I love my RL but it sucks in the snow. I live in Connecticut and we are in the middle of a snow storm. I needed to go go to the pharmacy and experienced driving in the snow for the first time since I purchased in march. Compared to my old 06 Audi A6 the RL is not up to par. It felt like driving a two wheel drive and absolutely no stability. I'm actually considering going back to Audi. I'm open to all comments whether or not you agree or disagree.

 

first, take a look at what kind of tires you are running.
what does the tread life look like?

I love when people threaten.

 

what tires did you have on the car? my RL is phenomenal in the snow with budget snow tires.

 

What kind of RL do you have? Check the back bumper and confirm teh badge says SH-AWD.

 

All RL are SH All wheel drive my tires have more than half thread. And I'm curious where the people who claim the RL is great in snow live. Saying I'm thinking about the A6 is by no means a threat! Just a simple comparison. Just like there are huge difference in gas millage with RL being the better of the two I just think the SH isn't so super.

 

The vast majority of those people live in places that get a lot more snow than CT and have to deal with more ice too. You are the first person I have actually ever seen complain about a SH-AWD RL in the snow.

Also, only 2005+ RLs have SH-AWD, but really, it was a joke. You still didn't answer which kind of tire you have.

 

I have OEM tires in the car. I will add that tha SHAWD is good in excessively rainy weather and you should also consider what others are comparing the snow performance with. Enen my wife's M35X feels sturdier in the snow.

 

i live in toronto and we get hit with a fair amount of snow and my RL with snow tires handles great. Don't be cheap invest in some snow tires and you will feel a great difference.

 

oh, you mean half worn out OEM tires didn't work well in the snow ... yep, sell it for an Audi immediately.

 

 

Since when did half worn tires become a bad thing!? To my understanding correct me if I'm wrong but aren't the OEM tires all season tires? You guys are making it seem as if I don't like the RL. I love my car I'm just simply stating one specific feature isn't up to par compare to other vehicles of similar drive train. Once again I sincearly do love my RL.

 

You started the thread, you said you were considering going back to audi, and you said you were open to all comments.

My comment is, get some snow tires. Burn it with fire. Or get the Audi.
Not even Paypal can help.

 

I live in Northern Indiana. Not uncommon for me to trot around in 10-15" of snow. I would highly recommend better tires.

 

Oh my everyone got so defensive!!

But as others have said snow tires would do wonders. I also would think other all season tires may perform better than the OEM.

 

its just tough love.

 

Last winter was my first with Legend, now i am waiting for the real winter here.
I have Michelin winters with studs, quite good shape and i am very pleased.
To my mind my SH-AWD is really good winter car, we have also Chrysler Voyager 3.8 AWD and it is not so good...
My previous car was Audi TT and i dont want to go back in that

 

Studs like tampaRL? LoL

 

Or spikes...

 

Ah... sorry. I'm with you now.

Just curious, if you happen across pavement (or no ice) can you still cross it?

 

The problem is your complaints are unfounded. You are blaming the RL's system for the symptoms of inadequate tires. 9 out of 10 RL owners who have snow tires will tell you the system is great in the snow. You are going to have a really hard time convincing such an overwhelming majority that your claims are legitimate on OEM tires with 1/2 tread life. You can try; just don't expect to gain much traction.

 

I see what you did there... and what a pleasant response.

 

Sure, those spikes wont come out so much, you can use them on the dry asphalt also, it is mandatory here to use winter tires at winter time, spikes or M+S.
I wouldnt even try to get through the winter here with poor/bad/more than half used winter tires.

 

Common winter tires here.


Not like rally car spikes...

 

Snow tires FTW. Not the car.

 

All season tires are a myth. They function well all seasons below the snow belt. The OEM tires are treacherous in snow even with full tread. Get some snow tires and it will make a believer out of you. BTW, I have owned Audi's for 8 years prior to buying the RL, so I speak from experience.

 

Stock Michelins aren't very good. Four weeks after getting my 2005, off came the 17" wheels and on with the 18" ASPEC rims with Pirelli Pzero Nero A/S. Drove around Chicago after a winter storm with no problems at all. Had very little engagement of the AWD drive system.

If you want to stick with an all-season tire but are willing to give up some performance capabilities, I've heard the Continental ExtremeContact DWS are phenomenal on the winter stuff.

 

You will not lose performance from DWS over OEM. Really, Pilot Sports are the only all season I can think of that get better performance reviews here.

Not sure if sarcasm or serious...

 

At least you got yourself an inflatable female companion this time.

*ducking behind desk*

 

Obviously, I do not have snow issues. But I replaced my OEM Michelins when they were at 33K miles with plenty of tread. Why? They were getting slippery in the rain. I cannot imagine how they would have been in snow and ice.

I can remember making a sweeping left turn and the RL was in a 4 wheel drift. The MID's SHAWD display went bananas. I could see the torque vectoring doing amazing things, along with the VSA, and the car slide was well controlled (I could not have managed it better myself). But the point is, no matter how amazing the AWD system is....it is not worth anything if there is not enough traction and grip.

 

Comparing the snow capabilities of different cars running different tires is like comparing apples to oranges. What tires did the Audi have?

"Half worn" can be interpreted many ways. Most tires start with 10/32nds of an inch of tread so some would say half worn is 5/32nds. Tires lose most of their snow traction under 6/32nds so if you're tires are half worn in that sense that could be your problem.

I would say tires account for roughly 75% of snow traction and the vehicle itself making up the rest. I would take a FWD car with winter tires over an AWD car with all season tires any day in adverse weather conditions.

 

You should probably change the tires long before they are half thread.

 

cereal.

 

I'm not even going to bother reading the thread, getting some decent fucking tires noob. I drove the RL in snow last year and it was great.

 

I think that you have really read the thread.
At 19 I think that you should consider yourself a noob.
Improve your language skills (your mother may be reading this).

 

you said what I was thinking!

 

haha custom Mdubb is fired up!

 

How do we know you arent 16?


She is at my house and I turnt off the interwebs in the kitchen.

 

Because you know that I bought my 05 new in 05 and they would never sell an RL to a 9 year old?

 

I see your logic.

 

Have her make me a sandwich when she is done with the pie.