Driving in snow

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Have you tried driving that E39 on snow and ice? That would be really fun ⋯ :)

We have one (2000 BMW 528i) and I know ⋯
 
Have you tried driving that E39 on snow and ice? That would be really fun ⋯ :)

We have one (2000 BMW 528i) and I know ⋯

That's my brother-in-law's, he had to stash it there the whole winter and drive my old '99 Civic instead. That rear-wheel drive wouldn't even make it up the glossy driveway, just the rear swaying like a dancer.
 
It was 33*F yesterday with mixed rain/snow, and hit 11*F this morning, of course every road surface is glossy like mirror. I'm on DM-V2, was able to slide the rear a bit in a parking lot in the morning. Got home to a driveway coated with ice, tested the tires by stopping at the entry of the driveway (all wheels on ice), couldn't get it to go up without first backing up a bit so that the rear wheels got out of the ice sheet.

Overall, super happy with the DM-V2, could have spun out of control easily on the ice with the stock Yoko. My wife's Accord on Xi3 is also good.

Out of curiosity from a stop... if you can do it again with all fours on ice. Wipers on but with as cold as it is probably doesn't matter and then just a slight amount of braking while on the gas.

I've never played with mine on the brake part like this but have heard this can shift power around some for more traction. MikeM mention a similar technique on a steep driveway.

No way my OEM Toyos would get up that without a good run at it
 
Out of curiosity from a stop... if you can do it again with all fours on ice. Wipers on but with as cold as it is probably doesn't matter and then just a slight amount of braking while on the gas.

I've never played with mine on the brake part like this but have heard this can shift power around some for more traction. MikeM mention a similar technique on a steep driveway.

No way my OEM Toyos would get up that without a good run at it

I'll give the brake technique a try when I get home. Only the thick ice sheet at the end of the driveway was problematic, once I got over that and stopped, had no problem going up on the thin ice.

My cameras didn't have a good view, but you can see all 4 wheels spun from the two cameras (choose 1080). It seems that the front left wheel didn't spin during the second try, but the front right wheel did (from the reflection on the ice). The rear wheel spun on both tries, and thus, swayed the rear.

https://goo.gl/photos/6aZ8otnWEdWjkMip7
 
Sorry for asking a silly question. I am having default tyres which were there when i bought car. Mine is 2016 AWD Touring. I have never driven it on snow ( living in hot California :p ) .
So my question is that Can i drive my car on snow with same tyres ? if No, should i use snow specific tyres ? or should i put chains while driving in snow ? (boom03)

Yes, you can use the OEM tires to drive over the Sierra. With AWD, you will not be required to put chains, but you'll need to carry them in the back.
The OEM tires are not very good on ice and snow, so you'll need to be careful:
Stopping distance, especially emergency stopping distance, is shockingly long, so keep your distance from the car in front of you. Try to brake (when no one is around) and see for yourself.
Accelerate and stop very gradually. Take turns slowly. Keep more distance if you go downhill.

If you get the chance, find an empty lot and try some figure 8s. Turn while accelerating. Try it with traction control on and off.
 
If you want real performance on snow and ice, go for the Nokian Hakkapeliitta 8. Due to an non repairable flat on a 2 year old Nokian Hakkapeliitta 7, we needed to replace the entire set of 4 snow tires. The new ones are way quieter than the last set. Barely any increase in noise over the summer tires and these are studded tires! They handle snow, ice and the worst-black ice just fine. I can have a little fun with the angle on the road in certain intersections where I can get it into a AWD powered slide. Power up, controlled slide. (2thumbs)
We have these mounted on 17" steel rims for winter. Because we live above the 61st parallel, our winters are a little longer than others and good tires are a must have.
 
I feel completely different. My 2016 GT with 19" stock tires sucks in the snow. Yeah I'm sure buying winter tires would help a lot, but even with the new stock tires I expected it to go better. Doesn't stop for crap even in 1" of snow. I have a Jeep Renegade TH and it plows through anything. Being able to lock in the 4x4 is way better. We will be dumping the CX-5 as soon as possible.

I compared my Grand Jeep Cherokee with QDII AWD system to my CX-5 AWD. They were on very comparable tires, with the CX-5 being on CrossContact LX20's, and the Jeep on Firestone Destination LE2's.

The QDII is pretty much regarded as the best AWD system Jeep has, offering the ability to lock both the front AND rear diffs, and driving the front tires 52% and the rear's 48%, static, with the ability to instantly transfer 100% of all torque to any SINGULAR tire near instantly, or any 4-way combination split thereof. In short, unless you spend a LOT of money, you're not getting a more capable AWD system than that.

We are all aware of the rather luddite CX5 version of AWD. It's simple and uses the brakes and stuff like that. Pretty mundane compared to the system in my Jeep.

However, in execution, I found the actual RESULTS on ice and snow to be very similar. I am highly suspicious that the differences you noticed between your Jeep and CX-5 are tire-based rather than AWD system based.

