how come RWD SR+ drift and fish tail a bit while driving in straight line on HWY speed on snow day?

[2022S-LR]

i do have nokian hakkapeliitta r3 snow tires and it still drift

Nokian are cheap tires overall . I have a 2020 M3 RWD and use

EUROWINTER
HS01 , and kick ass in the snow.​

You definitely have a tire traction problem, plus if it’s too cold out , all tires will slip on a sheet of ice . Be safe

 

[KenC]

I suppose it never hurts to ask the OP, did you check the tread depth of your snow tires?

 

[one2many]

suppose it never hurts to ask the OP, did you check the tread depth of your snow tires?

Although KC is very helpful, forget tread. Have you heard of home office or sick time.
Go to the packy and get home. Do not drive when you need to ask us.

 

[D.E.]

Hello all,

Model 3 SR+ is my first RWD car. I have snow tire for my SR+. But yesterday while driving on HWY straight line on a snowy and icy road, it just drift and fish tail a bit almost out of my driving lane. I was driving around 56 mph. Good thing that there is no other cars around but it was a surprise experience. Anyone had similar experience? Is it because torque of RWD is all coming from the rear wheel so it may slip when road is icy? Wondering what is best way to avoid this experience in the future. Thank you.

It’s because the only driven wheels are the rear and they’re pushing toward the lazy front end so as soon as one rear wheel sees a bit more traction than the other you get slippage. Also tilt in the roadway will play a part. With all wheel drive, the rear wheels still push but the front wheels pull so keep things straight. That’s until you lose all traction, then direction is anyone’s guess. When you apply power if a rear wheels lose traction and spins it’s as if that wheel is now on ice with no traction at all. Winter tires help, they’re stickier in cold weather, and have tread patterns that release tread entrapped snow and ice. Summer tires get hard below 40F so don‘t grab the road as well and entrapped snow and ice isn’t released from the tread pattern nearly as well, so the tread pattern becomes functionally smooth, often just when you didn’t want it to. Oversteer is when the car turns more than you intended with your steering input. Understeer is when it plows ahead straighter than it should with the wheel turned. Snow with summer tires generally gives you wicked oversteer. Glare ice gives you bad news understeer.

If you are sliding and fishtailing, you’re driving too fast. It only takes one bad oversteer event followed by a patch of ice or a jumbo pothole and you and your car may explore one of the ditches on the side of the road. There are lots of car bending things in ditches. If you are having an especially bad day, someone else driving too fast may do the same thing at that same patch, and attempt to occupy your same ditch resting spot . If that happens, both cars merge together into one big wrinkly car.

 

[gearchruncher]

It’s because the only driven wheels are the rear and they’re pushing toward the lazy front end so as soon as one rear wheel sees a bit more traction than the other you get slippage. Also tilt in the roadway will play a part. With all wheel drive, the rear wheels still push but the front wheels pull so keep things straight.

AWD Tesla Model 3's are RWD unless you are at really high powers or the system detects a spinning rear wheel. It's not the same as mechanical AWD. The front end doesn't "pull" until something bad has already happened.

 

[D.E.]

AWD Tesla Model 3's are RWD unless you are at really high powers or the system detects a spinning rear wheel. It's not the same as mechanical AWD. The front end doesn't "pull" until something bad has already happened.

So the back end of your AWD 3 gets skittish in snow? My S seems pretty solid. I don’t drive it fast in snow, though. I don’t want to bend it.

 

[nate704]

AWD Tesla Model 3's are RWD unless you are at really high powers or the system detects a spinning rear wheel. It's not the same as mechanical AWD. The front end doesn't "pull" until something bad has already happened.

baseless claim

 

[D.E.]

baseless claim

Actually it does appear to me that the rear wheels are preferentially driven. That and I don’t have to be bald.

 

[gearchruncher]

baseless claim

It's not a baseless claim, it's 100% clear to anyone that datalogs their car driving around. All the power goes to the rear axle in normal cruise. My M3P doesn't even dip into the front axle until about 300HP of output.

There's whole threads about this, such as these:

How important are regen settings in snow and ice ?

