I know a handful of you guys have gotten a few inches of snow, like here in Western Washington - almost 8 inches!!! Anyways, just a shout out to ya RL lovers & owners. How ya guys holding up in the snow? SH-AWD ftw? Only reason I ask - we're considering a possible trade

 

Here's my three cents: I live in Chicago, we got hit twice this week, maybe 12 inches in total. I own a Honda Element and the RL. Honestly, I prefer the Element in the snow. IMO, the most important are the tires. I just put brand new Michelin LTX MS on the E, not winter but with excellent traction. The center of gravity is higher, that helps a lot - it's like walking in the snow, it's just easier to raise your feet walking than draggin in the snow, isn't it. Even though the Element is not AWD I fly comapring to the RL and wife's Accord. Don't get me wrong, I love my 05 RL and AWD but that system does not shine to me in the high snow. To summarize, I think the tires are 50% of the success, 30% the center of gravity, 20% everything else. More or less.

 

06 Rl third winter in Cleveland,36k miles, second set of Pilot A/S just installed. So far the Rl is a beast in the snow. The most confidence inspiring vehicle I have ever driven, even better than my 08 MDX, and 05 MDX. The tires are the difference

 

My 05 was miserable in the snow with the stock all season tires and I was really disappointed. I installed 4 Bridgestone Blizzak WS-50 and the car is amazing. Much better than my 4x4 truck in all around city/highway driving and actually the best winter car I’ve owned. We haven't had over 8" of snow yet but the car has been handling great even under full throttle in the snow and braking fantastic. It’s kind of a pain/expensive to do the tire swap but well worth it. I found the tires online for $98/each from the tire rack. Well worth it in my book. I'd recommed these tires for the RL.

 

Have an '06 and live in Chicago. If you are moving from a TL to an RL you will be impressed. However, like the other Chicago post, I am not really impressed. I traded in an '02 Audi A4 for the RL, and the warden drives a Volvo XC 90 - both are superior to the RL in the snow, which does surprise me, as the RL AWD system is infinitely more complex (maybe that's the problem).

Again, as my Chi-town compadre noted - tires make all the difference in the world. While the Audi ran also on MXV's, it profile (215/55) was much better suited for the snow.

I just hate to invest in a pair of snow tires & rims on an awd ride.

My brother, who is drives a Subie, has winter rims/tires - it does make a huge difference, even on an awd car.

 

Tires, tires, tires. Winter tires for winter driving !!! I am from Chicago to and 2-nd winter with RL. All season tires don't come close to winter tires, and RL with winter tires - best winter car.

 

I'm in my third winter with the RL and with all-seasons I'm doing great. Had no trouble in freezing rain/ice today in Cleveland.

 

OMG. I had so much fun in the snow today.
I went drifting in a large parking lot.

will post pictures

 

I just cannot wait until it snows again.

 

my crew
at noon
at 1:30

after the first shovel

 

I remember those days back in NYC many years ago.
We recently received a ton of snow out here in the "desert" area which blanketed the roads. Trouble is I needed to get down the hill for a series of meetings and all major freeways were closed up. A little snow in California and the world ends. So we took the RL and it performed very well including full throttle from stop acceleration. My SC430 would not have been as fortunate. My GX would have done just as well if not better but the wife and kids get that for the added brute protection.

While driving down the road a Ford Fusion came up on us around 50mph of so-we were going around 35 give or take a few. Next thing I saw was the Fusion drifting off the road sideways. No accident but it came close. it stayed back after that-way back. The RL never felt unstable and I have no idea what the Fusion hit but the RL was superb. I owned a Fusion and it was not a pretty ownership experience.
Anyhow I did have to pull over a few times as the reverse lip on the multipiece wheels allowed snow to build up internally throwing off the balance but otherwise we made it safely. Tires are Sumitoma HTRZ III 245's on 20's.

Some pics:








My poor SC, left it out for the evening as I cleaned the garage floor.

 

Off topic, but 470, your car is great example of how proper wheels and even a modest drop turn the RL into one of the best looking cars on the road. I'm actually going to look at a dark grey with tan leather RL today. Might buy it if everything looks right.

