Snow Drift
[Off-Road Assist] Activated
MS and MX owners manual says ONLY on rear tires. There is an issue with clearance of the suspension bits.
Subaru says (don’t use them) or front only. So it’s never all 4.
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Question for owners, how does model 3 handle in snow, rain?
- Thread starter SlicedBr3ad
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- Model 3
Subaru says (don’t use them) or front only. So it’s never all 4.
voip-ninja
Give me some sugar baby
That’s part of it but part of it is that pulling with FWD is more efficient in poor traction situations than pushing with RWD.
Specifically it is easier to pull the cars mass around a corner or pull it up a hill rather than push it. Even with snow tires and good weight distribution RWD cars tend to fishtail or rotate.
voip-ninja
Give me some sugar baby
I wouldn’t say case closed since you haven’t seen anything in this video of how it does in hilly terrain in winter conditions.
Snow Drift
[Off-Road Assist] Activated
Agreed. The guy drives on pretty clear roads, a lightly covered parking lot and doesn’t seem to know how to do donuts.
The point is, I am very happy with content they showed. Most of the time, you wouldn't be riding if road is not clear and that's the type of environment they showed. In this environment, the car handled itself very well. If there is more snow, I'd rather stay home and not drive.
Says the guy in Florida. Up here I'd say there's probably at least 30 days during the winter where we drive on roads covered with snow/slush/ice where anyone south of the Mason-Dixon would just stay in bed because the city is shut down. That said, you're right the Model 3 appears to handle these conditions pretty well on all seasons. I already ordered additional wheels from T Sportline for snow tires so I suspect that I'll be fine.
Your right, and that was the reason to move to Florida
. I did spend about 10 years driving in upstate new York before Florida so was thinking about the slush and mostly salted / sanded roads when made the comment. Very few well traveled roads have packed snow without sand or salt and that would be an issue for most front wheel drive cars which I've been driving at that time. Also, planning to take road trips to mountains using fsd (that's right, I'll keep dreaming ) in m3 and again, most time mountain roads are cleaned regularly.
dhanson865
Well-Known Member
all season tires are all I run here. Summer tires are too expensive (partly because they have such short tread life) and suck when it gets sub 60F and rainy. Winter tires are too expensive (partly because of short tread life when used in warm weather) and aren't good when it gets above 60F and sunny. (maybe my 60F cutoff isn't accurate but hopefully you get the point)
A normal summer day here is 80-100F for the high and a normal winter day here is 30-40F for a low but I've seen >80F on Christmas day and I've seen several feet of snow in April and there are weeks were we see 70F and 20F within 30 hours time (at least once or twice a year, sometimes 4 or 5 times in a year).
No way I could afford 2 or 3 sets of tires and wheels, and no reasonable rotation that doesn't include all weather tires would handle the weather we get in Tennessee without wasting tread and/or risking poor traction. A 3 wheel set rotation would be absurd meaning 4+ tire swaps per year (at a minimum it'd be winter tires in winter, all season in spring, summer in summer, and all season in fall) but if you were that serious about swapping tires you'd swap again anytime snow was forecast and you had all seasons on, and you'd swap out of the winter tires every time it warmed up.
If you by an All season that does nearly as well as a summer tire (like the Michelin Primacy) and a different all season that does nearly as well as a winter tire (like the Nokian WRG3) that'd make for a proper summer/winter rotation here (and would work in other parts of the country).
For me that summer winter rotation would be the Primacy tires from sometime in Febuary to sometime in December, and the WRG3s for 1-3 months (7-12 weeks) in the December to February range. I just can't justify buying a second set of tires for a few weeks a year. And just running the WRG3 tires in warmer weather would be just trying to use the tread before they dry rot, do it too much and I'm risking not using the tread on the "summer" tires before they dry rot.
We get enough rain that I see people with crappy summer or winter tires in the ditch on the highway when it's raining heavy (flash flood weather). I'd say it's more important to have tires with good wet traction than anything here and I just ride on happy with my one set of tires all the time.
For everything there is a time and place to use it.
