Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Bitter cold and snow in GTA vs my Model 3 (LR, RWD)

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
Hello Everyone,

So happy to see many of you posting your experience with your TM3 with this winter.

I only had my Model 3 LR since mid December as I traded in my beloved 2011 Highlander Hybrid.

This is my very first rear wheel drive vehicle and I’m so happy that I made the right decision to put on winter tires immediately rather than wait it out till next year.

I got the Hankook W320 ICept Evo2 as I felt that in Toronto, it made more sense to go with performance winter tires rather than wintery winter tires.

I drove this Saturday evening and got a chance to feel the character of rear wheel drive + winter tires = fish tailing even on chill mode.

Because the roads on Saturday late afternoon to evening were still unplowed, going up gentle gradients from stop or low speeds, or even turning left on a flat road seemed like a potential challenge with rear wheel drive, as I never got this kind of anxiety with front wheel drive w/winter tires.

I never once got stuck regardless (maybe with the stock Michelin Primacy’s would have been hell) and was rather impressed with the winter tire + rear wheel drive handling.

Just as I was about to reach home, something happened that never happened to me in all my driving life (driving over 25 years, primarily on the West Coast).

My windshield wipers just stopped working! Wouldn’t budge!

Thankfully, I was only 3 minutes from reaching home without the ability to use my windshield wipers.

Got home, and found out that my windshield wipers froze in it’s resting place!

Hopefully the motors have electrical auto cut off when you try to operate the wipers while the wipers have 100% resistance, therefore not risking burning out the wiper motors….

This is when I did googled and found out that Model S has winter package that includes heated front windshield where the wipers rest…..sigh, if only Tesla made a winter package for Model 3’s.

Also, I couldn’t open my trunk when I pulled into my garage! The melted snow from the rear defroster caused the slush to slide down towards the trunk and freeze!

So I needed my hair dryer to unlock my groceries when I got home!

I’m sure this past Saturday is prob one of the more challenging winter conditions that I’ll face with the Model 3, unless anyone here can tell me that freezing rain/snow is common in Toronto winters? =p

Also, does anyone notice that when your heater is on, all of a sudden you feel a cold draft, like the heater conked out, only to return minutes later?

And anyone else here have their air vents make a whistling noise like your good ol fashion hot water kettle (but on permanent low pitch)? This is when operating the vent that blows towards your face specifically that the whistling sound comes and goes.

Hope to hear if anyone else got their trunk and/or windshield wipers frozen (while driving!).
Screenshot 2019-01-21 20.24.51.png
Screenshot 2019-01-21 20.26.08.png
 
Tesla now recommends Model 3 charging to 90% for normal driving (especially in the winter!). If you have been charging to a lower level for your daily driving, continue charging to 90% to help the BMS re-calibrate over a period of three or four charges and it will start charge-completion to your setting of 90%.

I've never waited for a full 100%, takes too long. Anything above 95% should give you a good recalibration.

Thanks for the tips guys.

Had the car charge to 98% yesterday, got home with about 72% then did a charge overnight to 86%. My commute back to work today left me at 59% (Bitter cold and traffic SUCKS). We'll see what % the charge completes at today, as it's set back to 90% charging limit.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 5_+JqckQttqck
How are the front and rear defrosters on the Model 3 when it is around -20? My 4 year old Model S really struggles to keep them clear when it is below -15, especially if it is snowing.
I haven't had an issue. The other day is was -22 out and they kept the front free of fogging and rear free of ice/snow.

Side note though - i'm still trying to find the correct combo setting to recirculate cabin air without fogging the whole car.
 
I haven't had an issue. The other day is was -22 out and they kept the front free of fogging and rear free of ice/snow.

Side note though - i'm still trying to find the correct combo setting to recirculate cabin air without fogging the whole car.

I've been setting mine to the following (may not work well once it warms up though):

Manual fan set to 19
All 3 zones ON
Fan set to 1
A/C off
Recirculate off

So far - been fog free during my drives. I'm bundled up (boots / down jacket / gloves). For the most part the heat seater set at 2 is fine. My legs are cold but not unbearable by the time I get home (1 hour drive in rush hour).
 
  • Like
Reactions: Murattukaalai
I haven't had an issue. The other day is was -22 out and they kept the front free of fogging and rear free of ice/snow.

Side note though - i'm still trying to find the correct combo setting to recirculate cabin air without fogging the whole car.

Any recirculate option using the heat should lead to fogging.

I normally drive at 21.5C, fan set to 3 or 4, vents set to face, feet and rear. I don't have any fogging issues.
 
  • Like
Reactions: corlaandstan
I've been setting mine to the following (may not work well once it warms up though):

Manual fan set to 19
All 3 zones ON
Fan set to 1
A/C off
Recirculate off

So far - been fog free during my drives. I'm bundled up (boots / down jacket / gloves). For the most part the heat seater set at 2 is fine. My legs are cold but not unbearable by the time I get home (1 hour drive in rush hour).

Any recirculate option using the heat should lead to fogging.

I normally drive at 21.5C, fan set to 3 or 4, vents set to face, feet and rear. I don't have any fogging issues.

Turn on A/C, it'll dry out the air you're recirculating.
I should have clarified that the fogging only happens when I close the vents and recycle internal air after being behind a pluming ICE car or Truck...Friggin Fume Bandits!

Thanks for the tips. I'll try lowering the temperature and turning on A/C.
 
Thanks for the tips guys.

Had the car charge to 98% yesterday, got home with about 72% then did a charge overnight to 86%. My commute back to work today left me at 59% (Bitter cold and traffic SUCKS). We'll see what % the charge completes at today, as it's set back to 90% charging limit.

So things seem better after the 98% charge the other day. Car charged to 90% and showed in the app that it completed actually at 90% and not 89%.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Will monitor this and see how it goes. Other issue to tackle now is the app not giving me a notification once charging is complete, but thats been an ongoing nagging issue for me since update 2018.49.12
 
So things seem better after the 98% charge the other day. Car charged to 90% and showed in the app that it completed actually at 90% and not 89%.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Will monitor this and see how it goes. Other issue to tackle now is the app not giving me a notification once charging is complete, but thats been an ongoing nagging issue for me since update 2018.49.12

I have the same issue with the app not notifying me when charging is complete. It's pretty annoying.
 
Same issue here. Assumed it was me and the beta versions of iOS on my iPhone, but I guess it's not just me. Hopefully it'll get resolved in a future update.

I get the message car finished charging at Xkm (449km or whatever). I'm on Android though.

I'm also on iOS. Haven't used a beta build in several months. I believe this started with 2018.49.x.
 
Better off investing in a 240V plug at home. You don't even have to have 40A like others on the forums insist. I upgraded to a 15A 240V plug using existing wiring for under $100 in parts. With my setup I still get 17km/h charging even at -25C.
Have to agree. Using the hardware that came with your car, you can use a dryer circuit, change just the plug part for ~$30.00 & you're done. Can also use the existing dryer plug with a Tesla adapter for ~33.00. Makes an unbelievable difference in charging rates.