Winter driving advice, winter tire choices, etc.

[Zcd1]

...I don't really have a place to store extra tires. Also mine is a RWD not AWD, never driven RWD before.

Places like Discount Tire/America’s Tire will store your tires for a seasonal fee.

If you’ve never driven an RWD vehicle before that’s all the more reason to get some winter tires. Between RWD and instant EV torque you could otherwise be in for some dicey going in the snow.

 

[PNWLeccy]

After 1.5 years, I just had my first real experience with snow and it did not go super well.

I’ve got a LR RWD and went up to Stevens Pass for some skiiing. I pulled into a parking spot with a couple of inches of snow on the ground and couldn’t back out of the spot. I had to put on Easy Sox (Tire chain alternatives), put it in slip start, and had 2 guys pushing at the front just to get out. I have the 19” wheels with all season tires with good tread on them but they were not going anywhere without the tire socks on them. I know winter tires or even all weather tires would’ve performed much better.

Driving forward with the tire socks on didn’t seem to be too much of a problem when giving it slow consistent acceleration but reversing caused me to get stuck every time. Since most ICE cars are Front wheel drive for better traction, why would the car struggle so much reversing with a RWD?

It was a bit of a bummer and I definitely was wishing I had a dual motor to maybe help with traction. I actually saw one other car stuck in the parking lot getting helped by the staff and it was another model 3

 

[Zcd1]

After 1.5 years, I just had my first real experience with snow and it did not go super well...

Bummer.

Tesla should create a “snow” mode for all versions to help with these situations, IMO.

 

[oldorchard]

The cross climates are rated very well but have been out of stock

The stock Michelin Primacy MXM4s are not very good in snow in my experience but I have no idea what the snow and ice conditions are where you live. Where I live in Colorado, the stock tires pretty much suck and winter tires are much, much better. There are quite a few days during the winter where I probably wouldn't be able to get out of my neighborhood on the stock tires. You might consider something like the Michelin Cross Climate tires; they've been getting very good reviews and one of my neighbors has them and likes them.

 

[GregD60]

The cross climates are rated very well but have been out of stock

There are two pretty close competitors for the Cross Climates that are also rated very well, the Vedstein Quatrac Pro and the Goodyear Assurance Weatherready. You might want to look into those if you don't want to have separate winter and summer tires.

 

[chinney]

Even on the Model 3, which is a heavy car with good traction control, I would not drive it in anything more than very light snow conditions without winter tires, and especially not the RWD model.

All season tires (and especially not the OEM Primacy tires) do not count as winter tires. A possible exception of an all-season that is good in more than light snow is the Michelin Cross Climate - mentioned by others above - which may be an acceptable compromise for parts of the North America that get the occasional bit of real winter weather, but where it does not make sense to invest in a dedicated set of winter tires and to go through the annual tire change.

On the other end of the spectrum is driving an AWD Model 3 with good winter tires in the snow, which is just great. I did that just this morning on some very slippery roads. No problems.

 

[chinney]

Anyone with experience picking up a Tesla when it's snowing? I'm a bit worried it will snow on my pick up date and their original tires will give me trouble driving RWD in the snow.

Would it be an idea to order the car with the winter tire package pre-installed?

 

[Spielerin]

Picked up SR+ during east coast snowstorm last week. Handled well. Only slipped on partially treated back roads near home. Drove 2 hours home from pickup, 1/2 in snow. My first rear wheel drive car.

 

[ottermode]

Would it be an idea to order the car with the winter tire package pre-installed?

I already ordered the car, not sure if the winter tires would arrive in time if I order those now. Also did not see any option to see the winter package during car purchase.

Picked up SR+ during east coast snowstorm last week. Handled well. Only slipped on partially treated back roads near home. Drove 2 hours home from pickup, 1/2 in snow. My first rear wheel drive car.

Did you do this trip on the regular OEM Aero wheels?

 

[Spielerin]

Did you do this trip on the regular OEM Aero wheels?[/QUOTE]

Yes, and I didn’t have any problems yesterday when I drove over some large chunks of buildup in a parking lot while running errands. Was pleasantly surprised by the performance.

