Well, we had 1" of wet snow tonight in Chicagoland so got to test the RL in the wet stuff. The new RL is so solid it becomes almost boring to drive in the snow! Carved some nice circles in the parking lot near my house but no donuts. The antilock breaks are actually less "chattery" and more quiet than my Legend. Barely able to detect variable slip system acting upon accelerating in the snow. It just went! Also, here is one place where the added weight of the RL actually came in handy, it stuck to the road.

I had the SH-AWD display on which looked cool seeing the torque transfer. However, it always seems just to display the torque transfer front to back. Never shows all the power going to just one rear tire like I expected. Perhaps this display is just a toy and doesn't actually correspond to real information, hard to say.

Anyway, on the SH-AWD snow performance.

 

That's good to know, thanks for the post.

This was a concern of mine before I go and buy one. My friend has an S4 and had major issues at even low speeds with their quattro system and the factory tires in just a little bit of snow.

I figured the RL would perform well, was just hoping I would not have to buy winter tires.

 

Legendguy,

We haven't had snow here but I have pushed by 05 RL in corners hard enough to see the SH-AWD display show transfer of quite a bit more torque to the outside turning wheel. It also does it under engine breaking to the inside turning wheel if you are going fast enough through the corner and get off the gas quickly. Did that a few times since I'm very used to my 02 TLS with Konis, Neuspeed springs and the Comptech Sways, with 18X8 wheels and Michelin Pilots A/S tires. The new 05 RL doesn't corner quite as good as that car with all those mods, so I had a habit of going into corners to hot. But I think the real difference in the cars is the tires. with new tires, I think the new RL coudl keep up with my old TLS in corners.

 

Oh...it corresponds to real information. Is very easy to say. Transfering torque from side to side on the rear is for mainly for dry road performance not just for traction. The car is actually very smart by not doing such thing in snow conditions, there is no advantage. The car will rely more on VSA to control the car in snow conditions.

Now after the winter is gone go ahead and take a corner while WOT (wide open throttle) you will see the SH-AWD sending 100% of the rear torque to the outer wheel to create an inward inertia and help the car finish the corner like it was never there.

 

I think we will have some more warm, clear days ahead and could try the "wide open throttle" once my RL has a few more miles on it. I am still hesitant to push the RL to the limits though, as the threat of losing control seems not worth the thrill of seeing the SH-AWD display show power being sent greater to one side. If you have already seen this in the display, please let me know, and that might be enought for me. Thanks.

 

The S4 likely has/had high performance, low profile, summer tires and would not perform well in the snow.

 

Legendguy,

I have seen the display show more torque transfer to one rear wheel vs. the other. It doesn't take much to get it to do it though. Just go into a corner and accelerate about a 1/3 into it while turning. You should see the display show the outer rear wheel getting more torque and you will feel it even more. I can truly feel it when it kicks in. Maybe because of the way I used to drive my TL Type S, I pushed it in the corners as well.

The only trouble with seeing the display while turning is that the steering wheel does get in the way. Either way, I can tell you mine is working and it works well.

 

Bitium and codyt01,

Thanks, I will try a turn while accelerating first chance I get (roads here are fairly clear now). Your input is helpful, good forum too!

Joe

 

I feel the Michelin MXVM tires on the RL really aren't good tires for handling. I believe they are designed for the ride and all season handling. When the car is pushed around curves, the tires roll over on their sides and howl and there is a good bit of body lean that I attribute (although you can't tell when driving) to the soft sidewalls of the tires and the lack of an adequate "performance" shoulder on them. I have a set of Micheling Pilot Sport A/S (All Seasons) on order and I expect the ride to suffer little and I expect to gain a lot of handling with them. I had them on my TLS at two different times and what you loose in summer handling is minimal to what you gain in the wet and the snow when compared to true summer tires. I let you know what I find once those tires are mounted up. It won't be till January I guess since the wheels are coming from Japan.

 

Mmm, it's lucky for me to get this thread before starting another SNOW question. 05RL seems to run well over snow so far.


Could anyone make the comparison among SH-AWD and Quattro and other famous AWD systems over the snow? Thanks.

 

They all do just about the same thing except MB 4matic and SH-AWD. I think MB 4matic is better when it comes to traction in the snow, but there is nothing out there to comepare the SH-AWD to. Maybe in a a year or 2. The only system I could somewhat compare to the RL is the famous R34 ATTESA-ETS, but it has been track proven that SH-AWD is better. Other than that, SH_AWD has no competition.