Hello,

I was trying to research on NAM and Google and could not find anything about this:

I switched from my summers (205/45/17) to my winters (195/55/16). My summers are at the manufacturer's rating of 38psi.

So what should my winter's be??? It is an 08 S and they are bridgestone blizzaks WS70. For future reference, is there a tire size/PSI converter website?

Thanks for any answers!

 

I run my summers and my winters (non-RFTs) at roughly 35 psi all around.
Blizzak WS70's last year (and for past 3 winters), WS80's this year.

HTH,
a

P.S.: The above advise is n/a for summer autoX tires

 

The manual has tables that cover all OEM tire sizes. If you don't have one it's available on line as a PDF at the MINI website. Easiest way to find it is to Google something like "mini Cooper owners manual pdf". The MINI USA site is second or third in the list.

 

The manual calls for 33 psi for that tire size unless you are planning to exceed 100 mph (!) in which case it is 38 PSI. I run that size year-round and prefer the feel of the higher pressure.

 

Thanks everyone! I was looking in the manual after the suggestion (Didn't realize they had those different tire specs in there). I ran 38psi last year , all year. I am hoping to save some tread life with my snows

 

this was helpful , thanks

 

Voice of contention here.. Snow tires should be about 4psi higher that regular tires.

 

richard- I'm curious to your reasoning for higher pressures for snow tires? What makes them different pressure wise?

I run 33 pounds in our Blizzak WS70 snow tires.

 

using a tire pyrometer, my winters came in at 3 psi less than my summers on my 03/2012 all4

winters are dunlop grandtrek sj6 studless ice and snow AT winter truck tires 205/70R16, 39 psi front, 35 psi rear

summers are michelin pilot super sports 225/50R18, 42 psi front, 38 psi rear

both sets have close to 10k miles, are rotated every 4k miles and all tires are wearing evenly across the tread

 

If you only run winter tires in freezing weather and mostly in snow, they aren't going to heat up as much as summer tires so the starting cold pressure can be higher. However, if you also run winter tires on dry, warm highways you can wear out the center of the tread prematurely as the pressure rises more from the higher internal heat.

Winter tires can also have softer rubber compounds and sidewalls that can provide mushy handling without higher pressures, but individual tires differ significantly in that manner. Find what works for you and the tire you have.