23:33 06-12-2025

Should you deflate tires for snow? Off-road only, says Novikov

There’s a familiar winter tip: let a bit of air out of your tires to crawl through snow. As Dmitry Novikov told 32cars.ru, the trick does work, but only on loose surfaces away from paved roads. In untouched snow or on forest tracks, lower pressure lets the tire spread out, enlarging the contact patch and improving grip. Even then it should be done with restraint—no lower than 1.0–1.2 atmospheres—and once the tough section is past, the pressure should be brought back to normal.

On asphalt, packed snow, and ice the effect is the opposite. An underinflated tire flexes more, erodes stability, and stretches braking distances, while the chance of sidewall damage, the bead unseating, and a loss of control increases.

Novikov underscores that reduced pressure is a stopgap strictly for off-road use. In the city, a better bet is quality winter tires and pressures kept to the manufacturer’s spec. It’s a pragmatic approach: the modest benefit in soft drifts isn’t worth the trade-offs in everyday traffic.