Hello all! I’m about to have snow tires installed on a 98 Merc. The tires are studded, my question is do I tell the garage to follow the pressure stamped on the door pillar even though I’m installing the studded snow tires at this time? I’d appreciate your comments and thanks in advance.
Yup. Pressures remain the same.
You’d be well advised to put them on a spare set of rims. Many states will not allow studs in the summer, and with good reason.
+1 to mountainbike’s comments.
Unless the OP lives in an area where there are already severe winter conditions, the tires should not be mounted on the car this early in the season.
+2 to mountainbike’s comment.
+3, and check their pressure the next morning with a quality gauge. As weather cools, keep checking, fill as needed.
Are you certain that you need studded tires? They’re noisy, they damage the roads, and they add to your stopping distance on dry and wet roads, so I’d like to be sure that you really need them.
Two things. First, newer snow tires are really good with ice traction without studding. Unless you live or work on a dirt road that freezes up all winter and had iced up, I would dispense with the studs. Second, you couldn’t tell by me that it’s too early for snow. We just has a 13 inch snow fall and everyone was caught unprepared in Northern NE. The temps in November are little different then later March and early April during which there is possible snowfall. The latest we put our studded tires on is the middle of November. Given what has happened this year, it will be a week earlier every year. FOR YOU, IT’s really a about where you live and elevation you travel. Tire pressure ? The same as recommended in the manual and /or on the door jam.
Unless you live in Alaska or Michigan’s U-P or Sweden or somewhere the roads don’t clear of snow, don’t uses studs. Studs compromise the grip on the road when clear of snow. They were designed for places like Alaska or Sweden where salt does not work and the roads are snow/ice covered for winter’s duration.
Winter tires alone have a tread compound designed to grip ice better that summer or all-season tires. Use winter tires on all 4 corners and you should be able to handle most anything.