Mokos23

Boy I know that the VSA and FWD was good, but I was dissapointed with it, because my gf and I went for a car wash today here in Chicago where it is 1F and a wind chill of -10F. I know the water would freeze, but it is automated car wash, but I needed to cause the Tsx was so dirty and salted after all this snow. Also, I read it is bad to the car's paint if you leave salt on there after 3 days. Anyways, after the car was washed, as we were getting out of the wash, the Tsx got stuck in the ice and snow buildup outside of the wash and the front tires were skidding and the VSA light kept coming on, but it wasn't helping the Tsx get out of the problem. So, I had to get out of the car and told her to put the car in reverse and the guy behind us, helped me push the Tsx up and out of the problem. Man, I don't know, I guess the Tsx wasn't built for 1F to -10F weather?

Saintor_RENAMED

Do you have winter tires? They are a must for those temearatures. Rubber on these tires stick much better.

esr5096

If the car is stopped you want to turn VSA off!

vwong

I'm in the sunny Southern Calif., so we don't drive on snow or ice here. But don't you think that if both of your front wheels (the drive wheels) are on ice from a standing start, the VSA won't do squat?

Mokos23

nope, no winter tires, cause it would be a waste of the michelins that acura put on the Tsx if i bought them now. but, i hope there are places where u can trade in the michelins, cause they suck. wish honda had a contract with a better tire company. anyways, do u know any tire chains that take tire trade ins?

wait if i turned the VSA off, it would help the Tsx get out of the problem quicker?

hey vwong, dang i wish i was in sunny CA right now, i've been trying my best to apply to companies out there so i can get out of this cold snowy weather. its -5 here right now, what is it in north and south CA?

esr5096

YES, If you are stopped, you want VSA off so the wheels can slip a little and you start moving. VSA will detect slipping and apply the brakes, and you won't go anywhere. VSA helps when you're alreayd moving and hit ice.

Whatchamacallit

Yup, if you're stuck in ice/snow, push the VSA OFF button to turn off the VSA.

KJLite

having just completed a snowboard trip in vermont i can attest to the cold weather prowess of the TSX. as mentioned above, turn off VSA when stuck in snow or ice.

starting in 2nd gear also helps. sux if you have an auto box, should have bought the 6 spd manual

vwong

Don't know about norcal, but here in socal, it has been in the 60s for the past several days. I think it was as high as low 70s in the beginning of this week.

ajs887

04. I totally know what you're talking about. Here in the suburbs it isn't any better, especially in streets with subdivisions cause half of them aren't plowed. I find it easier to leave from a stop with the vsa off and then putting it back once the car is in motion. The brakes aren't that good in the snow either, you really have to allow for a lot of stopping distance.

rzee

auto can start out on 2nd gear no problem.

osubuckeye98

In another thread I heard that Discount Tire Co. does trade-ins. I am contemplating of trading my Michellin's in for the ContiExtremes.

Yes.

I know this sounds funny, but I keep a small garden shovel and a medium size ziplock bag of aquarium gravel in my trunk in the winter so if I am stuck I can quickly dig to a small patch of pavement around the drive wheels to get traction to get moving. If you're really a boyscout, get some plywood and put a few woodscrews into it to use to get out of really hairy situations.

Stay warm,
SB

trolldrengi

Don't get rid of your existing tires... get 16" steel wheels with the snow tires mounted on them already. Tire Rack has a Bridgestone Blizzak deal for under $600, mounted and balanced. You just put them on your car, and save the nice 17"s for warmer days. Then when you wear out the Michelins, you can put some more aggressive tires on the stock rims.

Iron Chef

It's not the brakes that stop you it's the grip of the tires. All seasons don't work when it gets too cold because the rubber compound hardens reducing traction. Winter tires stay soft at colder temperatures allowing you to grip the road and stop sooner.

xizor

VSA useful for turning (or preventing rotation), not going straight. It doesn't transfer power to the tire that's slipping like an LSD so its almost a negative when trying to get started on a patch of ice. But it'll keep you from understeering off an icy turn.

Mokos23

thanks all for the help, but i'm getting 3 kinds of opinions here,
by turning off the VSA i could get out of ice or snow when i'm standing still, i should keep my existing default crappy michelin tires, but put steel wheels, and/or just get snow tires?

man, I wish Acura could give us all the AWD drive option like BMW 3 series and now the G35 sedan does, oh well.

tony4311

man its ice. It doesn't matter wat tires you have, rwd, fwd or awd its ICE. Your not going to get traction on it so theres no need to be disapointed about the vsa. auto's usually the best at getting off of ice because you can just let off the gas and let the car slowly creap forward on it's own.

Saintor_RENAMED

Sorry but you don't get it.

AWD does not matter. You need winter tires. All-seanson or summer tires are no good for these temperatures. The rubber get hard and tend to be even more slippy.

Looks at this site.
http://www.caranddriver.com/article....&page_number=1

trolldrengi

Exactly! Most Americans seem to have forgotten all about the trusty snow-tire! Especially in these days of monster SUVs and AWD cars.

Having one tire moving, or 4 doesn't make any difference if your tires are all slipping at once. Snow/winter tires make all of the difference. They're a stickier compound, and they have a tread pattern which allows them to reach through thick crud to make contact with the pavement.

