First winter drive

[chinney]

Got a good covering of snow in Waterloo, I'd say 20cm on my street. I live on a hill (about 4% grade). I had to take 5 or 6 runs to get up it yesterday. The back wheels keeps slipping and the car kept trying to spin towards the curb.

Other years I've gotten stuck and had to park at the neighbour's house at the bottom.

I found that the tires would detect slipping and stop right away. I had to turn on slip start in order to even make the car move.
Didn't have an issue getting up the hill with an AWD CX5.

I have the Tesla winter tire package. Does anybody else have issues with these tires? Anything recommendations for something that works better on snow?

If you mean the Pirelli Sottozero Serie II - which I think is the standard Tesla winter package - some reviews I saw did not rate it that well for any sort of deep snow. That said, it should not be quite so bad. Your experience does not seem to correspond with others I have read about. I wonder if something is off with your car.

I went for the Yokohama v905 tire on our new Model 3. Today was also our first snow day. No problems - mind you we did not have to go far.

 

[Kat Jacks]

I rode with my friend in his M3 last winter on roads in New Hampshire with 6-8 inches of fresh snow. No problems ever. He even tried to get it to spin by doing tight turns with speed in a big vacant parking lot. The car performed flawlessly. I expect my new M3 to do the same this winter.

 

[phigment]

If you mean the Pirelli Sottozero Serie II - which I think is the standard Tesla winter package - some reviews I saw did not rate it that well for any sort of deep snow. That said, it should not be quite so bad. Your experience does not seem to correspond with others I have read about. I wonder if something is off with your car.

I went for the Yokohama v905 tire on our new Model 3. Today was also our first snow day. No problems - mind you we did not have to go far.

Yeah, it's the Pirelli Sottozero. I looked up ratings and they seem to be okay all around.

I just went out and measured the road with my phone level app and a long stick to average out a few bumps. In one part the road was 7.4% and the other was 9%... so split the difference and say it's an 8% grade hill. But I only have to travel about 50m along it to get to my driveway.

 

[phigment]

4% grade doesn't even seem like much. I am not familiar with the Tesla Winter package but I have Nokian winter tires on my car (non Tesla) and they work great. Pretty sure my driveway is a lot steeper than 4% and never had an issue.

Yeah, that's what I thought. I don't know how to judge grade by eye, so I was going by elevation maps.. looks like they're not very precise. I just took a few measurements with my phone level app and it seems to be closer to an 8% grade.

I'm still surprised by how much difference there is compared to my AWD CX-5. Yeah, different tires, and AWD, but it was like there was no snow on the road using the AWD.

 

[cusetownusa]

Yeah, that's what I thought. I don't know how to judge grade by eye, so I was going by elevation maps.. looks like they're not very precise. I just took a few measurements with my phone level app and it seems to be closer to an 8% grade.

I'm still surprised by how much difference there is compared to my AWD CX-5. Yeah, different tires, and AWD, but it was like there was no snow on the road using the AWD.

Do you not have AWD? AWD will make a huge difference compared to rear wheel drive, especially when going up a hill. The tires also make a big difference.

 

[phigment]

Do you not have AWD? AWD will make a huge difference compared to rear wheel drive, especially when going up a hill. The tires also make a big difference.

No, it's LR-RWD.

I guess AWD would apply 1/2 the force to each of the wheels, much less likely to break traction. Also able to opportunistically grip on any non-ice covered patches in 4 places instead of just 2.

 

[cusetownusa]

No, it's LR-RWD.

I guess AWD would apply 1/2 the force to each of the wheels, much less likely to break traction. Also able to opportunistically grip on any non-ice covered patches in 4 places instead of just 2.

For sure...AWD doesn't help much when breaking, but does make a huge difference when accelerating or ascending a hill. I live in Central NY and we get a ton of snow and have a lot of experience with it. I will always own AWD from now on around here but for years I had only front wheel drive and got along mostly fine. Obviously tires make a huge difference, however, most people around here just use all season tires.

My current set of winter tires (Nokians) have been amazing and seem to last forever. However, once these where out I think I am just going to stick with a good set up all WEATHER tires to keep on all year. Not a fan of storing and swapping tires out twice a year.

 

[chinney]

No, it's LR-RWD.

I guess AWD would apply 1/2 the force to each of the wheels, much less likely to break traction. Also able to opportunistically grip on any non-ice covered patches in 4 places instead of just 2.

Mine is the AWD, I admit, so my own experience will be different from yours. That said, I had seen good reviews of the traction even on the RWD Model 3 given the weight of the vehicle, the weight distribution, and the electronic traction control. Could it be that something wonky with your traction control? Still, I imagine that AWD would be better.

 

[KenC]

Put a couple bags of sand in the back. May help with the traction.

 

[phigment]

Mine is the AWD, I admit, so my own experience will be different from yours. That said, I had seen good reviews of the traction even on the RWD Model 3 given the weight of the vehicle, the weight distribution, and the electronic traction control. Could it be that something wonky with your traction control? Still, I imagine that AWD would be better.

Generally the traction control is fine. Going around corners it stops fishtailing and stops slippage in general in wet weather.

But I find going up my hill with some snow, the traction control often just stops the wheels from spinning as soon as it detects slippage. Then I lose all momentum going up and can't get started again. Some times I have to turn on slip start to ensure it doesn't cut power to the wheels prematurely.

 

[jmbloom_m3p]

Try backing up your driveway. Effectively front wheel drive. Should help.

 

[iwannam3]

Yes, even better.

https://www.amazon.com/Eugeneq-Port...r+dryer&qid=1606799436&sr=8-2&tag=googhydr-20

 

[phigment]

Try backing up your driveway. Effectively front wheel drive. Should help.

Lol, I've actually contemplated that, if only to compare front wheel vs rear wheel drive. Not sure how traction contoll would react.

 

[Saturday]

Try backing up your driveway. Effectively front wheel drive. Should help.

Lol, I've actually contemplated that, if only to compare front wheel vs rear wheel drive. Not sure how traction contoll would react.

hah you could try that although I encountered an extreme version of this situation with my ICE front wheel drive car in Maine several years ago. I found pulling the car via FWD was actually worse than pushing the car via RWD as far as going up a snowy hill.

it was a large hill that was a mile up in a residential neighborhood. I ended up reversing up this road the entire way.

During forward acceleration, mass shifts to the rear wheels. In a FWD car, this means a loss of traction in the front so I’m guessing reversing it up the hill actually put the mass shifting in my favor.

in a RWD Tesla, esp without an engine in the front and with the large motor in the back I would assume that RWD already puts you in the most advantageous position as far as traction just driving forward as normal.

i wonder if studded snow tires would be in order if this is a public road and a really intractable problem for you

if the steep grade is on your property, well then just sand it more frequently lol