Eggplant-EX

I am still running stock tires and am wondering about handling in snow. Am also going to most likely buy some cables.....

Now that the East is snowing, let's hear some feedback.

So far, the general comments are positive for our cars.

JasonT

I know the manual recommends against the use of snow chains, & I have heard you can mess your car up by using them.

Scrib

You'll be fine... Just take it slow. Stock tires, while not good will still get you where you need to go. But again, just be careful.

jimcol711

i have an auto CL-S and my snow traction is...ehh....it makes me miss my 1997 4x4 blazer!!!!! seriously, if there is any snow on the roads..fresh snow, packed snow, whatever...if i put more than 25-50% pressure on the gas pedal, the tires spin, no question, i guess we just have to take it VERY EASY with these cars in snow, surely they are better in snow than a RWD car, but i dunno, im not impressed at all with the snow handling and like i said, it makes me miss my old truck.

John*K

Traction for me is very mediocre using stock Michelin. Last week, we had a bit of snow. Had to go around 15 MPH to prevent sliding. Others whipped past me. Many here seem to recommend the other Michelin tire (can't remember which), but it is around $200 per tire.

cusdaddy

My god... I just got back from attempting to drive home. I live up a hill, not too steep a hill, but a hill nonetheless. My car WOULD not go up the hill. I had to drive around and park and walk to my place. A ford Taurus made it up fine.

I have driven a number of cars, and I have to say the CL is the worst FWD car I have driven. The back end kept sliding around. I think it's because all of our weight is stuck up front

acur8ly

iTrader: (1)

Traction is ok on mine. There are times you need to turn vsa off in order to make some inclines. I'm happy with its performance so far.

rebeltruce

This morning was the first time driving the CL in the snow.........................it sucked. Even the slightest throttle pressure and the tire were spinning.

Oh well I'm glad I have the tank...............my Blazer.

CO-CL-S

If you are careful, you'll be OK with OEM tires upto about 15-20K miles. After that I would change to "Real Snow Tires". I went with 16" rims and 205/60-16 snow tires (The extra money for the rims pays for themselves after a few years). YMMV

yoni

i just drove it up to vermont, and the cls handles terribly in the snow. sliding all over. my old legend was better

cusdaddy

My stock tires are at 26k miles. I think that's a major factor in my snow performance "suckage".... I may have to invest in 16 inch rims with snow tires

Shawn S

The stock rubber in snow is OK, but it’s nothing to write home about.
4-5 inches is fine, but throw a hill, curves or anything deeper then 6 inches and you’re in for trouble.
And you have to take 90 degree city corners mercifully SLOW so the ASS-END doesn’t come around on you.

The BLIZZAK’s I have installed make a world of difference.
I went through 8+ inches of UNPLOWED roadway last year.

Shawn S

Scooter

Pilot Sport A/S's

Nashua_Night_Hawk

Stock michelin... you can spin them easily out of a stop and stoping on non-plowed roads would make the ABS work hard to stop the CLS after 3-5 meters of skidding...

Put on some new Blizzaks or real snow tires... and I had very hard time to let the CLS lose control on 3" unplowed fresh snow in a huge Mall parking lot.... VSA was not even needed or when needed the CLS never lost control... I also tried 40 MPH- down to 0 MPH emergency brake with excellent results...

gto2050

Stock tires suck. On the advice and research done by Shawn S I went for the extra set of TL wheels with Blizzak Snow tires from Tire rack. Makes a world of difference.

On stock, the engine torque over powers the wheels way too easily. It helps to start out in 2nd gear though.

darrinb

the cl-s passed my expectations in the snow, it helps to keep it in a low gear like 1 or 2 when going uphill when theres a lot of snow. 1 thing i hate is the damn vsa kickin every second so i just turn it off and plow through the streets.

last nite on the way back from work the streets were clean and dry from the snow from a couple days ago. it was 8 degrees outside and alls i gotta say it that the car hauled ass like crazy

Eggplant-EX

Re: the coments on snow cables.

Last year this came up. Basically, the cables are not recommended as it could throw the VSA off since the front is heavier.

I can live with the as long as I can cable up and get home safely.

General consensus is that the stocks suck. I should have known that since they even suck in dry. I will never buy Michelins cause of that. Funny that, since I am on my 3rd Michelins as this is mt 3rd new car (other 2 being Accords).

GOT PSI?

IMO, I think the stock rubber is border line in the snow. As you know, in the NW, we always get this massive snow dumpage when you least expect it and the stock units really suck! Spend a few bux and get some Blizzaks or Pilots...

TypeSAddict

My Nokian NRW's are awesome

Haus

I have been very happy w/ the snow performance. You do have to be gentle on the gas when starting from a stop, but once under way, traction is as good as it gets in a high HP, non-snow tired, frt. wheel drive car. If you try and drive it like a 4x4, you'll have problems, but with some common sense driving, all is well.

Beats a rwd Bimmer any day :-)

NidoSHU

Just looking at the stock Pilots makes me feel unsafe taking the car out in the rain! I don't see how any kind of water or snow can be pushed to the sides for this reason I would forget about driving the CLS in the snow. I would go with the recommendations of the other guys and get the 16s with Blizzaks. I had them on a 90 integra and it was unstoppable, and I have been moronic enough to take it out in a blizzard!

-Just a side note, I took the Suburban to work today and on my way out, there was this Expedition running some dubs 20's whatever you want to call it... he had the truck in 4wd and could not climb up a slight hill! I laughed as the suburban's supercharger whined and pulled easily past him..-

ChodTheWacko

During my FAQ archiving days, there was only one person who tried snow chains. He screwed up his wheel wells pretty bad. I don't recall details, but DON'T USE CHAINS.

6speedctrlfreak

Just drove in NYC Snowstorm w/my 2003 6speedMT CL-S and it was better than I expected. The Manual Trans. really does help the safety/traction/control in the bad road conditions....the AutoTrans. is great but it can't duplicate the real-world driver control of the MT

Scooter

Pilot Sport A/S's helped me out BIGTIME tonight!!! i went up my street which is about a 45 degree angle with no problems...no sliding, no fishin, not even VSA was doin much of anything while heading up...i guess there is justification for $200 tires after all

r they as good as Blizzaks?? nah...but IMO they're a good alternative from swapping out to new rims/tires...plus with the amount of snow we got here (about 6 inches), i think this is about the limit to what these tires can handle...plus i kept it in D1 the whole way home (only a mile on back roads), which helped A LOT!!!!

2001CL

Things like this make me feel better about not having a winter, it kinda sux though considering i'm sweating in december. We had a record high of above 80 today. I live where it doesnt snow and when i had stock michelines they spun very easily. Consensus = Stock tires sux.

Eggplant-EX

Chod... you said someone screwed their wheel wells with chains. I am talking cables. Just have to be careful not to f*ck up the rims.

Anyone here have used cables on their wheels????????

devnull

No fair dude, you stole my post!!! j/k

Today was my LAST day -w- my Jeep (lease turn in). I drove it through the snowstorm we had today and thought about what my CLS 6spd would be like. I'm glad this was brought up (and I will be putting my TL's blizzaks on soon, and will hope for the best).

-devnull