Superb handling in deep snow

[Plug Me In]

Chris

My experience was similar to yours this AM. About 8-9 inches of snow on an unplowed street and I really couldn't advance the car out of the driveway. OTOH last night when I moved the car up the slight incline to the end of my driveway it tackled the 4" of snow then without the least hesitation.

 

[Ven Rala]

Yesterday I was able to put the deep-snow driving dynamics of my Model S to an extreme test. This was not voluntary. I had flown to Manchester NH on Tuesday night and spent the day at Hanover, NH. I was scheduled to fly back last night, but with the serious storms hitting the Northeast, all flights were canceled and I ended up have to take a train from Boston to get home. My car was parked indoors at the BWI lot; I arrived for the 25 mile drive home at about 1:45am. At that point there were about 6" inches of snow on the ground and nearly all of the roads had not been cleared. So I set out with a bit of trepidation, not having driven the car in these kinds of conditions.

The car performed flawlessly on the interstate and on back roads. About 20 miles were on interstates that had not yet been plowed or salted so I faced pretty raw conditions. I kept a steady speed of about 35-40 mph with no serious fishtailing or handling anomalies. Another 5 miles or so was on back roads with some steep inclines and snow piles about a foot deep. The car took the hills with aplomb and plowed right through the deeper parts, with just a bit of wheel spin so be sure, but nothing that created any major concerns.

I couldn't have been more pleased with the car's performance in these very treacherous conditions.

Do you have winter/snow tires?


I keep going back and forth about whether to get winter tires, based on this east coast winter, I may have to do it next winter. I also imagine anyone with 21" will have a harder time in the snow than those with 19".

 

[artsci]

I have Bridgestone Serenity tires on 19" wheels for the winter. I'm very satisfied with them.

 

[aronth5]

For those who have driven last winter and this winter I'm just curious if you believe the Model S does better in the snow after the software updates since last winter?
It just seems that posts about driving in snow this winter are more positive than last winter.
thank you

 

[Doug_G]

Can't say for certain, but I've only had to switch off TC twice this winter, and that was just for grinding out of uncleared parking spots. Last year I had to turn off TC a bunch of times to climb hills.

(I'm still running the decidedly so-so Pirelli winter tires.)

 

[pgiralt]

Definitely leave TC turned ON almost all the time. In the vast majority of situations it helps dramatically, and could prevent you from spinning into the ditch - especially if you aren't that familiar with driving in snow and ice. There are only two situations where I've had to turn off TC:

a) In ridiculously slippery conditions, if climbing a hill without a running start. (We're talking falling-on-your-butt slippery.)

b) If stuck.

In these situations, the TC can bite so hard it won't even attempt to turn the wheels! Turning the wheels is something of a prerequisite for the car moving...

When you turn off the TC be sure to gently press the accelerator. Do not spin the wheels fast; that will just polish the stuff under the wheels into cylindrical ice pockets! Be very gentle and spin the wheels very slowly.

A fellow MS driver here in the Raleigh area got stuck on the side of the road yesterday when all the snow and ice hit. He was stuck after a turn that went up a hill. He called me and I suggested that he turn off TC. That was the trick that let him get unstuck and back home, so definitely turning off TC when stuck is good advice.

 

[AndreyATC]

About foot of fresh snow and unplowed street = Tesla wins
I have Michelin Xice3 on 19s
It wasnt easy, but with traction control off, i was able to get out and drive
I kept it in standard to make sure i can go back with raised suspension in case i get stuck
Car acted as plow and slowly was moving
If i used high setting it could have been better, but i was afraid to get stuck and not to be able to go back
No one on our street moved from their spot
So far, i'm liking this car in the winter

 

[Cottonwood]

Can't say for certain, but I've only had to switch off TC twice this winter, and that was just for grinding out of uncleared parking spots. Last year I had to turn off TC a bunch of times to climb hills.

(I'm still running the decidedly so-so Pirelli winter tires.)

I have never had to turn traction control off with a snowy driveway that has a few 15˚ pitches, one just after the last turn to the house. In fact, turning it off could be a risk on my driveway, see below. I am running Hakka 7's, but when they wear out, or maybe sooner, I will get the Hakka R2's. I find the noise of the studs on the 7's to be very annoying on dry pavement, and the dry pavement traction an issue. The R2's are not quite as good on wet ice as the 7's, but the R2's do have "Cryo Crystals" imbedded in the rubber to give good ice performance.

MS with Hakka 7's, Traction Control on, Up My Driveway:

 

[Mario Kadastik]

Chris: I think your Pirellis might be the underlying issue here... Driving on Hakka 8's (yeah sorry US members, you can get those next year) I've yet to find road conditions that the S can't handle, but I do relish the v6 firmware promised custom ride height as Elon specifically mentioned the higher speed in high mode that could be useful in deep snow driving

 

[santana338]

I had my first serious winter driving experience in my MS last night driving back from Boston to New Hampshire on I93 (PM me next time you are in Manchester ARTSCII!). I have the stock 19" wheels and tires (I procrastinated too much and missed out on the winter tires this year). The car was fine. The traffic was generally slow but as it thinned out the further north I went, there was only one clear lane and a couple of inches of loose snow on the rest of the road. I was able to go about 40 or 45 with the rest of the traffic. I had only one instance where I was in the loose snow, going up a hill where I had to slow down due to another car, and had the TC kick in. I had to inch over to the clear lane to get some traction to get going again. But there was no fishtailing and I felt I had perfect control the whole way.

