Well... the weather report says 6-12 inches of snow are expected today and tomorrow in northern New Jersey. I guess myself and other NJ TL owners will have the moment of truth as to how the TL performs with a some snow under the tires.
(I brought my camera along so if I end up in a ditch I'll snap some pictures)

I'll let you know if I have "grip" or "slip" with the stock tires on.
Maybe the 50+ vibration will shake the snow off. heheh

 

I took my new TL out in the snow on the third day I owned it. We had about six inches of snow in Denver that fell on top of an inch of solid ice. I have the stock Bridgestones. The car did great and is more secure feeling than my previous car (Saab 9-3) and my Jeep Grand Cherokee. Have fun. Kill the traction control and check it out in a parking lot or something.

 

you will see a lot of RWD cars get stuck on the road, he he he he

 

Yeah, where's Car and Driver on a day like today??

 

anyone with the summer tires try it yet? I have the Potenza's on, Anyone stuck yet?

 

i am not planning on taking my car out in the snow....i've had bad experiences in the snow with my previous car(s)...lol...so the TL is going to be in the driveway, reducing the amount of snow that i will have to shovel!!!!

 

Follow up to my drive home in the snow (with stock tires):

Got to the car and cleared off a few inches of snow. (Taking care not to scratch anything ..hehe)

*This is where I learned that you cannot lift the passenger side window wiper and then the driver side wiper off the windshield. Nope..
You have to actually lift the driver side windshield wiper first before you lift off the passenger side wiper from the windshield. Then you can clean the ice off the window.
It's like the shape of the passenger wiper arm affected its position in the air .. so when I lifted the driver side up from the windshield it blocked it from going all the way up. I dunno.. maybe I was retarded or something but I'll have to check this out when it warms up.

*Almost forgot to press the little heated side mirror button. Actually surprised they didn't just link that button to the front or back window defroster button. So I drove and watched the ice on the mirrors melt.

anyway..

*So I drove around.. speeding up and breaking... like someone else mentioned the Anti-Lock works fine. Breaking was very very nice in the snow. I have no complaints.

So I get on a pretty wide road with no cars around and proceed to ride in the middle of the road. You know the area of the road where the snow gets pushed to from everyones tires. Anyway..

*First few times I floor it and watch the car pull to the right every time. I see the VSA kick on so I back off a bit and fish around. Weee..

*Next few times I floor it, watch the car pull/slide slightly to the right... VSA kicks on ... but this time I just keep flooring it letting VSA do its job. VSA slows me down (like it should) and I keep going straight with a slight slide to the right each time. My only complaint is that VSA was slowing me down too much. Like it was removing needed power so I couldn't force my way through the snow and into the direction I needed to go quick enough.

**Final few times I take VSA off and floor it. Car slides a bit to the right but keeps going in the direction I want it to quicker than with VSA on. It actually seems better driving with VSA off as I was able to direct more power to the slipping wheels and getting more overall grip. It seemed like I was able to "Point and shoot" and tell the car where I wanted to go without the VSA stopping me from going.

While there was a case to keep VSA off when trying to barrel through some areas of snow it was actually good to keep it on during the trip as there was some areas it was helping a little bit. I don't recommend you turn your VSA off unless you know what you are doing.

Overall.. it's good in the snow but you definately have to take it some place (parking lot with no light poles and no center islands) and just spin around with it. Learn how it plays in the snow.

Remember that while it can get going in the snow pretty quick... that doesn't mean you can stop just as quick as you started


Here is a picture for no reason

 

Motavar: Very funny that you posted that pic. I live within a few miles of that intersection.

My car did quite well in the snow as well.

 

Some questions about the VSA. Anyone know if just the traction control is defeatable as well as the ABS and/or keep just the stability control on?

What Motavar describes is an issue I have generally with traction type control vs. AWD. If they pull back power to much it can be almost impossible to go through some types of conditions. Sometimes you need to spin the tires to go. Also it is desirable to sometimes lock up the wheels to minimize braking distances in deep snow.

Motavar do you have auto or manual tranny? I think the 6MT with the LSD should do much better in the snow as you in effect have a 2WD car instead of a 1WD car!

 

Motavar, that looks like 287. I drive that also on Friday and the the VSA on my 02 TL-S did the same thing but kept me on the road even as others were slip-sliding around.

What color is your car? I have seen a green 04 TL with the golf badge kit but I think it's a bit off since the front grill looks weird with the silver chrome grill and the gold acura emblem in the center.

I have also seen a WDP or SSM (can't be sure) on 287.

Good to see that Acura VSA is reliable in the new car as in the previous models!

 

Motavar I meant to ask you is that a radar detector on the dash? If so what kind? How did you wire it in or did you use the 12V plugin?

FYI mounting it up higher will increase the range it can pick up signals. I of course realize it may be more visible but on most of my cars I have a non-metallic front window sunshade that hides the radar detector from outside view but doesn't block its signal.

Just a thought.

 

Polishing their BMWs in the garage while they take public tranportation to work...he he he!

 

I was heading 78 West from exit 33.. and I was coming up to the split in 78 where you can go right to 287 N/S.. or you could stay left and stay on 78. For those that commute that way home every day .. that is the "bottleneck" where everyone skids all over the place and you get the wonderful smell of break pads when you drive through it. ehhee

VSA can be turned off on the TL. This is what I have been doing so I can pretty much force my way through snow.

I have a Silver Satin Metallic 04, Automatic.

The radar detector is a just a cheapy cobra I picked up.
Normally I mount them high up in the windshield near the mirror but for some odd reason I went through the manual on the thing and they recommend mounting it as low as you can. (i know it sounds odd.. as my last 2 detectors said mount high).
Also.. by mounting it lower its able to "see" the back window for laser (which we dont use in New Jersey) and I guess emergency vehicle lights (which I would notice before the detector). Maybe I'll move it up in the spring.

To mount the detector: I picked up a hardwire kit, which is just the plug that fits into the detector and two wires (one with a fuse and one without). I popped off the fuse box and first hooked this into the MoonRoof fuse but I found that was supplying power all the time. I forget off the top of my head but I think I pulled the wire off and used the WiperBlade 20amp fuse. Basically I took the fuse out of the panel and then put the wire right under the fuse and jammed the fuse back into the panel. What I do remember is that there is no interior lighting down near the drivers side so you will need to bring along a flash light to see the fuse panel. Ooh.. and to hook the Ground Wire up there are two screws below the fuse panel you can loosen and hook into.
The wire that runs up to the radar detector I just squished into the molding and ran from the dash down the drivers side door area.

 

I have the RE750's on 18's and they are as you would expect not good in the snow, I can get going but stopping is SCAREY!

Anyway, I have snows on my stock 17's that I will put on next week.