Now, please don't think I'm simply defending the CX-5 because it's what I own now. I'm about as atheist as it gets when it comes to brand and investment loyalty. If something sucks. I say it sucks. But if it doesn't, I'll say so, as well. The CX-5 has so far on snow and ice done functionally identical to my Jeep, except that my Jeep had slightly better engine-management and more fine-tuned torque distribution if I decided to get truly stupid. As in, floor it on ice. The Jeep would manage the acceleration while the CX-5 would slap the rev limiter. The Jeep pulled a hair straighter than the wriggly CX-5. This is under "idiot circumstances" though with me just flooring it because "why not?" on black ice to see what each would do. 0-60 on ice? Totally a race of tires. Neither was an improvement worth mentioning over the other.

Under braking, I prefer the CX-5. Its ABS seems a bit more refined and allows EXCEPTIONAL control of the vehicle even in 3-4" of snow/ice even slamming the brakes like an idiot.

Long and short of it? get some better tires. The vehicle isn't the issue. Your tires are. UNLESS you are talking about a super steep drive-way and needing to lock it into 4WD low to make it up. I did read up on the Renegade before posting, and the AWD system it boasts is not nearly as capable as the QDII that I had, and actually mirrors the CX-5's system by disconnecting the rear axle completely, unlike the QDII which drove both front and rear with a near 50/50 split all the time.

Now, as to actual offroad use, I agree with you. The CX-5 is a terrible offroad vehicle. It wants to be a mini-SUV, but it isn't. Way WAY too much front overhang. Approach angles are absolute s***. It's basically a wagon for people like me who wouldn't drive a wagon if it was the only vehicle on the planet.

For next winter, I do plan on putting Michelin Xi2's on, as they are now in my CX-5's size, and have a 40K mile treadlife warranty.

*I tried to cut back on my typical profanity for this video, so it is work/family safe. Below the video is a picture of the snow I was driving in for reference.
j7awb4.jpg
 
you're crazy! That stopping distance.. what was that like 1/4 mi or so?
Good to know the elecronics work well, but I sure as hell wouldn't want to be pushing them to the limit on a narrow road.

I did not measure stopping distance. It was rather dismal, which has led to my desire for Xi2's next year, but as you noted, I did manage to make it home just fine, so the LX20's did their job well enough.
 
Off topic: Unobtanium you've got a pretty cool sounding voice. You should do more review videos.
 
So decided to head to Tahoe this weekend, and it so happened this weekend the mountain pass was afflicted with a snow storm. Not too cold as temperatures hung around 32 degrees, but heavy snow on the main mountain road, and icy rain fore and aft of the pass. Driving conditions were pretty bad on the mountain, with only 4wd vehicles with snow tires or cars with snow chains on the drive wheels being allowed (there were checkpoints and cars being turned back). FYI I did not have snow tires or chains, just the stock 19* Toyo A36 tires.

Anyway that*s just the backdrop to tell of the wiper and car performance. Thank God I changed those wipers before going into the snow storm, to Bosch Envision 24OE and 18OE, as they performed excellently in rain and snow (waaay better than the OEM blades). The road was generally plowed (it wasn*t always clean), but snowfall was heavy in the afternoon. We had no grip or tracking issues. The car went steadily and where I wanted it to go. Also I did NOT feel slippage of the front forcing the rear to kick in; this is due to the Mazda predictive AWD programming that sends more power to the rear pre-emptively when it detects certain conditions, in my case: cold, incline, wipers in use. Very reassuring. We didn*t go off the main roads into deep snow so can*t say how it would have behaved in that case. Don*t think I would have trusted these tires or this car in the deep stuff though.
 
Don't know about the snow, but the CX-5 has been really good in a lot of rain for me so far. Even under max acceleration with turbo, the wheels won't spin (something that plagued my old Mazda 3 with even light acceleration and barely wet road). Feels very safe.
 
I feel completely different. My 2016 GT with 19" stock tires sucks in the snow. Yeah I'm sure buying winter tires would help a lot, but even with the new stock tires I expected it to go better. Doesn't stop for crap even in 1" of snow. I have a Jeep Renegade TH and it plows through anything. Being able to lock in the 4x4 is way better. We will be dumping the CX-5 as soon as possible.

I agree with you. I have a 2014 that came with Toyo tires. My old Infiniti FX5 had no problems in the winter, the CX5's back end was breaking loose on the gentlest curve if it was even slightly slippery. The dealer said it was the tires and they really aren't designed for a Minnesota climate. I didn't want to buy separate winter tires and this fall got Pirelli's. They have made a world of difference. I still keep waiting for the back end to start sliding, and it doesn't. I feel much safer driving it in the winter now.
 
Stock factory tires suck, period. Better tires make a world of difference.
 
Stock factory tires suck, period. Better tires make a world of difference.

I agree. Today and tonight I drove in one of our first significant snows. Getting the Pirelli's instead of the Toyo's made a world of difference. No sliding around on curves, being able to stop, and being able to take off from a stop without sliding all over. I wish I would have replaced the tires sooner.
 
My buddy at work used to run a garage and he laughed at me for getting snow tires. Waste if money, he says. Yeah..ok.
 
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