Fulani has a TL

iTrader: (1)

HAHAHAHAHA

chris2k5

Oh no, I never post my real age online. At the tender age of 39, I wish I was 18, freshly graduating from highschool migrating to my college dorm.

mickey3c

I had an 05 G35x and it had el42 tires on it. The newer ones have RSAs which are a tad better in the snow. I never got stuck but the AWD system did not inspire too much confidence in the snow. There is a snow mode but better tires are key. You are better off with a set of V rated snows.

This goes for the TL as well. The stock tires were marginal in the snow when new. Once you got 20 K on them they are even worse.

RWD requires snow tires but the RWD car that I have does very well in the snow with winter shoes. The choice is buy the G5x and not get a second set of tires or buy RWD and get a second set. Years ago everyone had RWD and they got around.

As for the TL being not too expensive LOL well I guess it depends what you are used to. Some people say more than 30K for a car is a definite luxury.

Mike 06 TL

I've decided to go with the Michelin Pilot Alpin PA's on stock rims for winter and beyond. There are about 130 reviews on Tire Rack and I read just about all of them. Everyone there is saying these have excellent snow and ice traction and are more like a performance all season in the dry. Many people running these all year long with good tread wear. If my stock rims get too beat up I'll get a summer set of rims/tires.

lange74

I have a 2003 Cl-s 6-speed so no traction control. I live in Montreal Canada.
With winter tires the car's great never got stuck anywhere not even in 2 feet of snow. But believe me, you live in boston, buy winter tires. IF you don't, pretty good chance one day you'll remember me saying so and you'll wish you bought some.
I was born in snow, and all-season tires are summer tires, believe me.

Even with awd. When you'll want to stop and the tires will be filled with snow... it will be like having slicks. You could have 8wd, the car will slid like on skis.

So buy snow tires.

mu1980

The 05 TL I just bought came with a new set of Goodyear Eagle RS-A's.. and from what I'm reading on Tirerack, they're not much better in the snow than the OEM Bridgestones.

mu1980

Although other people have reported good winter experiences with them... on other cars.

starsh0t

I have yet to try to drive my car in the snow but the '97 TL my parents owned used to be great in the snow. A little quirky to get moving IF it was really really bad but once you get going it's smooth sailing. But just few inches/plowed roads should be no problem at all. By the way this was on all season tires, never tried snow tires..

bstansbu

Ill throw in my 2 cents. I have the summer tires that came with my 06TL. I recently had to drive 30 miles through some minor mountain passes and it was completely snow packed. Talk about scarey. I had to go about 15 miles per hour to keep her strait. Any kind of incline would cause slipage of my front tires. Car felt real light. I would guess with some good Blizzaks my TL would have felt 100% better. BEN

Knertified

My two cents on AWD. Although I think the car is largely based on tires, AWD is great in the snow and even better in the rain. I just picked up a used TL coming from a Subaru WRX. The WRX had new tires, the Acura has new tires. The Acura does burnouts in the rain at partial thottle, The 320hp modfied subaru stuck to the road at full throttle in rain without traction control (they dont offer it). Both cars probally handle fine in the snow under normal driving conditions, expecially since the TL has traction control. However, if you start to kick out in a FWD car, you better just correct the wheel and pray... If you kick out in AWD, you correct the wheel and hit the gas. It always pulls out of it.

There are definately perks to AWD over FWD.

So to answer your question, the G35x would do better in the snow and rain coming from a previous AWD owner. Just my

mu1980

As for me, if it's that bad where there's inches of snow on the road to contend with.. chances are I'll just stay home until it gets cleared. They're pretty good about at least plowing the roads here in WI. Keeping them properly salted is another story, though.

lange74

FWD, AWD, RWD... with summer tires and even all season, it makes a bit of a difference but not much.
With summer or all season, the snow stays stuck in the tread. So you get slicks.
When breaking, even if you have awd, the car will slid like on skis and you'll bump everyone infront of you.
Got a friend with a durango and got scared with all-season on snow.

If you have AWD put good winter tires on it, and then you'll have fun. You'll get out of anything.

Knertified

Parking lots are also very fun with AWD

XRX2

had driven several times to Vermont for skiing, had not much problem
80mph on partialy snowy highway with TCS
altho funny part once got stuck at my own driveway, 5' clearance was not enough, got lifted and had to clear out snow underneath.