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There are certainly parts of the country where all seasons are sufficient. I've even got by with them here for many years but winter tires definitely perform better in the snow. As to the added cost, I really only consider the wheels to be extra. The tires are a wash. I just spread the annual tread wear over two sets of tires. Although you do have a higher up front cost for two sets.
dhanson865
Well-Known Member
You must drive an awful lot. I put about 10,000 miles a year on mine, two sets of tires with that little driving leads to dry rot, heck I often see dry rot before the tread is gone on a single set if I get one of the types that has a 70,000 to 90,000 mile rating.
In that case I end up replacing tires because the rubber is brittle not because the tread is gone. Adding a second set to the mix means getting rid of twice as many tires in the same number of years.
I'm mortified there are tires with hard enough compounds to last that long. I can't imagine the handling and braking tradeoffs. My motorcycle front tire lasts around 3,000 miles and the rear lasts around 6,000. My cars I usually get 25k or so… I've never had to replace winter tires though, because I only swap them on for weekends when I'm going to Tahoe and I change cars frequently enough so that the winter tires have never needed replacement.
Long lasting, or high traction, you only get to pick one… and I always pick traction.
Ulmo
Active Member
Ulmo
Active Member
Very good review which I highly recommend, but be prepared for a huge excessive amount of loud rock and disco music
I wish more YouTube posters were this mentally capable. I loved that whole presentation and the driver of that video.
dhanson865
Well-Known Member
Speed rating and size matter, I won't run the larger wheel sizes no need looking at the 19" or 20" tires for the Model 3 as far as I'm concerned.
Continental PureContact with Ecoplus is rated for 70,000 miles in the size needed for the Model 3 (235/45R18) and is V rated (149 mph)
Energy Saver A/S is rated for 65,000 Miles (S- T- & H-Speed Rated) or 55,000 if V speed rated on the Model 3 and (235/45R18) then in that case it is V rated (149 mph).
Primacy MXM4 (an OEM Tesla tire used on the Model S) is rated 55,000 Miles (H- & V-Speed Rated) 45,000 Miles (W-, Y-, & Z-Speed Rated). In (235/45R18) they have both V (149 mph) and W (168 mph) ratings.
edit: there are tons of different versions on tirerack of the Primacy MXM4. There is one specifically that is the Tesla version at https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tire...&tireModel=Primacy+MXM4&partnum=345WR8MXM4PXL and you'll notice the code "TO Tesla, Acoustic Tech". Be sure you get the one with that code otherwise you don't get the best version of the tire (and some of the worse versions are more expensive at the time I checked).
edit: I'll go back on that because the Tesla version of the MXM4 has acoustic lining and doesn't cost much different than the V rated tire. So I'd get the Tesla version for sure ignoring the speed rating.
So yeah those are the tires I'd be looking at for replacements when my Model 3 needs a set down the road (or at least whatever the equivalent to those is by then).
At 10,000 miles a year a tire rated for 25,000 miles would last me 2 or 3 years so no issue with dry rot. But the tires I get last me 5+ years and eventually I replace them due to age of the rubber just as much as I do for keeping the tread deep.
So age of rubber and tread depth remaining are important on top of the tire you buy. Just because a tire is rated for 90,000 miles doesn't mean it's traction hasn't gone to crap after 50,000 miles and I don't pretend that any tire with >50,000 miles on it has great traction no matter the age or brand or size or any rating I could name.
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dhanson865
Well-Known Member
I just checked and the Nokian WRG3 does not come in the 235/45R18 or 235/40/19 size for a Model 3. So I guess that tire is out of the question.
FWIW compared to the tires above it is rated for 55,000 miles.
edit: While looking up the 19" size I found the OEM Model 3 19" tire is:
Continental ProContact RX 45K V-Rated / 40K Miles W-Rated (Tesla uses the W rated version)
edit2:
Michelin Premier A/S is not sold in either 235/45R18 or 235/40/19 size for a Model 3.
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Once I get through the stockers, I'll have to see what's out there. Not gonna worry about it for now, though.
Fortunately, my winter tire of choice, the Nokian Hakka R2, is available in the right size
Ulmo
Active Member
That mortifies me, too. I sometimes rent a car with high mileage tires, and I always almost die in those cars. I quickly return them and get something with big beefy tires that are meant for traction. Cars with high mileage tires are death traps.
dhanson865
Well-Known Member
Fortunately, my winter tire of choice, the Nokian Hakka R2, is available in the right size
Interestingly enough Nokian does not have a tread wear mileage warranty on the Hakkapeliitta R2.