I wish more folks would look to our freinds in the North, and put winter tires on their cars rather than rush out to get the biggest 4wd vehicle they can find!

bob shiftright

At BEST AWD will get you rolling. If you look at the graphics in the C/D article it's clearly WORSE than winter tires at getting you stopped and keeping you on the roadway - because AWD makes a car weigh more.

Scandanavia got along just fine without any AWD Volvos or Saabs from the end of the last ice age until 1997. But they manufactured 3-4 different brands of winter tires.

Proo

I like AWD in my Subaru when it snows. I don't have to worry about keeping "rolling" to make sure I don't get stuck. When you floor it, the car always moves, unlike 2WD. Helps a lot when you are parallel parking on semi-plowed streets too.

But... yes you are absolutely right. It doesn't do squat for stopping or turning. So you have to be extra careful because the ability to accelerate might make you delusional. Well, it might help turning a little, but I think VSA is even better, IMHO.

gomez_regina

1F & a wind chill of -10F? And you think that's cold?

BWAH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!! Sorry...I just couldn't control myself

Over the past week here in Regina (that's in Canada for you U.S. Folks on the board here), we've endured temps in the -35 to -45 Celcius range (approx -30F) with Wind Chills of -60 Celcius (I believe that's around -55F)...we also had a nice little blizzard last night that dumped about 15cm (6 inches) of snow and gave us drifts up to 6 feet high.

I've been having absolutely NO problems with my TSX in these conditions...VSA has been performing flawlessly and the car has started every single day (even after some little S.O.B. unplugged the block heater and it sat in -42 Celcius temps for about 3 hours). I'm lovin' this car...it's the best winter performing car I've ever owned!

But I'm beginning to believe that we get different tires on our TSX's here in Canada...I've heard a lot of complaints about the tires from American owners but nothing from Canadians (I've got no complaints). Does anyone know for sure?

35kcdn

Ya thats was pretty funny, its got to -30 degrees celsius here too in Calgary.

Snow tires make all the difference, but as far as ice goes the only real performance will be seen by a studded tire, but there's a big trade off when the ice and snow melts during the winter season, so the new ice radials are definetely the way to go. IMO opinion if you see ice or snow for more than 2 months a year whats a $600 investment for the safety and security.

Saintor_RENAMED

600$ that is not really an additional expense. Whilke using you winter tires, you don' t use the others..

ClutchPerformer

How?

jaobrien6

Put it in Sport Shift mode and then put it into 2nd gear. The car will start up in 2nd instead of 1st. Can't go any higher than 2nd when you're sitting at a stop, but it will let you start up in 2nd.

John

ClutchPerformer

That's interesting. I didn't know you could do that. Thanks.

fdl

Hey clutch, why is your location 5th gear? Shouldnt it be 6th?

rzee

but if you stay in 2nd for too long without moving (10-20 seconds, I think), it would drop you back to 1st.

ClutchPerformer

I spend most of my time in 5th. When I'm just crusing down the street at about 40-50mph, 5th is the place to be. I usually don't drive at high rpm unless I'm in a hurry (or racing ), and I don't do a lot of highway driving. So 5th is where I'm usually at.

kiteboy

The SS will remember that you started in 2nd and downshift back to 2nd instead of 1st on each successive stop until you manually shift back to 1st or turn off the engine.

I've never noticed a 2nd gear "timeout" I'll test that tomorrow.

TSX Cman

i drive around calgary alberta with stock tires, and VSA on most of the time. last week it was -45 Celcius a couple days including the wind, and raised to around -25ish for a bit. its a little scary on some turns where you just keep slidding straight, but ive gotten the hang of it and think the tsx is very accomodating for the winter. i use the handbrake alot when not going to fast to help pull the back end around too

spc

Not so sure about this, never happen to me. It did return to 1st gear the next time. Scenario: complete stop, start at 2nd, 2->3, 3->4, 4->5, brake and slow down, it automatic downshift from 5->4, 4->3, 3->1 when complete stop. I don't know why it skip 2.

mmanus88

dam, all this talk about having to switch off VSA and problems with fwd (even rwd) in snow make sme wish honda (acura0 woudl finally come out wiht a awd tsx. that would be amazing! i am gonna be getting a tsx in years time, and if the awd doesn't come out, does fwd really cut it? i live in north jersey in teh suburbs, we have the occasional suburbs, and it never really gets colder then the low teens here. think i will have any problems?

dnb

Even an AWD TSX will do poorly in the snow and cold if it has crappy OEM all-season tires on it. As others in this thread have mentioned, you're best off in the winter with snow tires.

NJ seems to do a poor job of snow removal in general. (I worked at Rutgers for a couple of years.) Traction on slick roads is a big concern even if the temperature is in the 20s or low 30s.

kiteboy

I get 3 -> 2 in the last step. It's been snowing a lot in T.O. lately and it's worked every time I start in 2nd.

The 3>1 shift occurs when I start in 1st. It's smoother than cycling through 2nd, which has a lot of engine braking. The car doesn't go back to 1st until under 10km, where there isn't much engine braking anyways.

As for the 2nd gear "timeout", I left the car stopped in 2nd for a full minute today and it didn't shift back to 1st.