We've gotten a sudden winter storm hitting us with about 6" of snow with ice underneath. I know with my 12.50's, I'm guiding the path of the truck, not so much of choosing it though.

With a 12.50 tire on a 10" rim, anyone have any suggestions for what tire pressure I should air down too for better handling? Not too low as I don't need to blow a bead and I'll be doing a top speed of around 35.

I tried googling a website that I've seen before regarding rim size/tire size air pressure but I cant find it. I'd like to say air down into the 20's but I'm not entirely sure about that.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

i would bet you'll be safe down to 10-15 at those speeds.

 

i blew a bead in mud at 16psi on my 12.5's with a 10in rim, i would say 18-20ish

 

i'd say 18-22 would be good, don't really have to worry about blowing a bead

 

12-15 should be fine if you need to go that low.

 

I have run as low as 15 on trails and not lost a bead. But 18-20 would be my suggestion.

 

Problem is that 18-20 is only gonna be a marginal improvement over normal pressure... Super low is the way to go for snow!

 

on a 10 rim at those speeds I would keep 20-25 in them. I only run 20 psi on the street, but I have 8 rims. I run 12psi on the trails, and don't have any problems with blowing beads, but you have a much wider rim...

 

i would stay between 19 and 20 psi

 

where did you get a 10" rim. who makes em?

 

like every single rim manufacturing company ever.

OP, I can run 17 in my tires at 40-50 mph, and i only have 1.5" difference in rim and tire width. You have 2.5. I would drop to 12 or so, and see if you have handling issues. If not, then good, if so, drop it further, but only by a couple PSI at a time.

 

I've driven 5-10 miles on 8-10psi at 50-60mph in the summer, seemed to handle just fine. But that is with 8 inch rims as well.

 

You guys are going the wrong way with your pressures on snow. You want to air UP to keep the tread blocks and sipes open at the bottom of the tire for snow and ice traction. If you lower your tire pressures, the tread blocks and sipes get squeezed together where the tire meets the road.

I'm running BFG AT's, 31 x 10.5 and running 35 front, 32 rear and driving through full on blizzards with NO problems.

 

Agreed. 10-12 psi in the snow is wonderful. I've run as low as 3psi in the snow, but I've got a 7" or 7.5" wide rim (can't remember which right now).... so they seem to keep the bead really well!

 

interesting ...when you air down in snow it makes you float over the snow and when you air up you just "chop" it up kinda and don't go through as easy, maybe on the road more air is better but in snow snow low pressure is good pressure...

 

Snow is like mud - it all depends on what kind.

I could see where wet sloppy snow would be better with high pressure.

Dry fluffy snow is better with low pressure.

 

Ahh, I see. Thanks!

Yeah, I'm just going by on-road experience, what works for me, etc.

I don't go off road in two feet of powder...I have a snowmobile for that!

 

I ended up not touching air pressure and continued to drive according to the weather.

In the wet stuff, I was ok, still not great, but on a 12.50, I don't expect to stick to the road.

On the slushy, piled up stuff found on the freeway is where I wish I had narrower tires. People for the most part left room between each other which was great. At times I found myself changing lanes unwillingly, the tires picking the line that I was to take.

Now I'm looking for tires in the narrower sizes with the likelyhood of 15x8 rims as well. 33's in the narrower size are easy to come by but my desire to run a 35 makes it a bit harder.

 

255/85-16 would be perfect then ... narrow and almost the same diameter as a "35"