Nogard13

We got the first snow of the season here in DC yesterday (and the first for my baby since I bought her in April). I was driving around last night and this morning and just flooring it on occasions just to see the VSA light come on.

I never lost control and always felt 100% secure in the car, even when I was clowning around in an empty parking lot. I'm really impressed with the way it handled, even on the stock tires.

CGTSX07

i cannot say it was fun, my commute was killer(270south to 495south) and i was slipping and sliding more than i liked.

quake97

I was pretty impressed last night too with the traction of the TSX. Given, this was about an inch of snow and nothing like what's to come in Jan-Mar.

Joe

Mskierki

My first experiance with the VSA was last weekend in Chicago. I was impressed with the control. I would try and push around corners and the car always went where the wheels were pointed. Never really thought it would work this well. I guess Honda knows what they are doing.

nj2pa2nc

hopefully i will not have to try it. I am heading to jersey from NC tomorrow so I hope NO SNOW- my tsx is not used to the cold and definately not snow or ice.

dereksmalls

I would echo the OP about the TSX's handling in bad conditions. I've got winter tires on and the TSX is rock solid with those. Last winter, I drove on some icy mountain roads in the Rockies and it was very solid (not doing anything stupid though, you can't break laws of physics). I actually have to turn VSA off if I want to have fun in an empty parking lot.

I would recommend winter tires, though. I had tried the OEM "boy tires" in sub-freezing temperatures once, and it was brutal. Those things are horrible when it's cold, on ice or in the snow.

Mokos23

are you sure? this car can't drive over 6 or 7 inches of snow so yesterday I had to use take public transportation to work or ask if i could borrow my folks MDX next time.

bgriffin

I will probably never get to drive on snow. I've seen snow less than 10 times in my life, and it was never more than an inch. Oh well. I'll just have to enjoy 50-60 degree winters.

Joeydabomb

Driving my beater in the snow is fun! I can do whatever I want in it and have no worries. I would not even dare to drive the TSX out in the snow, with my luck it would be totalled in 23 seconds.

Trident

You're wrong - Saturday I drove through easily that much snow here. Mind you it was light snow which makes a difference. Of course I have winters mounted - there is no chance that would happen with the total crap stock tires Acura includes...

Trident

100% agreed. There isn't much more fun than laying a beater out on a frozen lake... Just don't hit any pressure cracks...

dereksmalls

Yeah, but beaters don't have heated front seats a must if you're going to be out on a frozen lake all day pulling the handbrake.

acn684

Last year i remember I drove 250 miles in the NE blizzard around april with OEM tires...lets just say this year i've decided to spend money on new tires. That was the scariest 8 hours of my life....

ajdigerati

We just got about 6 inches of snow in MN, but that normal for us. Anyhow, I have a question for you or for anyone that can explain or answer it for me.

I have an 06 TL and when the VSA engages, I hear a clunk for the first half a dozen times it engages, more so when I am turning (either direction). This has always happened. I bought the car brand new in 06 and it has always done this. I never thought anything of it, but I figured I would ask. I haven't called the dealer about but if I do or when I do, I would like to have some knowledge of what may be going on so they don't try to explain it away with some bogus answer. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

acn684

just might be vsa engaging, usually vsa has to engage suddenly to prevent traction loss so it just might be the reason why.

LuvMyTSX

Snow tires FTMFW

I feel much more secure with them on than all-seasons. Before I had them on for the first time, I didn't understand how much of a difference they would make. Now I know.

ninjamyst

My car was slipping and sliding in Chicago a few days ago. VSA went off as soon as I engage 1st and 2nd gear. Was not fun and did not feel safe at all. OEM tired suck

jswim99

The OEMs are ok in snow for the first few thousand miles, but can't hold a candle to snow tires. Very small price to pay for the drastic increases in traction.

markm929

Just got my Blizzaks w/ steelies today...will be putting them on for sure before heading upto NY from NC for Christmas!!

EuRTSX

Rockville area, I was sliding left and right, almost hit a curb in my neighborhood because the car wouldn't stop even at crawling speeds. Last year was better, when I first bought the car, but now that i have 20000 miles on the ODO and the tires are used, they don't function as well.

WhiteDragon07

iTrader: (1)

markm929: great choice... i got to try out my new blizzaks (alloy wheels) earlier this week and the tires were awesome, way better than the x-ice i had with my previous car (michelins last year were brand new and i was all over the place, i've never had much luck with michelins - blow outs, bad on ice/snow)... blizzaks all the way!

the tsx itself is awesome on snow/ice so far (not that we had that much snow!), and my ass was nice and toasty the whole time. defroster works great (and rainx defroster is my new best friend when i'm late in the mornings).

bc811

are u guys using blizzaks WS 50 or WS 60?

moda_way

I have WS 50s. With snow tires, VSA isn't even needed. I actually had an issue with VSA and it caused me to wreck my car. Heading up I71 here in Ohio... rear tires were inadequate (the OEMs) and the car went from clean highway to 1" thick packed snow. Rear end got loose, I corrected by stomping on the gas (the right thing to do for a FWD rather than turning into the skid). Needless to say, VSA stopped the fronts from spinning and the rear end got into a worse skid and I couldn't recover. Long story short, snow tires FTW!!!

Nogard13

I got caught on ice today and almost bit it. It's a good thing that I've had quite a bit of experience driving in the snow/ice before and knew how to react.

