This is the worst car ive ever driven in snow

Darth_Focus · 12-27-2012, 12:05 AM

First snow of the year and the car was pretty much immobilized. I have Michelin Alpin snow tires and this car was pretty much stopped in an inch of snow . Could not make it up a slight grade. Got so bad I had to shut the traction control off. It's a bit of a weapon. I barely make it through an intersection before the light goes red. Not impressed.

Sponsor · Advertisement

***mikebontoft*** · 12-27-2012, 12:12 AM

Dct?

Kabigon · 12-27-2012, 12:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darth_Focus

First snow of the year and the car was pretty much immobilized. I have Michelin Alpin snow tires and this car was pretty much stopped in an inch of snow . Could not make it up a slight grade. Got so bad I had to shut the traction control off. It's a bit of a weapon. I barely make it through an intersection before the light goes red. Not impressed.

Why is it bad? No traction (tires)? Traction control?

Monkeygrits · 12-27-2012, 12:16 AM

Mine goes great. Its not as good as 4wd but for a Fwd i was impressed. Are your tires new? Mines a 5 speed

13ingothatch · 12-27-2012, 12:20 AM

Are you trying to gun it or what? Not trying to be rude but I just drove through 3 inches of snow and slush with the oe 16 continental tires. I never even had the tcs turn on. With a light foot and slow steady movements this car is pretty capable in the snow. Now I did get stuck in my girlfriends driveway but it is super steep, gravel, and iced over. I could've made it with snow tires though.

***suss6052*** · 12-27-2012, 12:31 AM

Car has 7800 miles or near as makes no difference, but the o.e. continentals in the 215/55/R16 seem to have pretty poor snow traction as it keeps engaging the traction control at light throttle application as well as locking up the brakes and setting off the ABS seemingly well below the typical ABS thresholds on the previous cars I'd driven with ABS. (I.e. at 5-10 mph instead of just over 15).

Yesterday was the first day I'd actually driven on fallen snow deep enough to be a concern, when light/ wet flakes were falling it wasn't an issue, but on compacted snow and fresher snow its slippery and it didn't really want to track straight.

If I had to guess at the root cause of the issue would probably be the tires have no traction for snow/ slush/ etc but then again they would spin or trigger the tcs with anything approaching a quick start on dry pavement.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 13ingothatch

Are you trying to gun it or what? Not trying to be rude but I just drove through 3 inches of snow and slush with the oe 16 continental tires. I never even had the tcs turn on. With a light foot and slow steady movements this car is pretty capable in the snow. Now I did get stuck in my girlfriends driveway but it is super steep, gravel, and iced over. I could've made it with snow tires though.

Even when I was very light on the throttle the TCS was kicking in immediately, and the car felt very unstable.

I was able to consistently provoke it with a heavier throttle when I wanted to test the theory, but that's not the same as the problem I was having with just 7800 miles on the tires.

I would feather the throttle and the car would jump and jolt and dart side to side, if I tried to basically drive without the throttle it would crawl, but it still didn't feel like going straight without a lot of effort.

TCS and ABS were a lot more intrusive than anything I've experienced before.

I had driven my old car over 44,000 miles including a lot of time in the snow, it lacked any abs or traction control though so I had to keep a light but steady throttle pressure and plan out my braking moves properly without killing myself. I was sorely disappointed with how unstable it felt. It seemed like the tires had zero traction most of the time.

The car which felt very planted on dry or wet pavement for the most part felt like a nervous poodle on snow/slush.

Joeywhat · 12-27-2012, 12:35 AM

I have zero problems in snow (3+ inches today) with mine. You must be doing something different. No problem starting and stopping, even on inclines.

Should probably turn traction control off...it doesn't need to be on in most cases.

***suss6052*** · 12-27-2012, 12:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joeywhat

I have zero problems in snow (3+ inches today) with mine. You must be doing something different. No problem starting and stopping, even on inclines.

Should probably turn traction control off...it doesn't need to be on in most cases.

You had snow tires though, and if the tcs was engaging turning it off should theoretically mean that the wheels would sit there and spin/ slip.

Joeywhat · 12-27-2012, 12:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by suss6052

You had snow tires though, and if the tcs was engaging turning it off should theoretically mean that the wheels would sit there and spin/ slip.

So does the OP, and that's my point.

My tires still spin plenty while I'm moving. It's just a slower rate and more controlled. They're going to slip no matter what tires you have when you're on very slick surfaces like packed snow and ice, the difference is that most all seasons will just lose grip and be useless, while the snow tires seems to continue working and still move the vehicle.

That's why I say to just turn off traction control. I've never used it in any of my vehicles, and I maintain it's not needed unless you drive a rather powerful car, especially if it's RWD and light in the rear. You don't lose control as easily with a FWD car with a lot of wheel spin, unlike a RWD where if it really lets loose you'll probably end up bass ackwards pretty freakin' quick.

With my specific setup, when starting at lights or when accelerating quickly I get decent wheel spin, but I still accelerate. Once I'm at speed there's little to no slippage. With my previous all seasons, a healthy gust of wind was enough to get it sliding on very slick surfaces, and it had a tendency to get stuck in the paths made from the vehicles in front. They're just not good tires and don't work well in cold temps or with snow on the ground.

As far as the OP is concerned, considering the traction control on these cars kicks in when there's even a hint of wheel spin, it should just be turned off. The wheels will spin a bit, it's not a big deal. Been doing that with every car I've owned (well, the ones that actually had it), and I haven't had any major problems in snow (even with crap all seasons).