 

[andrewsjra]

There’s too much to scroll through in this thread but I wanted to see what anyone’s recommendations were for psi of the 18” aero stock Michelin tires during the winter. I’m located in Northern Cali and the temps have ranged from 35 to 60 something degrees. I had a tire replaced recently and the tire shop filled it to 42 psi for the current temp that day. I see my tires are displaying around 40-41 psi in about 35-60 degree weather and 42 psi or higher when the temp is 60 degrees or hotter. I feel like the ride is much bumpier where my psi currently is at so wondering if anyone lowers their psi to like 38 when it’s colder. Any thoughts?

 

[webbah]

Even on the Model 3, which is a heavy car with good traction control, I would not drive it in anything more than very light snow conditions without winter tires, and especially not the RWD model.

All season tires (and especially not the OEM Primacy tires) do not count as winter tires. A possible exception of an all-season that is good in more than light snow is the Michelin Cross Climate - mentioned by others above - which may be an acceptable compromise for parts of the North America that get the occasional bit of real winter weather, but where it does not make sense to invest in a dedicated set of winter tires and to go through the annual tire change.

On the other end of the spectrum is driving an AWD Model 3 with good winter tires in the snow, which is just great. I did that just this morning on some very slippery roads. No problems.

I drive in the Swiss Alps all the time in snow with Vredestein Quatrac Pro all season UHP tires. They grip like a champ and have never had any issues at all, even with my lead foot. The new generation all seasons are a level up from years past. The Vredestein's have a winter rating. And to top it off they are the quietest tires I've ever had! Dead silent compared to winter tires.

 

[KenC]

I drive in the Swiss Alps all the time in snow with Vredestein Quatrac Pro all season UHP tires. They grip like a champ and have never had any issues at all, even with my lead foot. The new generation all seasons are a level up from years past. The Vredestein's have a winter rating. And to top it off they are the quietest tires I've ever had! Dead silent compared to winter tires.

Thanks for the info. How's the efficiency?

 

[webbah]

Thanks for the info. How's the efficiency?

Quite good actually, but I am running 18's instead of 20's during the winter. Drive today in 0C was average 155 Wh/km:

 

[webbah]

Thanks for the info. How's the efficiency?

Here's another from yesterday driving with a lead foot up the mountains to a ski resort. You can see me hammering the go pedal in the chart. Still averaged 223 Wh/km which is great in my book!

 

[benginc]

I picked up my new LR AWD in Minneapolis on Tuesday, and drive it home to Des Moines yesterday. We had a big storm Tuesday, so I drove up early in a rental to beat the weather, picked up the car, then spent the night and headed out when the road maps showed it was getting pretty clear.

I found getting going in the snow was great, and around town the entire experience was pretty good. On the highway though, the regen braking made life difficult, particularly for someone new to it.

I35 was probably 80% clear to the Iowa border, so traffic would speed up to around 60mph when clear. Then we would hit a patch where snow was blowing over, so I'd let off the gas, and it was like slamming on the brakes. The car would start to spin, as expected if you hit the brakes in slippery conditions. I'd say it did a decent job controlling it, and I never got sideways or out of the lane, but the back and forth motion was enough to make me dizzy for about a second. I got a bit used to staying on the gas and trying to slow it down myself, but I would love to be able to just turn of regen braking in the snow. Apparently it was possible to reduce regen, but the current software doesn't have that option.

Being new and driving in bad weather with temps in the 15-30 range, I was anxious about range, but did just fine. I charged to about 90% before leaving MSP, then charged to 100% in Albert Lea, then again in Dows. From Dows to home I went around 110 miles and dropped to 55%. I would say that ABRP and the Tesla nav would probably have been cutting it really close, as it only wanted me to charge once in Albert Lea. I figured with the weather I'd rather just spend extra time charging in case of trouble.

The wipers seem pretty bad too. The washer nozzles appear to be near the middle of the blades, pointing to the ends. It ends up spraying only the top part of the windshield, leaving the bottom left in front of me smeared. I'll investigate that more, maybe the nozzles were just frozen. I'm used to heated nozzles, not sure if this has that.

It's now thawed out in the garage, and I'm excited to drive it around today without white knuckles. I wasn't able to give it a good inspection at Tesla because it was covered with snow, but it seems just fine today!

 

[chinney]

I drive in the Swiss Alps all the time in snow with Vredestein Quatrac Pro all season UHP tires. They grip like a champ and have never had any issues at all, even with my lead foot. The new generation all seasons are a level up from years past. The Vredestein's have a winter rating. And to top it off they are the quietest tires I've ever had! Dead silent compared to winter tires.