Basically, the people at the light were being slow and I'd sat thru three lights. So, I decided to take the right lane, make a right, and then U turn at the next intersection. Well, I got in the right lane and some guy about 8 cars ahead of me did the same, as I was speeding up. I tried hitting the breaks and the car just skid, not losing any speed. I decided to use the curb as a break (pull the e-break, turn the wheel to the left so the back tires hit the curb and slow me down) because I could just visualize myself hitting the truck that just pulled ahead of me. Just then, the truck found traction and moved forward just enough to give me time to stop.

I got to pull the e-break but corrected right before I hit the curb because the guy was able to move out of the way. I really thought I was gonna hit him, too. I didn't know that lane was icy nor that someone would pull in so I accelerated a bit more than the conditions permitted. I'm glad I was able to get away from it without any incident.

lcrazyaznl

iTrader: (1)

Running nokian wr
they are pretty good, but like every car and tire theres a limit.
for normal light snow or as it is falling like 2 inches its good, anything afterwards i can't really go fast nor make sudden movements.

They grip pretty well once it hits pavement.

madmanmax3000

Maybe I need some snow tires. I gave up driving the TSX in snow after my first winter with it. Now I just stick with my ML during the winter. The gas mileage sucks, but it can go over the 6 inches of ice that seem to accumulate at the bottom of my driveway every winter!

cestmoi

I don't know about everyone's feeling on this, but someone (many posts up) mentioned about heated seats... Is it just me or am I the only who feels that the more you use the heated seats feature, the faster you're going to prematurely age that pleather seat(s) of ours?

I never used it except the other day, my passenger used it and so I just tried it to make sure it's still working for a brief moment on my side.

bgriffin

I thought about that too, but it hasn't stopped me from using it.

dereksmalls

I'm using Michelin X-Ices and find them to be pretty good. Michelins have been good to me over the years with the exception of the Arctic Alpins which were horrible excuses for winter tires. In the past I've used the original (1997) Blizzak WS-50s on a Gen6 Civic and these were very good.

As for the seat heaters. They're there, so you might as well use them.

LukeaTron

Do you not turn corners for fear of prematurely aging the tires? Is your car a museum or a functional piece of machinery?

I love the fact that I don't have to spend a 1/2 hour freezing my ass off till the seat finally warms up. And by the way, the parts of the seat with the heater elements underneath are the real leather parts.

Newplay1

I think Snow we ok but icey-snow forget about it.. slip & slide crash and burn.

popdakebin

I still have stock tires, would you recomment chains?

Nogard13

In So-Cal? Why would you need them?

visuelz

when my dad was driving home from dinner, our car drifted a bit sideways all of the sudden. all 4 of our tires were on ice....

popdakebin

I'm going to Big Bear and Mammoth mountain soon and when there's a storm, they require snow chains.. =/ Big Bear is scary when there's a storm

LukeaTron

I would recommend a different vehicle all together for those conditions. A snowed out mountain pass is about as far from what this car was designed for as it gets.

Maybe the Dakar Rally is further, but not by a whole lot.

DemonPoofball

I was pleasantly surprised w/ the stock tires. I had wondered about them based on comments I've read in here (this is my 1st winter w/ my TSX) but going to hockey in the snow last week was nothing-- I tried a smidge of drifting on my way in in the big, empty parking lot behind the arena, but I kept straightening out too fast... I'll have to leave earlier for my game Sunday if we get more snow (40% chance!) and try it again for a bit longer. I also want to play with it to see the actual differences with VSA on and off. Our driveway has also had a couple inches of ice for a week or so, and our slightly uphill street did for several days, and it did quite nicely too. Been safer driving on it than trying to walk

Got to test the depth a bit today-- only have about 3-4" on the driveway, which it did fine of course. Made it through the 7-8" at the end of the driveway nicely too. Looks like the magic number for me will be 7" again (my last car was fine up to about 7", then I'd have to shovel... we have quite a long driveway...). Clearance on the front and mufflers looks like about 9", but those little plastic flappy things in front of the front wheels are at 5"... but they flex a bit. Interesting that it does a bit better going forwards than it does in reverse backing in the driveway.

WhiteDragon07

iTrader: (1)

I'm on Blizzak WS-60s... the WS-50s has a similar tread pattern to the old Blizzaks I used to run on my Civic (which were great) but I had heard the WS60s were better. They're all great tires in my opinion. I would have liked to try Nokians, but I could barely afford Blizzaks, aren't Nokians more $?

As for the heated seats... I care more about having a toasty ass than wearing out the (p)leather I guess! I don't use it much, just until the seat isn't an ice cube. Heated seats aren't to be used to COOK my ass, just warm it up

And the VSA hasn't been used yet, but I'll post again once it snows and ices more.

BTW am I the only one having a hard time getting used to ABS? I've never had it on my other cars (I've actually specifically not wanted a car with it), it's taking me a while to get used to it...

DemonPoofball

I'm starting to get used to it-- but it took a while to not freak out as it started doing that ABS jiggle-grumble thing it does! Though, most of the time my ABS kicks in, it's from me slamming on my breaks on damp (and very empty) roads to make it kick in... so I can get more used to it

WhiteDragon07

iTrader: (1)

Hmm, maybe I'll have to find an empty parking lot to try that out.... good idea, thanks! Thankfully it hasn't had an opportunity to kick in much...