressure or the results could be deadly, (i.e. blowout, roll-over, etc). But during a blizzard or heavy snowfall, I did the same thing I would do while driving in sand and never got stuck and I wasn't using snow tires either, (just plain ole radials). Once they've cleared the roads of snow or you've made it out of the snow, air tires to proper pressure.
Icy conditions however are a horse of an entirely different color.
Super informative, and I got a lot from this.
And don't you still have your 4.3, GeeCguy? I no longer have our Taurus.
And the comment mad, by a passenger, the one time I had a passenger, when the car was having minimal traction on fully-inflated balloon-like tires, yielding no improvement with 4WD engaged (!) due to then-bad front tires and the tire pressure being high.. the comment made to me, as I drove and had to do some imaginative and yes, UNSAFE, coasting to get up hills and avoid cars, even at slow speeds THAT IS HOW BAD IT WAS, was "You shouldnt have to let air out. If the tires were new and werent bad like these ones, you would not have to lower the tire pressure. I never had to." This statemenet was made by someone critical of the situation, understandably; the statement "I never had to lower tire pressure in the snow" was likely a lie intended to emphasize what was being said, and how do you feel about the "You shouldnt have to let air out. If the tires were new and werent bad like these ones, you would not have to lower the tire pressure." statement?
Needless to say, I was pushing for used tires to save money and be safe. The blazer then sat for a long time, driven in winter on bad tires for the times it did. The front tires are now replaced, mis-matched, and the rear Firestones are looking a little low on tread but still meaty, I will have to check again as I am bad at explaining things.
What do you think of the experience of driving in snowstorm where I let the tires down to 20PSI or so, they were at 40PSI or at least 36 previously... ? (NOW can you see why engaging 4WD didnt do much even though 4WD works perfectly.) .
And please, please, I beg you, keep this to the tires. I don't want to stoke drama flames. Thank you.
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P.S. I have no idea how this would work with low profile tires as I've never owned a set. I would imagine this would not work on low profile tires as the sidewalls have no room to "flare out" which is the entire idea behind reducing the air pressure in sandy conditions.
In this particular case, it is the opposite. I have 31x10.5R15LT tires. All 4.
Tire pic 1 (looking for more/better) -- This tire and the opposite have not been changed.
