is it a good idea to air down in snow/ice, for winter driving?

 

Seems like it could be a pain when you get to plowed roads. It's a royal pain on asphalt with aired down tires -- not to mention it's not good for the tires.

But I should think it might be almost as good as having chains on there -- or not, lol. I've never actually tried it.

 

Isn't the object to cut thru the snow/ice and dig down to a better traction surface? I would think that airing down would have the opposite effect, With the bigger contact patch causing you to ride on top.

(Posted by a southerner with no idea about winter driving)

 

^ southerner is right... airing down isnt good for snow, more surface area means you float on the snow so you have 0 traction... you want to cut throught the snow like he said to get traction on the road....

 

NO!!! the more surface area, the less pressure on any given spot which equates to more floating. floating on ice is BAD...

 

ok cool, a friend of mine wasw telling me that it was a good idea to air down in winter.....but it seemed liek it could go both ways

 

no it only goes one way... airing down is for sand... its basic physics and common sense

 

and the mud......definately not a good idea for snow or ice!

 

Agreed. It's definitely the deal for deep sand and mud. Now, for shallow mud, it might be better to have "wagon wheels" (narrow wheels) that get down to the hard surface underneath.

Airing down is also for rock crawling -- but my main experience is with sand and mud in Wharton which effectively have no reachable "bottom" there.

 

Agreed. Wagon wheels do excellent around my neck of the woods due to hard clay soil. We def get mud but there's def a hard bottom underneath it somewhere. Airing down in clay mud is almost like driving on ice. Very slick. I thought it'd be a good idea at one point and a tree came out from no where and slid right into me =]