Driving in snow

The regen modulates based on available grip. I leave mine set to standard all the time. If the roads are really slippery you'll only get 5kW of regen or so, but the power meter will jump up and down rapidly as grip changes. It's pretty neat.

JOE D said:

So with this last snow fall 12" in nj. I decided to drive my s 60 before the snow started. I was out until approx 5 to 6 inches, the car performed well I tested braking and acceleration The anti lock braking worked great and kept the car strait, snow began to fall heavy and I just took it home to be safe, People drive like idiots in the snow.
The only thing I was unsure of is the regen braking. So I set it to the low setting. I'm not sure how regen works with anti lock. Has anyone had any experience with this? I like having the rear view camera on to watch what is behind me, and avoid the tail gaters.

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JOE D said:

So with this last snow fall 12" in nj. I decided to drive my s 60 before the snow started. I was out until approx 5 to 6 inches, the car performed well I tested braking and acceleration The anti lock braking worked great and kept the car strait, snow began to fall heavy and I just took it home to be safe, People drive like idiots in the snow.
The only thing I was unsure of is the regen braking. So I set it to the low setting. I'm not sure how regen works with anti lock. Has anyone had any experience with this? I like having the rear view camera on to watch what is behind me, and avoid the tail gaters.

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I'm also in NJ and was driving home from work during some of the heavy parts and left regen in standard. Car handled great so I wouldn't worry about it if I were you.

That's interesting. I tried it the other day and as soon as I lifted, the car acted like the rear tires were locked up. I switched to low-regen mode. Wonder if there is something wrong with my car.

achaar said:

That's interesting. I tried it the other day and as soon as I lifted, the car acted like the rear tires were locked up. I switched to low-regen mode. Wonder if there is something wrong with my car.

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It's going to feel like ABS going off not smooth like when you normally use it.

achaar said:

That's interesting. I tried it the other day and as soon as I lifted, the car acted like the rear tires were locked up. I switched to low-regen mode. Wonder if there is something wrong with my car.

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Tires will make a difference... What is on your car?

Doug_G said:

If it is extremely slippery, and you have all seasons or the "sport winter" tires that Tesla provides, then the back end may get a little squirmy at full regen. The car does remain stable, it just wiggles uncomfortably. That said, I would recommend feathering off the pedal in conditions like that.

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That should pretty much be standard operating procedure when driving in snow no matter the vehicle.

Doug_G said:

If it is extremely slippery, and you have all seasons or the "sport winter" tires that Tesla provides, then the back end may get a little squirmy at full regen. The car does remain stable, it just wiggles uncomfortably. That said, I would recommend feathering off the pedal in conditions like that.

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Tough to "feather" when some idiot moves into your safety buffer space and hits the brakes! It is mind boggling how bad Toronto drivers can be. If you leave any space between you and the guy you're following, it is taken as an open invitation to jump into that space.

I was very worried about how re-gen might perform in slippery conditions. I had an accident in a RWD ICE car going down a slippery hill with cruise on. I didn't realize there was black ice or I wouldn't have had cruise on. Anyway, when the car sped up going down the hill, the cruise control caused the car to downshift to maintain speed and I ended up spinning out. That car had both ABS and stability control, but only All-Season tires.

With the Nokian Hakka R2 tires and Tesla's stability control implementation, I can report that I've had no issues with re-gen traction thus far. Part of this is because re-gen is usually limited somewhat due to the cold.

mknox said:

I had an accident in a RWD ICE car going down a slippery hill with cruise on. I didn't realize there was black ice or I wouldn't have had cruise on. Anyway, when the car sped up going down the hill, the cruise control caused the car to downshift to maintain speed and I ended up spinning out. That car had both ABS and stability control, but only All-Season tires.

With the Nokian Hakka R2 tires and Tesla's stability control implementation, I can report that I've had no issues with re-gen traction thus far. Part of this is because re-gen is usually limited somewhat due to the cold.

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I had one very weird things a month ago, on clear highway on cruise control at about 60mph. Probably just a bit up hill and I caught a patch of ice. Nothing really happened in appearance but for a very brief instant the kW gauge jumped to max power then returned to normal. The TC reaction was very different than what we are used to on ice at low speed. It was a bit scary but as I said the car didn't really moved sideways or anything, fortunately...

I've set cruise off for that part of the road that day Its always safer anyway, on snow, ice or even heavy rain...

Doug_G said:

Generally speaking cruise control is unsafe in any car in slippery conditions. It is designed to do exactly what you should not do when you hit ice - it hits the gas.