Back on topic: to beat the dead horse it's all about the tires in the snow. An economy FWD car with excellent snow tires will outperform an expensive AWD car with summer/poor all season tires in the snow.

 

Dang, 470, that car looks NICE. Modded right, indeed.

I don't have a cool snow picture. I have a cool snow video I posted in March, though! No sound because of yucky YouTube compression. I-77 and I-480 during the last big snowstorm of last winter here in C-town.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkUtI29Xk1g

 

Yes, You are doing great with all season tires - You are smart driver. But get winter tires and You wil see how different ( safe ) car RL will be.

 

It's awesome in snow. But I think my Audi Q7 does better. Both cars have updated all season tires.

See the post https://acurazine.com/forums/2g-rl-photograph-gallery-91/some-snow-pictures-enjoy-701589/

 

My TSX with snow tires does very well in the snow as well. I've yet to have a problem getting around in it.

Yesterday at work, a few people were talking about how they wish they had an AWD vehicle and one other chimed in how he's happy he has AWD. I said just get snow tires and you'll be better off than AWD, but I don't think they believed me. Snow tires make a big difference and I think more people need to realize this.

 

Yes yes, we all know the advantages of snow tires, yet most do not want to deal with the disadvantages of them when it is not snowing. Thus the advantage of AWD. If I lived in a area that received seasonal snow I would have two sets of wheels. However having one drive axle even with snow tires will not give you the confidence that AWD instills. Even with several full throttle acceleration runs all day long in the snow I had nil wheel spin. No RWD or FWD car with any tires could have done that. Your still two wheels down. I have summer tires on my car and they performed very well in the snow, not a hint of spin, slide, or loss of traction. Not saying I received as much snow as others or if they are better vs snow tires, just that due to the AWD the car was very predictable. It did it's job as the AWD does help considerably.

 

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Anyhow I did have to pull over a few times as the reverse lip on the multipiece wheels allowed snow to build up internally throwing off the balance but otherwise we made it safely. Tires are Sumitoma HTRZ III 245's on 20's.




Looks like you have more in your tire than snow- 4th pic about 10 oclock. You out playing in a winter wheat field? Farmers typically frown upon that

 

Well, I don't have an RL yet, so I don't know how the SH-AWD handles the snow, but I have owned an AWD car for 10 years. AWD will spin out and/or lose control also. From my experience, AWD helped me to recover from and/or minimalize effects of losing traction. It wasn't a cure-all from losing traction. Perhaps the RL doesn't have enough power to break the wheels free. Either that or you weren't trying hard enough.

 

I have two vehicles with AWD and I think it is great. That said, there are plenty of objective data showing that a good set of winter tires provide more safety advantage than AWD...if you had to choose between the two. Both is best. AWD helps only on acceleration. While it does help keep you from getting stuck, it doesn't help with steering on low friction surfaces or with braking. Winter tires help on all three counts.

A test done by Car and Driver some years ago showed that you are much better off with 4 winter tires in a 2 WD vehicle than two mounted on the drive wheels. The differential friction between the front and back axle can prove problematic when braking on a curve (think frozen exit ramp). In the case of a FWD vehicle they experienced a "pendulum-like effect" of angular acceleration (oversteer) when the rear wheels lost grip while the winter tires on the more heavily loaded front axle maintained it.

Finally, in my opinion, more important than any drive system or tire is the good sense to drive slowly and meter in control inputs with as low a gain as possible. If you watched Neuronbob's video you noticed that he was going at a careful speed and resisted the temptation to pass that truck. In low friction conditions Newton's first law rules the day because inertia overwhelms available traction.

 

This is a short clip of my 05 RL in this snow from this morning.

I wouldn't want to get stuck in remote places like this...can you say DELIVERANCE? This dump is being foreclosed on and I had the fun duty of tracking down and serving papers on the jerk who used own it.

I love my Dunlop WinterSport M3's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-yrp0BXfl4

 

Today I went to the mall to return something and as usual I looked for a parking spot where no one would give me a ding. So I proceeded to park in an empty area, that was a mistake. As I'm driving I start to slide and I keep sliding til I hit the frickin curb ! I heard a nice lil crunch, but after inspecting the front bumper, I came to the conclusion that there was no visible damage, so I got pretty lucky. I truly believe that SH-AWD is great, but black ice is indeed ice and it just didn't matter what I was driving.

