Inflating Tires in Winter Is Not a Hack
Snow, ice and cold temperatures can make winter driving difficult. Drivers are addressing this issue in a variety of ways, from winterizing their vehicles and keeping emergency kits in the trunk to paying more attention to their tires.
For example, some people mistakenly believe that lowering tire pressure will improve traction. Others understand that tires tend to lose air pressure in cold weather, but mistakenly believe that the solution to the problem is to over-inflate the tires. As it turned out, although this is not entirely useful, it is not harmless either. To find out more, I asked two tire experts why over-inflating your tires is a bad idea.
What happens when tires are overinflated
According to Larry Sutton, founder and CEO of RNR Tire Express, over-inflating your tires puts both your tires and your safety at risk. “Over-inflating tires can cause the center section of the tire to wear out much faster than the rest of the tire,” he told me. “This will result in the loss of thousands of miles on each tire.”
It gets worse: Over-inflating your tires will not only result in you needing to replace them early, but it will also reduce their grip on the road, explains Sutton. “Ultimately, an overinflated tire reduces driver safety and significantly increases the risk of accidents,” he says.
Hunter Brabham, category manager for CarParts.com, shares Sutton’s concerns about safety and confirms that this is not the cost-cutting strategy some people think it is. “There are various misconceptions about over-inflating tires as a way to save money and fuel, when the reality is that it is dangerous to inflate your vehicle’s tires beyond the vehicle manufacturer’s recommended specifications,” he told me. “Over-inflating tires reduces handling and increases the likelihood of a tire blowout.”
Additionally, as Brabham notes, uneven tire wear will also reduce ride quality, meaning you and your passengers will feel less comfortable while driving.
When is a tire considered overinflated?
Let’s say you do your monthly air pressure check and notice that your tire’s PSI (pounds per square inch) is higher than the manufacturer’s recommendations. Is a tire with an extra two or three pounds per square inch officially considered overinflated and therefore a safety hazard?
Not really, says Sutton. While the tire performs best when you use the actual PSI value recommended by the car manufacturer, don’t panic if you go a few PSI over it. “Anything over 10 psi [above the manufacturer’s recommended psi] will cause tire wear and loss of traction for most passenger tires,” he says.
According to Brabham, the manufacturer’s recommended tire pressure is listed on a placard inside the driver’s door jamb.