Depending on where you are in the VA suburbs, it isn't much different.

Part of the problem is that, especially in the last few years, an enormous number of immigrants have come in from tropical countries, and have never even seen snow in their lives, much less know how to drive in it.

And part of the problem is simply a lack of patience...nobody wants to slow down, even when roads are slick. They think that, in modern vehicles, all the electronic traction-aids will save them...but it often doesn't work that way. Tires only have so much traction, no matter how many electronic traction-aids you have, and one cannot overrule the laws of physics.

 

jdr, way to go cleaning your cars IN your garage... how do you do that without getting water/mess everywhere?

 

Thanks bit.

I use ONR (Optimum No Rinse) soap, that way it’s not messy. And my driveway and garden hose were frozen so “this is the way.”

 

I'm losing my damn mind not being able to wash my car for the last week and half lol! I need to try something like that to get it cleaned off, I just did the interior to try and make myself feel better lol!

 

And this, by the way, is why I use (at least) 2 buckets.

 

ONR in a garage works great…

I looked this up too after I heard it, the NOAA doesn’t use all of the coastal area, their number is less than half the number that qualifies is as the most coastline in the country.

This is all just pointless goofiness obviously lol

 

Bringing it back to cars I’m surprised at how well my GS RWD did in the snow this morning. I have the Continental extreme contact DWS and I put it in snow mode. It did pretty good. Although the traction control had to work mighty hard in turns to get the power down and not tail slide.

The first time I drove it in the snow last year it did terrible. But I think there was some ice involved that time. I barely made it home, and it just kept spinning its tires, same tires too. Also Sunday when the snow was falling it didn’t too well, I guess it’s picky about what type of snow I drive it on. Lol

 

Lexus's RWD based AWD system is great. My S560 is not quite as stable in the snow as my AWD LS460 or my AWD GS350 were, I think its because of the wide rear tires. The Lexus just would never oversteer unless you turned the VSC off, and the Mercedes if you're turning and you give it a little gas it wants to let the rear step right out, so you have to be a little more careful

 

My uncle said when he lived in Denver, he would just clean the interior, windshield, and hood during the Winter.

 

I'm sure the significant increase to low-end torque also has something to do with it.

 

I got mine washed on the way home tonight. Its dirty again, but at least I can see out the windows!

The skid control system should account for that though...

 

Its difficult due to how the TQ just slams in once you are at boost threshold, my two Audis have identical tires and if I disable the TVD in the W12 and disable the adaptive steering drive the "same" but the 12 has a much easier time with control and modulation than the 4.0....the 4.0 wants to try and wiggle the back end with TC off with TC on it just isn't allowed boost until later but if it comes in you sometimes feel a wiggle.

TC can only react to an issue after it begins, it also has a harder time with a spike like engine TQ curve and you also have staggered tires correct? That's again more difficult to manage output, does your car have ability to electronically control the center diff or is it a mechanical reactive only? Again if pure mechanical it will have slight delay and tend to slam power around a little when you have a lot of it.

They are both still insanely good in the snow, best cars I've ever used for it actually and the W12s TVD and active steering allows casual 4 wheel drifting with full control of your line etc.

 

I don’t think that’s the issue here. We’re talking about a very low speed left turn where the slightest bit of throttle brings the rear around, the skid control system should step in and stop that

Its not a big deal but if you didn’t know how to control an oversteer skid you’d be in trouble

 

Its probably just the car dynamics then, I still wouldn't rule out the system just not being able to respond in time to the turbo hit......the fact it Mercedes uses an add in AWD system is also why in situations like that it steps out like a RWD. I had two 750is in recently that acted similarly in the snow we had on test drives, the staggered setup added to it.

Try an Audi, it's almost boring since the car simply will not step out like that unless you want it to.

 

But my RWD/AWD LS460 didn’t have that issue, either Lexus’ skid control is better or it’s the wider tires