Traction in snow on summer performance tires

[AndreyATC]

Forget summers, forget all-seasons
Not even every winter rubber is adequate
Just get best set of winter wheels and call it a day

For roughly $2,000 you get best winter experience

 

[majorlance]

I live in the DC area also and, happily, just picked up my P85D with 19" all seasons. We had about 3 - 4 inches of snow on the roads and lawns that achaar mentioned... but it was unexpected so no plows and lots of inept drivers. Now...

I ended driving my recently hand-washed by me in the cold (over the weekend) D into work in all the mess and snow. It handled it flawlessly. I won't get into the winter tires (which really do make a difference) vs. all wheels debate but all I can say the car handled it all with ease.

By comparison, my last car was a 2013 MB S550 RWD only with AMG rims and summer tires. It was awful in just a dusting... truly a sled. Could barely pull out of my driveway, which is flat!

I realize the OP's issue was a pulling to one side but my experience with my MB was it sucked, no matter how little snow there was. it pulled, slid, skidded, didn't stop. All I could do is park it...

Punchline- try winter tires on the rear and see if that makes a difference. I don't think all seasons will improve things by much. And of course there is the new D but it is a lot more expensive than swapping out a set of snow tires for the summers.

 

[dsm363]

Punchline- try winter tires on the rear and see if that makes a difference. I don't think all seasons will improve things by much. And of course there is the new D but it is a lot more expensive than swapping out a set of snow tires for the summers.

I don't think winter tires on 2 wheels only is the way to go, if you change tires all 4 should be the same (I may have not read your comment correctly).

 

[achaar]

Winter tires definitely make a difference, but as dsm363 says, only using two would produce some wonky results. I had blizzaks on my old Boxster, and they were great, until we had an 80 degree day in March, before I put the summers back on.

 

[jerry33]

I don't think winter tires on 2 wheels only is the way to go, if you change tires all 4 should be the same (I may have not read your comment correctly).

This is 100% correct. Outside of North America, my understanding is that it's illegal to run just two snow tires. In the worst case it will make the car un-drivable on dry pavement, and the better the snow tire the more likely this is to happen. Always mount four. Yes, Grandfather only ever had two, but snow tires in those days were only marginally better than summer tires.

 

[EarlyAdopter]

I don't think winter tires on 2 wheels only is the way to go, if you change tires all 4 should be the same (I may have not read your comment correctly).

Yeah, that's just a bad idea. You're going to end up with one end of the car wanting to do things very differently than the other end - most likely the back end coming around past the front end.

 

[majorlance]

"Yes, Grandfather only ever had two"

Hey- I'm not that old yet (a grandfather)! But I stand corrected. Change all four to snow.

But what I was really trying to say was that All Season tires won't substitute for good snow tires... and snow tires will make a huge difference.

Now, where's my rocking chair???? And darn it, I can't find my teeth either.

 

[CSFTN]

Appreciate the comments. I agree that driving schools are almost always helpful, and I have been thru some, and have autocrossed a bit as well. Also agree, that a LSD is very useful. To clarify, the lurching I referred to, was with T/C on. I have also said (multiple times now) that summer tires are not the way to go.

To directly answer your point: Has anyone considered (or know) the effect of Tesla's regen algorithm when the tires lack traction? I'd guess the regen was kicking in and out, trying to do its job, but not having traction. It would lurch towards the side which was trying to regen, IMO, then the traction control would kick in. Then process would start all over.

 

[achaar]

To directly answer your point: Has anyone considered (or know) the effect of Tesla's regen algorithm when the tires lack traction? I'd guess the regen was kicking in and out, trying to do its job, but not having traction. It would lurch towards the side which was trying to regen, IMO, then the traction control would kick in. Then process would start all over.

Possibly. Tried to reproduce it today but couldn't find enough snow on the road.