Interesting. I had seen references to those tires here in TMC threads. It seems that maybe that they have similar true all-season performance of the CrossClimate. Vredestein may be a bit more difficult to get here in Canada though. I remember looking some time ago for a local dealer that sold them, and there were none. I imagine though that they could be available from one of the online sellers.

All that said, I am not quite ready to trust them, or the CrossClimates, to the winter weather here in Ottawa. Would they still be good on slippery roads in the extreme cold? Temperatures below -20 C are not unusual here in the winter. I am sticking with dedicated winter tires for now, but will keep an eye on future developments and reviews of the new generation of all-seasons.

 

[chinney]

I picked up my new LR AWD in Minneapolis on Tuesday, and drive it home to Des Moines yesterday. We had a big storm Tuesday, so I drove up early in a rental to beat the weather, picked up the car, then spent the night and headed out when the road maps showed it was getting pretty clear.

I found getting going in the snow was great, and around town the entire experience was pretty good. On the highway though, the regen braking made life difficult, particularly for someone new to it.

I35 was probably 80% clear to the Iowa border, so traffic would speed up to around 60mph when clear. Then we would hit a patch where snow was blowing over, so I'd let off the gas, and it was like slamming on the brakes. The car would start to spin, as expected if you hit the brakes in slippery conditions. I'd say it did a decent job controlling it, and I never got sideways or out of the lane, but the back and forth motion was enough to make me dizzy for about a second. I got a bit used to staying on the gas and trying to slow it down myself, but I would love to be able to just turn of regen braking in the snow. Apparently it was possible to reduce regen, but the current software doesn't have that option.

Being new and driving in bad weather with temps in the 15-30 range, I was anxious about range, but did just fine. I charged to about 90% before leaving MSP, then charged to 100% in Albert Lea, then again in Dows. From Dows to home I went around 110 miles and dropped to 55%. I would say that ABRP and the Tesla nav would probably have been cutting it really close, as it only wanted me to charge once in Albert Lea. I figured with the weather I'd rather just spend extra time charging in case of trouble.

The wipers seem pretty bad too. The washer nozzles appear to be near the middle of the blades, pointing to the ends. It ends up spraying only the top part of the windshield, leaving the bottom left in front of me smeared. I'll investigate that more, maybe the nozzles were just frozen. I'm used to heated nozzles, not sure if this has that.

It's now thawed out in the garage, and I'm excited to drive it around today without white knuckles. I wasn't able to give it a good inspection at Tesla because it was covered with snow, but it seems just fine today!

Congrats on your purchase. I hope that you enjoy it. Was the vehicle equipped just with the stock all-seasons for that drive?

 

[benginc]

Congrats on your purchase. I hope that you enjoy it. Was the vehicle equipped just with the stock all-seasons for that drive?

Yes, it's the LR AWD with the stock all-seasons. I am enjoying it so far, but I'll stick to my Jeep when it's snowing!

 

[EmOne]

Interesting. I had seen references to those tires here in TMC threads. It seems that maybe that they have similar true all-season performance of the CrossClimate. Vredestein may be a bit more difficult to get here in Canada though. I remember looking some time ago for a local dealer that sold them, and there were none. I imagine though that they could be available from one of the online sellers.

All that said, I am not quite ready to trust them, or the CrossClimates, to the winter weather here in Ottawa. Would they still be good on slippery roads in the extreme cold? Temperatures below -20 C are not unusual here in the winter. I am sticking with dedicated winter tires for now, but will keep an eye on future developments and reviews of the new generation of all-seasons.

All-season...Canada? I don't think so; even in Chicago I LOVE my Vredestein Wintrac's ($175 at Tire Rack 235/45/18 fitted to bolt-up, ie no centering ring, Alutec Monstr's at about $200). On highway with first snow fall, I was ONLY car/"SUV" doing the speed limit and I was doing it with traction to spare. If you keep the car for any length of time, costs you NOTHING. You are likely rotating twice a year anyway, and the winter tires are cheaper than the garbage all-seasons that Tesla gives you. Summer tires can certainly be more expensive, but they don't have to be to easily outperform all-seasons in the warm months.