Traction loss is minor to the point of being a myth. It has been thoroughly debated here too. We have data from Goodyear up to 35 PSI (Wayne posted it in another thread) to indicate that traction loss (in wet and dry conditions) is negligable. Those who have tried it here (up to 50 PSI) failed to observe any noticable increase in their 60-0 stopping times. The reason is that increased friction compensates for reduced patch size.

I too once thought that higher PSI reduced traction, I stand corrected. :-)

I don't know as much about snow (the GY data did not include snow), but as far as wet and dry conditions go, the patch size myth has been pretty thoroughly debunked in this forum.

See the GY data, scroll down to Wayne's post:

https://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/...ires.3775.html

 

Yeah that's why all dragsters overinflate their tires when they do a run.

 

The loss is small, but it is admittedly non-zero. Dragsters value small fractions of a second improvements in a 1/4 mile run, so it is significant to them. You can read the numbers yourself and decide if it is significant enough for you to worry about it. The tradeoff is a few mpg vs. a few feet in 60-0 stopping distance.

So it isn't like one way is necessarily more right than another, but an informed decision will be best for you.

 

I was not satisfied with the snow performance of the stock tires. I drove in two snowstorms where I live about 20 miles north of Pittsburgh and I am not an overly aggressive driver but felt the car sliding a few times making turns and getting up my driveway which has about a 3% incline.

I went to a local tire dealer I trust and bought 4 new Hankook Zovac HPW401 Mud and Snow rated passenger car tires for about $39.00 each. I didn't see much of a difference in mileage (< 3 mpg) and the performance in the snow is vastly improved.