are you suppose to air down in the snow?

 

I was out at Rausch Creek on the 31st and we all aired down. I dropped to 18 psi, and didn't have any problems. One of the guys with us was down to 15 and had no problems either.

Hope this helps.

JD

 

Yes. The pressure depends on the snow type and tires you have.

 

the larger the footprint the better

 

I air down my Rubi tires to about 18 psi in the snow. This gives me a larger contact patch for traction while only giving up a small amount of ground clearance. Airing down makes a huge difference in snow performance.

 

Check out this thread on air pressure in snow

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/jk-off-road-101-97/tire-pressures-snow-68273/

 

The wider the tires..... more need to maintain a lesser pressure. Wider tires are always a bugger on packed roads

 

My feeling is aired down is best for traction if you are on tires only. Not so if you are running chains. I'd be worried about chains migrating on the wheel, and even damaging wheel or other components if the tire it was on was aired down.

 

There is no right or wrong answer to this question. Too many variables. The snow type and conditions on the trail can change every couple hundred feet or so. I haven't aired down yet this winter.

 

I'll muddy the waters by adding that a narrow tire gets better bite on the soil under the snow. Tire flotation (achieved by airing down) is usually best, unless you can be sure there is no ice under the snow. If there is no ice, a tire that digs down past the snow (like a properly inflated tire with aggressive mud tred) works AMAZING. Remember, snow doesn't offer traction. To float on top of it, you've got to have momentum. Sooner or later, momentum eventually runs out when you float on the top of the snow.
-Nathan