Read the regen settings, specifically OFF has been removed in 21’ ? Is this accurate? How do regen settings work now compared to how it used to work, before and after 21'? How does the current regen setting do when in very slick scenarios with Sumer tires? Decent winter tires? Does AWD VS...

teslamotorsclub.com

Can somebody please explain to me how Tesla AWD works? Thank you.

Hey gang, tried to find specific technical info on this, and zero luck. I'd like to know how my car works. Since the rear motor is a permanent magnet one (a better motor), and the front an induction one, I assume the car is RWD unless it needs front traction, right??? Or does it send 'x' percent...

teslamotorsclub.com

Superchargers: 150kW, 250kW ... is there much difference?

Recently noticed the car displaying the 'preconditioning for supercharging' message a full 90 minutes prior to reaching the superchargers on multiple stops during a road trip (this was a M3 in case relevant). It was about 40F which is cold to be sure, but during previous winters we never saw the...

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[Sklith]

Even the AWD Teslas are very rear-biased in the snow and ice. It doesn't bother me at all since that means I can still steer with the front wheels.

 

[nate704]

All AWD system on Earth have reactive system meaning car needs to detect the wheel slippage before react to counter that slip. Good AWD system can react to the event better than the poorly managed system. If Tesla's AWD system is bad, you would see a lot of Tesla cars in a ditch like Mustangs. LOL
Even RWD Tesla cars handle snow condition way better than other AWD cars on the market.

 

[RLEE]

All AWD system on Earth have reactive system meaning car needs to detect the wheel slippage before react to counter that slip. Good AWD system can react to the event better than the poorly managed system. If Tesla's AWD system is bad, you would see a lot of Tesla cars in a ditch like Mustangs. LOL
Even RWD Tesla cars handle snow condition way better than other AWD cars on the market.

Subaru. Not saying it's not reactive because that's really general word but they are awd full time.

 

[nate704]

Subaru. Not saying it's not reactive because that's really general word but they are awd full time

You are correct.
Let me rephrase my statement. Since we were talking about the non permanent AWD system, my statement only applies to the system that is NOT permanently connected AWD.

 

[D.E.]

I haven’t seen the claim for a while but we were told a few years ago there was a difference in the 2 motors and the car selected the most power efficient motor for the current conditions. This would imply sometimes the car is front wheel driven and sometimes rear wheel driven. It seems the driving characteristics should be different if the car changed from one to the other. Now I wonder if there was any truth to this claim.

 

[android04]

I haven’t seen the claim for a while but we were told a few years ago there was a difference in the 2 motors and the car selected the most power efficient motor for the current conditions. This would imply sometimes the car is front wheel driven and sometimes rear wheel driven. It seems the driving characteristics should be different if the car changed from one to the other. Now I wonder if there was any truth to this claim.

The permanent magnet motors are slightly more efficient, which is why the Model 3/Y prefers the rear motor and Raven generation Model S/X preferred the front motor. Model 3/Y have a permanent magnet motor in the rear, and an induction motor in the front. It's reversed in the Raven generation Model S/X. Before the Raven Model S/X both their motors were induction motors with different gear ratios, and I'm not sure if there was a preferred motor. On the latest Plaid generation at least one or two of the motors are permanent magnet, but I'm not sure of the configuration.

 

[xAgyex]

Hello all,

Model 3 SR+ is my first RWD car. I have snow tire for my SR+. But yesterday while driving on HWY straight line on a snowy and icy road, it just drift and fish tail a bit almost out of my driving lane. I was driving around 56 mph. Good thing that there is no other cars around but it was a surprise experience. Anyone had similar experience? Is it because torque of RWD is all coming from the rear wheel so it may slip when road is icy? Wondering what is best way to avoid this experience in the future. Thank you.

Same issue with my 2014 MS85 which is RWD. I put snow tires on and drive super carefully from Dec to late Apr each year, leaving in MD. Luck for me my car is old enough that I can lower regen and put in chill mode for the winter months. Still I drive carefully, easy onto the accelerator and easy on and off the brakes. Even if the rear end steps out a bit traction control will kick in and help a lot. Still always makes me nervous, especially when I have my family in the car. Hahah and I use to race on the track in my old S2000. These cars have a lot of power being sent to only the rear wheels. Respect it and you will be fine. Have fun and stay safe out there.

https://imgur.com/iUBEbvb