 

Your right, went into about 10" into the mud when I pulled over to get the snow and ice off the wheel. Problem with snow is you never what lies underneath till it it too late. Have to spend about 2 hours to polish out the scratches.

 

on the taconic parkway this afternoon
chick in a jetta barreled past me...i said to myself...she's pretty confident with that jetta....i don't remember them being awd...

after a bit, i ended up in front of her but in the middle lane
i looked in my rearview and saw her going perpendicular across 3 lanes
she hit the right embankment and the car started flipping at least 6 times from the impact into the trees.

i called the state police and ems.....i don't think she made it imho

 

That's not good, hope you are wrong about that. You never want to see that kinda stuff happen, not even to the dumbest people, that is just sad.

 

Last night Washington State got dumped on with snow, this is the most snow our state has seen in several decades. So I took the opertunity to take her out in some real snow . . . . . I needed my starbucks. Our cars are just a pleasure to drive, the SH-AWD really does a nice job, I had no issues what so ever. I thought when I left I might have a few issues, maybe even get stuck for a second or two, but no, it was a smooth ride. One problem I had was not our car, but all the other drivers, guess not everyone can have the pleasure on a RL

 

I can't agree more. I posted my experience here https://acurazine.com/forums/2g-rl-2005-2012-76/got-05-last-week-baptized-today-701170/. Black ice...

 

Erick, are you going to trade in your TL?

 

Oh man, sorry about your ride, that sucks. I got lucky, I just got a lil scare.

 

i hope i'm wrong too especially right before the holidays.
but it was a violent accident
and she was flipping over and over like a movie

 

Just took those photos this morning. The Seattle weather is wicked! AWD certainly helps alot when you are standing still and trying to move the car in deep snow, but it don't help you slow down.

 

stefan,

lol what's up man? nah, i'm not considering a trade in for my TL, but we're in fact thinking about getting rid of out 07 4 runner for either a new RL or mdx. with the snow we got here...we could use a bit of an upgrade; hoping it'll be a useful upgrade all year round...seems like a good choice. my mom's trading in her rx350 (09 w/ 4k on it ) for an lx 570 on a side not too... again wtf? i know..........

 

very nice pictures! i heard bellevue got the blunt of the "blizzard"? was it really that bad? on a side note, do you work for uw med?! i could use some help getting some old records back for a school petition... lol

 

I graduated from UW School of Dentistry and I work for myself.

 

i agree its all about the tires, and personally i think my moms 07 crv with real time-awd is great also with oem A/S tires,as the front wheels slip i can tell when the rear wheels kick in. As for my rl, i just installed a set of dunlop w/s m3's and i told her out in some ice/snow roads her in the city and i don't have to worry about getting stuck or parking and i love it RL + winter tires= <3

 

I just picked up my 2005 Saturday in the middle of a Nor'easter. I have yet to see the car clean, or drive on a smooth surface!. But it handles GREAT in the snow, even with the OEM A/S Michelins.
I've already experienced the dimple not locking the car when wet. But that's just a minor annoiance, I'll take her to the dealer after I make my "list" of things for them to do under warranty.

 

that's amazing...i'm pre-dental myself

 

Holy smokes FN P90! 222,000 miles on your RL!

How has it held up?

What were your major maintenance expenses besides two timing belts? And how often do you go through tires?

What tires have you used since the OEMs?

I understand a little better why the surveillance mode is needed in the RL now!

 

FN P90, you are my hero. 222k on your RL. You definitely take the meaning of "drive it till the wheels come off" literally.

I hope I also never require your services.

 

Hey, not much. Just trying to keep warm, this weather really killing me.
Anyway, you should consider RL or MDX for this weather, I took mine out but then came back around since the snow too thick and my car too low so I'm like plowing the snow. LOL. Plus I'm scared with those drivers out there they drive like crazy. I don't want anything happen to my RL.

UW RL, that pictures amazing man and the snow still dumping like crazy now.
What the hell happened to Seattle???