 

[Hybris]

Pirelli sottozero. It was a combination of tire spin (limited by traction control) and just so much snow the car would get stuck. It's not a snow plow after all

those are terrible in real winter conditions... what we call central european tires. good down to zero celsius but not good in snow, ice or really cold. Compared to the best winter tires hakka 8 (studded) its day and night...

Hakka 8., DSC OFF, suspension at very high and the model S should be able to get through in loads of snow... well if you are experienced driving in snow... My last car was a BMW X5 latest model with Hakka studs. amazing wintercar no matter conditions... my coming model S will not be close to the X5 but still pretty ok with studs in Swedish winter conditions i suppose...

 

[tezco]

I pulled up to my garage on a sheet of ice yesterday. There is a 1/2" threshold at the door. With traction control on I didn't have enough momentum to clear the threshold. When I depressed the pedal significantly there was absolutely no audible wheel spin. With traction off I was able to spin the tires, but still couldn't get over the threshold without backing up. Seems like the traction control may be set a bit too tight.

 

[Doug_G]

I pulled up to my garage on a sheet of ice yesterday. There is a 1/2" threshold at the door. With traction control on I didn't have enough momentum to clear the threshold. When I depressed the pedal significantly there was absolutely no audible wheel spin. With traction off I was able to spin the tires, but still couldn't get over the threshold without backing up. Seems like the traction control may be set a bit too tight.

Yes, I complained about this problem to Tesla over a year ago. In extreme conditions the TC bites so hard the wheels fail to turn at all. It's something of a prerequisite for car motion that the wheels turn.

When this happens, just turn off the TC and very gently spin the wheels.

I've not had the problem as much this year, but that might just be due to differences in weather. This winter has been pretty bad, but we had some crazy road conditions last year.

 

[tezco]

Yes, I complained about this problem to Tesla over a year ago. In extreme conditions the TC bites so hard the wheels fail to turn at all. It's something of a prerequisite for car motion that the wheels turn.

I wish they had a traction control setting where it was off or muted on acceleration, but back on during deceleration.

 

[PaulusdB]

I guess the traction control on deceleration is called ABS, or does that only operate when the brake pedal is pressed?

 

[ViperDoc]

Yesterday I was able to put the deep-snow driving dynamics of my Model S to an extreme test. This was not voluntary. I had flown to Manchester NH on Tuesday night and spent the day at Hanover, NH. I was scheduled to fly back last night, but with the serious storms hitting the Northeast, all flights were canceled and I ended up have to take a train from Boston to get home. My car was parked indoors at the BWI lot; I arrived for the 25 mile drive home at about 1:45am. At that point there were about 6" inches of snow on the ground and nearly all of the roads had not been cleared. So I set out with a bit of trepidation, not having driven the car in these kinds of conditions.

The car performed flawlessly on the interstate and on back roads. About 20 miles were on interstates that had not yet been plowed or salted so I faced pretty raw conditions. I kept a steady speed of about 35-40 mph with no serious fishtailing or handling anomalies. Another 5 miles or so was on back roads with some steep inclines and snow piles about a foot deep. The car took the hills with aplomb and plowed right through the deeper parts, with just a bit of wheel spin so be sure, but nothing that created any major concerns.

I couldn't have been more pleased with the car's performance in these very treacherous conditions.

Which snow tires do you use? My wife's Model S (Pirelli Sottozero) is no where near as stable as my Roadster (Yokohama W-drive) in our VT snow.

 

[Jeeps17]

Which snow tires do you use? My wife's Model S (Pirelli Sottozero) is no where near as stable as my Roadster (Yokohama W-drive) in our VT snow.

ViperDoc,

The concensus from Quebec and northern Ontario drivers is that the Pirelli's don't cut it in "real" winter conditions.

I suggest you look into Nokian Hakka R2 (or Hakka 7 if you can find them), or Michelin Xice3 in their stead.

I have the Hakka 7s (non-studded) on my S, and find them excellent.

 

[tezco]

I guess the traction control on deceleration is called ABS, or does that only operate when the brake pedal is pressed?

ABS is activated during braking. Hard regenerative braking can cause the back tires to lose traction, so I assume the Tesla traction control will reduce the braking effect when needed.

 

[Jeeps17]

Yes, I complained about this problem to Tesla over a year ago. In extreme conditions the TC bites so hard the wheels fail to turn at all. It's something of a prerequisite for car motion that the wheels turn.

When this happens, just turn off the TC and very gently spin the wheels.

I've not had the problem as much this year, but that might just be due to differences in weather. This winter has been pretty bad, but we had some crazy road conditions last year.

I really wish Tesla would implement a winter mode with a more forgiving TC for situations like these.

It would be nice to have an "in-between" setting, given the precision of the TC it would be... awesome (LEGO movie pun intended :smile.

 

[Alysashley79]

I would have to agree. We got 9" of snow last night and I had to drive through it unplowed today I have nokian haakas R7 (studded) the car was completely unstoppable. She's a beast! I have felt more comfortable driving my model S than I did. In my AWD Honda Pilot. I know the tires make all the difference in the world. But the car is also amazing.