Back in January when I got my invitation to configure my Model 3, only the RWD LR config was available. I had to decide whether to commit immediately, or continue to wait an indeterminate amount of time for Tesla to release AWD. After a month of waiting, I caved to my instant-gratification lizard brain. Hey, I waited 2 years; that's not really "instant" gratification right? 
Part of the reason I was ok with RWD, even though I lived in a snowy climate, was that I had experience driving RWD in the winter. That experience primarily came from driving my old BMW M3 with MPS summer tires during a few winters. I'd like to say I did that to show off, but in reality, I was just a noob that didn't know better. I grew up in the South where winter tires aren't a thing. I had no clue there were differences in tires. I was young and stupid.
But I picked up some valuable skills that I figured I'd share.
First, it's important to understand that in a RWD, some of our instincts work against us. To better explain this, it helps to understand what understeer and oversteer are. Typically you only hear track nuts using these terms, but they are quite relevant in snow and low traction situations. Without getting technical (you can google if you want to go deeper into the nuances), here is what you need to know about understeer and oversteer.
Understeer: this is what happens when you turn the steering wheel and the car is slow to respond. In slick weather, you turn the wheel and your car continues moving straight forward! This sluggishness to respond to your steering input is why it's called understeer. There's too much forward momentum and not enough friction on the front tires for the steering to turn the car. This problem is worse in (but not exclusive to) front-wheel drive cars. If you accelerate too hard or turn the steering wheel sharply, the tires slip. You go from a static friction state (stronger grip with the ground) to a sliding friction state (weaker grip). To recover from understeer, you ease off the accelerator or hit the brakes, which tends to be our instinct when the car does something totally unexpected.
Oversteer: this is what happens when the car turns/rotates more than a corresponding steering intent for that turn. Typically this exhibits as the back of the car sliding sideways. Because the car turned more than you intended, it's called oversteer. Oversteer tends to happen during deceleration and weight distribution is shifted forward. It can also happen with sudden throttle or braking (parking brake trick) to the rear wheels causing them to slip. This reduces the friction with the ground, and the rear can start sliding. Here, the safety instinct to slow down to recover is absolutely the WRONG action to take. Decelerating will exacerbate the situation. To recover, lightly accelerate while countersteering.
Countersteering is what people mean when they say turn the wheel in the direction of the skid. If your rear end is sliding to the right, you want to turn the steering wheel to the right. This allows the front wheels to be aligned with the direction of momentum. Applying light acceleration helps shift some weight toward the rear and also helps snap the rear back in place. If you've ever watch the Pixar movie Cars, this was the key lesson Doc taught Lightning for how to make sharp turns on dirt. Drifting is the art of intentionally putting a car into an oversteer situation in order to hug a tighter curve. It was prominently featured in the "Tokyo Drift" sequel of the Fast and Furious franchise.
In slushy roads, when you need to make a sharp turn, it may seem intuitive to slow the car as you start the turn, but that actually sets you up for an oversteer condition (the rear of the car comes loose and over-turns the car). Rather, train yourself to gently accelerate through that turn. You'll want to decelerate gently in advance of approaching the turn while you're still traveling straight, then apply throttle gently to take the turn.
When going up a steep hill, you will leverage countersteering and more throttle to get you up the hill. The first sign of trouble will be slippage of the rear wheels.* At that point, the car will fishtail (the rear can slide in either direction). Countersteer to recover, which may cause you to fishtail the other direction. No problem; just countersteer again. With some experience, you'll feel when the car starts to recover, and you can reduce the countersteer to prevent overcompensation. Finding a hill to practice this on gives you exactly the skills and new intuition you need to recover from many skid situations. If you get clipped on the highway, having these instincts could mean the difference between total control of the car, or spinning out into a ditch.
*Note: Tesla's traction control will kick in to prevent slippage. to practice uphill countersteering, you will need to enable "Slip Start" in the UI. This will basically turn off traction control so you can intentionally slip the rear wheels at lower speeds. Otherwise the car will nerf your throttle application as it detects slippage, and you will come to a stop on the hill, even if you're flooring the accelerator.