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Yep, it was a mistake and I knew it the instant I was sideways :wink: My point really was that when the car downshifted, it put "drag" on the rear wheels similar to how the Tesla re-gen puts drag on the rear wheels. I was worried that if I had to let go of the accelerator on slippery roads for any reason, the same thing might happen in the Tesla. As I say, so far that has not been my experience.

mknox said:

Yep, it was a mistake and I knew it the instant I was sideways :wink: My point really was that when the car downshifted, it put "drag" on the rear wheels similar to how the Tesla re-gen puts drag on the rear wheels. I was worried that if I had to let go of the accelerator on slippery roads for any reason, the same thing might happen in the Tesla. As I say, so far that has not been my experience.

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I remember hearing Elon say that the tire's RPM is checked about 4000 times a minute (due to the electric motor). That's much more often then ABS is checked on a conventional car. I suspect the more frequent checking is why it's more well behaved.

Well I drove 100 miles through the thick of this and probably about 20 miles of completely untouched unplowed roads. I'm now having shuddering issues. Either suspension got all jacked up , alignment is knocked out of whack, or I have a lot of impacted snow in my wheels throwing the balance off. I tried to get it all out but it still doesn't feel right. I actually have an appt tomorrow with Tesla in Norristown to have my tires rotated anyway so I'll have them take a look at it.

Hey Yo, it's got to be snow. Impacted snow caused mine to shudder. Be careful about cleaning. You can brake through the "felt" in the wheel wells or knock out the brake connections.

yobigd20 said:

Well I drove 100 miles through the thick of this and probably about 20 miles of completely untouched unplowed roads. I'm now having shuddering issues. Either suspension got all jacked up , alignment is knocked out of whack, or I have a lot of impacted snow in my wheels throwing the balance off. I tried to get it all out but it still doesn't feel right. I actually have an appt tomorrow with Tesla in Norristown to have my tires rotated anyway so I'll have them take a look at it.

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It's probably just snow / ice. Happens to me all the time. Try to leave the car in an heated garage. Pretty sure that will solve your issue.

patp said:

It's probably just snow / ice. Happens to me all the time. Try to leave the car in an heated garage. Pretty sure that will solve your issue.

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I'm at Norristown right now having my tires rotated anyway. I had cleaned out the insides of the wheel wells yesterday and got most out. The drive to Norristown was much better than my attempt to go to work yesterday. I still get a *little* vibration > 75mph but I think theres still ice somewhere in one of them. I think they are going to rotate and rebalance and all should be well.

And there's a sig owner here who just had new 21s put on. I'm looking at one of his old wheels right now. The sidewall is blown out and the rim is cracked.

yobigd20 said:

I'm at Norristown right now having my tires rotated anyway. I had cleaned out the insides of the wheel wells yesterday and got most out. The drive to Norristown was much better than my attempt to go to work yesterday. I still get a *little* vibration > 75mph but I think theres still ice somewhere in one of them. I think they are going to rotate and rebalance and all should be well.

And there's a sig owner here who just had new 21s put on. I'm looking at one of his old wheels right now. The sidewall is blown out and the rim is cracked.

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anyone ever try taking the traction control setting off in the snow? Does it help?

i was climbing up a steep unplowed hill and bc of traction control the car stayed straight and under control but was going very slowly...like 1-2 mph for a couple hundred feet. It was bc the traction control seemed to be limiting how much power/torque was being used, even when i was pressing the pedal all the way down.

Im just wondering if I turned the traction control off if it would have let my car move faster up that hill...it was a bit scary as I was going so slow I thought I might just stop and start drifting backwards...but sure enough it kept going forward under control at the 1-3 mph speed.

TSLAopt said:

anyone ever try taking the traction control setting off in the snow? Does it help?

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I haven't tried it, but based on how other RWD cars work with TC turned off, I'd guess you'd be pointing backwards and the stability control would be working overtime. In either case you won't be getting there any faster.

It's only possible to get as much grip as the tires have on the road surface. TC maximizes the grip and minimizes the slip. Adding more power to a slipping situation doesn't help.

yobigd20 said:

I'm at Norristown right now having my tires rotated anyway. I had cleaned out the insides of the wheel wells yesterday and got most out. The drive to Norristown was much better than my attempt to go to work yesterday. I still get a *little* vibration > 75mph but I think theres still ice somewhere in one of them. I think they are going to rotate and rebalance and all should be well.

And there's a sig owner here who just had new 21s put on. I'm looking at one of his old wheels right now. The sidewall is blown out and the rim is cracked.

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I had the same vibration problem after my son successfully convinced me to have some fun and test the car out in an unplowed parking lot with 5" deep virgin snow. The best way to get rid of ice and snow buid-up is to put some washer fluid in the sprayer and thoroughly spray tires/whhels.