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Model S in Winter States

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With Tesla's new wheel options as of today, I am thinking either 19" Cyclone or 21" Turbine for my future Model S. I'm considering the 21" wheels and Performance Plus package but I'm concerned I won't be able to drive it much during the winter time. I have a gas-guzzling Jeep for winter driving and can drive that on snowy/icy days...though it would be nice to have the 19" wheels with all-season tires.

So I am torn. What are your thoughts on getting the 21" performance tires vs 19" all-season tires in Winter states?
 
If you are going through the pain of switching rims, might as well get real winter tires. The Nokian Rs will hopefully be an option through Tesla at some point (non-studded winter tire).
 
I'm not sure I would want to go through the pain of switching rims and storing rims. I just sold my Nissan 350Z convertible with performance tires that was my summer car to move on to the Model S. I do have a Jeep Grand Cherokee I intended to drive to the ground and could drive on snowy days or anticipated snowy days but I hate to fill it with $80 gas each time. I guess I've gotten used to the Jeep for hauling heavy stuff, transporting a ladder or lawn mower once in a while.
 
So has anybody had a Model S through a Colorado winter yet?

I've been a Model X reservation holder for 16 months or so, but I'm tired of waiting and strongly considering an S, but honestly think the RWD S will probably be very limiting for real mountain driving in winter conditions. High quality dedicated hydrophilic snows are a given (I''d probably run Nokian's or Blizzaks).

Not talking about getting the kids back and forth to daycare or commuting to the office, but without hesitation heading over Berthoud Pass, Loveland Pass, and other similar mountain roads during a major snowstorm.

Perhaps the low CG, fairly heavy curb weight, great F/R weight distribution and relatively narrow tire profile would help, but It would boost my confidence quite a bit to hear from somebody rock's their Tesla over the Colorado mountain passes during blizzards with impunity!

Probably not, at least until the rumored AWD S or X hits the ground, but thought I'd ask anyway...
 
I think I've decided on the 21" Wheels and get the Pirelli Winter Wheel and Tire Set from the Tesla Gear store at a later time.

Don't waste your money on the Pirellis... They are only good for Californian winters ...

Buy the wheels from Tesla, if you like them and get Nokians, if your regions get any snow.

Coupled with Model S traction control, the Pirellis make it hard to get up snowy hills... and not big ones...

Search patp videos on the forum, one of the first canadian to put the Pirellis to the test in canadian winter wheater, and changed them the next week.
 
With Tesla's new wheel options as of today, I am thinking either 19" Cyclone or 21" Turbine for my future Model S. I'm considering the 21" wheels and Performance Plus package but I'm concerned I won't be able to drive it much during the winter time. I have a gas-guzzling Jeep for winter driving and can drive that on snowy/icy days...though it would be nice to have the 19" wheels with all-season tires.

So I am torn. What are your thoughts on getting the 21" performance tires vs 19" all-season tires in Winter states?

I have the 21s and simply use my "snow car" on certain days. Here in the Denver area, that means I drive the guzzler about 14 days in the Winter. Of course, that means that my son doesn't get to drive to school that day. If you already have a Jeep that you are going to keep then it's an easy decision.
 
Coupled with Model S traction control, the Pirellis make it hard to get up snowy hills... and not big ones...

Under admittedly extremely bad winter conditions, I couldn't make it up this hill. My car was in the position marked with an oval:

hill.jpg


I know... you're thinking, "that's a hill???"

The Pirellis are totally inadequate if you have "real" winter. The TC also really overdoes it, with the net result that it didn't even try to turn the wheels. It just held the car in place. The only way out of this situation was to either back up and take a run at it, or turn off TC.
 
The Pirellis are totally inadequate if you have "real" winter. The TC also really overdoes it, with the net result that it didn't even try to turn the wheels. It just held the car in place. The only way out of this situation was to either back up and take a run at it, or turn off TC.

Yes I had the same thing happens on a small hill, on Guy Street, in Montreal. Judge for yourself : this is looking up a gentle slope : Rue Guy, Montréal, QC - Google Maps (Click on little guy icon to see Street Viewl)

I stopped for a red light and it took me three green lights to make it across. Not fun.

I will use my Pirellis from september to early december, before any snow falls, to save my summer tire and get though them. They are good tires, but not snow tires...
I am shopping for Nokians...
 
Doug_G - that is really, really, embarrassingly pathetic. I found myself hoping you were referring to attempting the grassy verge up to the parking lot...

But, hey - even my F-250s and F-350s, with winter tires, have wretched trouble re-starting from halted in Anchorage winter stop lights when not in 4WD. Those city streets, when snow gets compacted and then turned into glare ice from thousands of cars' tires, turn slicker than otter snot and at least as messy.

That's one of a few thousand reasons, of course, I hate going to town. But if I did have to live in a populated place, studded tires would be on all four corners.
 
Yes I had the same thing happens on a small hill, on Guy Street, in Montreal. Judge for yourself : this is looking up a gentle slope : Rue Guy, Montréal, QC - Google Maps (Click on little guy icon to see Street Viewl)

I stopped for a red light and it took me three green lights to make it across. Not fun.

I will use my Pirellis from september to early december, before any snow falls, to save my summer tire and get though them. They are good tires, but not snow tires...
I am shopping for Nokians...

Same thing for me. I got stuck at least 4-5 times last winter. I then changed to Nokians and it's much better. I'm one of those who convinced Tesla to reconsider selling the Pirellis for real winter conditions.

However it's still average when climbing hills. Maybe they made some firmware changes to traction control since last winter. I'm quite anxious to get winter feedback from customers in Norway. I'll repeat myself but if you live in a 'real' snow place, Model S is decent with good winter tires but really far from being great. For your reference we much prefer our Volt in those conditions.
 
I have a Volvo V70 T5 and I have big rims and performance tires for the summer and small rims and Gislaved (they're Swedish) winter tires for the winter. I just get the rims swapped every spring and fall. Easy-peasy. It's cheap and you get all the advantages of the two sizes, and I don't need a second car for the winter. I know the exit at the Emerald Plaza in Doug's photo and it's actually more of a hill than it looks, but decent winter tires should get you up it unless it's completely covered with ice.
 
I still stand behind the fact that 99% of my driving is perfectly suited for RWD and some good snows. I'm very partial to Dunlop snows. My BMW Z4M coupe was one of the best snow cars I've ever had.

As long as your home isn't up a huge hill or you don't plan on taking the S skiing, driving around the valley will be easy with good snow tires, as others have suggested here.

Ive driven 335i, Z4M, 335d as my own personal cars in the snow. And countless others when I sold them as well. My favorite was a 6speed M3 sedan in a blizzard in Park City. I've always been impressed how much difference the tires make in snow.
 
Doug_G - that is really, really, embarrassingly pathetic. I found myself hoping you were referring to attempting the grassy verge up to the parking lot...

Well, to be fair, the road conditions were ridiculously awful. There was glare ice almost two inches thick on the pavement. Still, the car isn't going to move unless it at least tries to turn the wheels!

I had similar sorts of "can't get up the hill" things several other times during the winter, but only on steeper hills. The thing is you can climb the hill if you turn off TC. This is a major fault in the TC algorithm, and quite disappointing considering the phenomenal performance of the Roadster TC.

All that said, if Tesla sold me usable winter tires none of this would probably have happened.