TL has 60% weight in front which gives advantage in snow
wheres G35 is close to 50% and has pushing RWD (ultimate want for race car like BMWs). But -- the rear wheels have to push another half weight of the car. which is too much, tale starts sliding. Neibour had his G35 sit all winter.
On dry and wet conditions 50/50 is what you would want, TL seems understeer quite a bit reagardless of its stability control.


stickshift without TCS, the only way to get out of deeper snow.
automatics I dont know (honestly i hate the gear change effect when it wants to, not when you need it).


----
05 TL, blue stick
proxies4

(lots of fun in a rain, when everyone is crawling u just keep pushing, these tires slices through water)

Rodney

These snow threads kill me. I feel that when its snowing, like a couple of inches on the ground, every vehicle sucks. This notion that with good snow tires you will charge through is so silly. I myself just bought Blizzak dedicated snows just because its a little better. But I emphasize the word "little!" There was hardly a difference between these and the all season Michelins that came on the TL. I have driven tons of different types of vehicles in the snow, including SUV's, small light front wheel drive cars with 13" pie cutters for wheels, my old Volvo S60R with AWD, and they all similarly suck just the same in terms of stopping and starting.

To summarize this rant filled with drivel, when its snowing, we are all in the same shitty boat for the most part. The only thing that I have found that really hooks up in the snow is this

XRX2

^^ yaaaa

I like that low profile "tires" for snow conditions

i bet it could do even a drag racing

avs007

I hope you're being sarcastic. There is a HUGE difference between tires. If you go out in a dusting of snow with summer tires, you'll likely hit a tree or a curb. My Michelin Pilot Sport tires are like riding on ice-cubes in the cold weather, especially if there is any moisture around. Switching to Pilot Sport All/Season made a huge difference, as I can actually drive on cold moist roads now.

What kind of tires were on the Durango? I know our Jeep Liberty came with Goodyear Eagle RS-A tires. Those are some of the crappiest tires you can get in that category. I replaced those tires with Continental ContiExtreme Contact All/Season tires on my other car, and they are fantastic in the snow. I even rescued my wife who got stuck in the snow with our TL wearing the stock michelin tires.

I ascended the hill by our house in 8" of snow just fine. I even slammed on the brakes a few times in our cul-de-sac, and the ABS didn't even trigger, unlike our other car wearing different tires. I have been driving on All/Season tires in the snow for almost 20 years, and have never "bumped everyone in front of me".

I also fail to see what difference AWD will make when braking....

Jesstzn

AWD makes no difference braking. I know I have had a few.

vc123

snow tires makes BIG differences... the stock tires isn't too good in wet weather esp in snow... i got Pirelli Winter 240 Sottozero on my tl it's quiet and lots of grip

tires005.jpg?t=1164515442

silver05tl

if you can afford the g35X get it. if not, go with the TL

mickey3c

had one of those and it had the crappy EL42s...which were not impressive in the snow.

ubnpast

AWD will stop better in snow. Why? Because you can downshift and have all 4 tires turn slower instead of locking up or having the abs kick on.

ubnpast

I agree
http://vids.myspace.com/index.?fusea...oid=1364800681

ubnpast

vc123, your tread doesnt look too deep, but your tire does have a nice pattern. Anyway here are my tires, kinda remind me of some kind of mud tire, lol. They even look more agressive on the car.

vc123

haha the deep of the trend r the same thickness of our TL keys lol around 1CM lol they r brand new too

batman1990

I just bought by 06 TL in August, I am planning on buying steel wheels with Blizak Snow tires. Perhaps this is a waste of money, but I figure its cheaper then buying new rims :-(

Knertified

For some reason the vid isn't working

Fulani has a TL

iTrader: (1)

ubnpast

Sorry guys, I cant seem to get the link to work...