If you read all this and are excited to practice these techniques, awesome. Be safe. If after reading this, you're more worried about RWD handling in winter, make sure you get winter tires. They significantly reduce the likelihood of oversteer and will give you more stopping ability. I recently put winter tires on my S, and it's amazing.
Part of the reason I was ok with RWD, even though I lived in a snowy climate, was that I had experience driving RWD in the winter. That experience primarily came from driving my old BMW M3 with MPS summer tires during a few winters. I'd like to say I did that to show off, but in reality, I was just a noob that didn't know better. I grew up in the South where winter tires aren't a thing. I had no clue there were differences in tires. I was young and stupid.
But I picked up some valuable skills that I figured I'd share.
First, it's important to understand that in a RWD, some of our instincts work against us. To better explain this, it helps to understand what understeer and oversteer are. Typically you only hear track nuts using these terms, but they are quite relevant in snow and low traction situations. Without getting technical (you can google if you want to go deeper into the nuances), here is what you need to know about understeer and oversteer.
Understeer: this is what happens when you turn the steering wheel and the car is slow to respond. In slick weather, you turn the wheel and your car continues moving straight forward! This sluggishness to respond to your steering input is why it's called understeer. There's too much forward momentum and not enough friction on the front tires for the steering to turn the car. This problem is worse in (but not exclusive to) front-wheel drive cars. If you accelerate too hard or turn the steering wheel sharply, the tires slip. You go from a static friction state (stronger grip with the ground) to a sliding friction state (weaker grip). To recover from understeer, you ease off the accelerator or hit the brakes, which tends to be our instinct when the car does something totally unexpected.
Oversteer: this is what happens when the car turns/rotates more than a corresponding steering intent for that turn. Typically this exhibits as the back of the car sliding sideways. Because the car turned more than you intended, it's called oversteer. Oversteer tends to happen during deceleration and weight distribution is shifted forward. It can also happen with sudden throttle or braking (parking brake trick) to the rear wheels causing them to slip. This reduces the friction with the ground, and the rear can start sliding. Here, the safety instinct to slow down to recover is absolutely the WRONG action to take. Decelerating will exacerbate the situation. To recover, lightly accelerate while countersteering.
Countersteering is what people mean when they say turn the wheel in the direction of the skid. If your rear end is sliding to the right, you want to turn the steering wheel to the right. This allows the front wheels to be aligned with the direction of momentum. Applying light acceleration helps shift some weight toward the rear and also helps snap the rear back in place. If you've ever watch the Pixar movie Cars, this was the key lesson Doc taught Lightning for how to make sharp turns on dirt. Drifting is the art of intentionally putting a car into an oversteer situation in order to hug a tighter curve. It was prominently featured in the "Tokyo Drift" sequel of the Fast and Furious franchise.
In slushy roads, when you need to make a sharp turn, it may seem intuitive to slow the car as you start the turn, but that actually sets you up for an oversteer condition (the rear of the car comes loose and over-turns the car). Rather, train yourself to gently accelerate through that turn. You'll want to decelerate gently in advance of approaching the turn while you're still traveling straight, then apply throttle gently to take the turn.
When going up a steep hill, you will leverage countersteering and more throttle to get you up the hill. The first sign of trouble will be slippage of the rear wheels.* At that point, the car will fishtail (the rear can slide in either direction). Countersteer to recover, which may cause you to fishtail the other direction. No problem; just countersteer again. With some experience, you'll feel when the car starts to recover, and you can reduce the countersteer to prevent overcompensation. Finding a hill to practice this on gives you exactly the skills and new intuition you need to recover from many skid situations. If you get clipped on the highway, having these instincts could mean the difference between total control of the car, or spinning out into a ditch.
*Note: Tesla's traction control will kick in to prevent slippage. to practice uphill countersteering, you will need to enable "Slip Start" in the UI. This will basically turn off traction control so you can intentionally slip the rear wheels at lower speeds. Otherwise the car will nerf your throttle application as it detects slippage, and you will come to a stop on the hill, even if you're flooring the accelerator.
If you read all this and are excited to practice these techniques, awesome. Be safe. If after reading this, you're more worried about RWD handling in winter, make sure you get winter tires. They significantly reduce the likelihood of oversteer and will give you more stopping ability. I recently put winter tires on my S, and it's amazing.
