Tire pressure changes in winter

[Bushwood CC]

Winters in mn cause quite a change in tire pressure. Factory calls for 42 psi but if I set at that it will go up as the day gets warmer to as much as 46. Do I aim a little lower to start, say 40?

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[Entropy]

Nope, leave it where it is. A little higher is good in winter. TireRack has a good piece on it, here.

 

[Bushwood CC]

Thanks! That puts my mind at ease.

 

[RickLightning]

Good writeup. You fill tires COLD. People who fill up at Costco or a tire store are underfilling, as the writeup notes (yet the tire store doesn't adjust for that....).

Check tires at least MONTHLY with a tire gauge. TPMS is not a tire gauge...

I did mine in November, and they are currently 2 pounds light. Will be doing them today.

Last year took a trip to CA in winter. Weather was unusually warm, tires were routinely 48 to 50 while driving.

 

[Calvin H-C]

As @RickLightning said above, you check and fill tires when cold. The rating is based on the fact that driving will warm tires and increase the pressure (anyone remember pV=nRT?*).

A significant change in temperature (5-10 degrees) might warrant rechecking them.

I find that temperature changes affect the Lightning's 20" tires more than our FFE's 17" tires (that pV=nRT thing again).

* For those who didn't take physics, or forgot all that stuff you don't use daily, basically p is pressure, V is volume, T is temperature, n is the amount of air and R is a constant. You can Google it if you have nothing better to do.

 

[potato]

Parked in my driveway, the tires on the sunny side are usually about 2 PSI higher. Temperature definitely makes a big difference

 

[RickLightning]

Parked in my driveway, the tires on the sunny side are usually about 2 PSI higher. Temperature definitely makes a big difference

Yup. So, that's really NOT a cold temp. If the non-sunny side needs 2 more pounds, then add 2 more pounds to the sunny side too from whatever they are.

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