Legend2TL

Not true, in snow the brakes are safest and best means to decelerate. Using the engine is foolish to slow down a vehicle in slippery conditions. They give you the best means to modulate and control the deceleration forces and most inportantly if the vehicle comes across a slick spot it is very easy for ABS to control or lift off the brake to regain traction. That is not possible to do quickly with a engine being used for drag.

ubnpast

IDK if they are the safest or not, I said downshifting with AWD will slow you down faster and more effectively. When there is snow or ice on the road, abs will pulse all the wheels, which leads to a longer stopping distance, on the other hand stuffing it in a lower gear will slow the car down in less of a distance then using brakes. I would say go try it, but you dont have awd.

XRX2

"abs will pulse all the wheels, which leads to a longer stopping distance, on the other hand stuffing it in a lower gear will slow the car down in less of a distance then using brakes. "

^^ i highly daubt it

ABS on four wheels (suppose) to gain traction faster than locked wheel (2 or 4 regarless)

yes, there is such thing as wheel locking and digging into the snow (that creates extra snow cushion in front of the wheels), which might add to faster deceleration, but thats another topic

locked wheels totaly not gonna help on ice (they invented ABS - pulsive brake/spin to gain traction). gear downshift will be way slower process and not as accurate

Legend2TL

Again not true, ABS will only pulse the tire/wheel that is locked up. In almost all conditions ABS will stop a vehicle in the shortest distance. The two exceptions are gravel and light powder unplowed snow, in those two cases a locked wheel will build up a wedge of gravle or snow in front of the wheel. In packed, wet, or plowed snow ABS stops shortest, it ice or rain it is also shortest.

Putting it into a lower gear creates more force on the tires that is not possible to modulate, so if a tire starts to lock up there is nothing ABS/traction or stability control can do to help since the drag force is being created by engine braking which is not easily controlly quickly (unless you have a clutch pedal but you have to be very quick). Using engine braking when going downhill in the dry to avoid overheating the brakes is a good idea, however using it to slow down in slippery conditions is dangerous sicne it can cause a slide/spin.

FWIW, my wife has a Honda Pilot with AWD (granted it is not a full-time AWD system, more like a part-time AWD with engagement when slipage is detected).

ubnpast

^Coming from a guy who had many awd cars, take my word for it. If you dont believe me go out and buy a awd car with a 5spd or 6 spd. Down shifting in snowy or icy conditions will stop the car faster than using brakes and having abs come on.

ubnpast

Try this link, I think ive fixed it: http://videos.streetfire.net/video/d...86000b8982.htm

Legend2TL

A colleague has a 2001 Audi S4 with a 6 MT, I've been a passenger in it in heavy snow. It stops great with the Bosch ABS system and Blizzaks tires.

This is not about believing me or you it's just the laws of physics and operation of vehicles. I also don't want someone reading this thread having an accident, wreck their cars and hurt themselves or others.

One of the things I wish DMV's would do for people learning to drive is teach a brief course in physics, tires, and vehicles. It would be extremely beneficial for reducing accidents.

ubnpast

The abs system doesnt have anything to do with what kind it is or not, read: http://isomerica.net/archives/2005/1...nd-snow-tires/

Im not saying aviod using the brakes alltogether, but downshift first to slow you down the fastest, especially when going downhill in ice.

avs007

If you're out in the country, fine... If you're in the city, in most municipalities, engine braking to slow down is illegal. I can post the statutes if you don't believe me. (It could be just Oregon/Washington) However, I'm not going to flame anyone for doing it, but I will point out that unlike speeding, you have brake lights for a reason.

I also still highly doubt that it's safer/faster to slow down on snow/ice by engine braking. It sounds about as safe as downshifting in the middle of a hard-curve. I fail to see how engine braking can slow you down faster than a good ABS system with electronic brake force distribution, especially when you're talking abouton snow/ice.

geekybiker

Brakes can easily exceed the available traction when slowing down on snow. Therefore they can provide the shortest possible stop. Engine braking might be useful in slowing down on hills, etc but cannot stop faster than your brakes.

Either case if you're in shallow enough snow to reach the pavement you really just want to lock em up and dig for the ground.

I'm not a big fan of ABS though. Its safety advantages have been proven to be dubious at best and it removes control from the driver.

XRX2

Using engine braking when going downhill in the dry to avoid overheating the brakes is a good idea



^^^ whatt are you talking about??

thats 101 for burning your clutch (the moment you downshift)
see how much you save on disk brakes when you gonna have to change the clutch plate