Why Traction Control isn't a Substitute for Winter Tires

"Tom" (joshuabiplane2) 03/12/2015 at 16:44 • Filed to: winter tires, winter driving, winter, rear wheel drive

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Photo Credits: !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

To preface this article, I live in New England, and as some of you might know we got a ton of snow this winter. Like several feet in just a few days… yeah the roads were terrible. That brought up the question, what makes a car good in snow? Recently someone I know who for the purpose of this article we'll call Nick because that's his actual name, bought a FWD car. He was saying how it's good in the snow because of it's front wheel drive. My argument was that it doesn't matter if your car is rear wheel, front wheel or all wheel drive, with a good set of winter tires they're handle about the same. Sure AWD and FWD is better for accelerating in snow, which some people say is not necessary and to those people I say you've obviously never been stuck on the train tracks in a blizzard while watching a train barreling toward you. But hey, that's for a different article, maybe one titled, "Why You Should Never Try to Beat a Train in a Snowstorm". Anyway, back to what I was saying. Besides some small differences, no matter the drive train all cars will generally be fine in the snow. So that's what I said to him, and his response made me die a little inside.

He said that rear wheel drive was all but impossible in the snow, an opinion that many people seem to hold. His reasoning behind this belief was that because if a Dodge Challenger couldn't move on a snowy road, no rear wheel drive car could. After a little prying I was able to figure out that the Challenger in question was on summer tires. So lets think here… three hundred plus horsepower going to the rear wheels wrapped in summer tires. Of course it doesn't work, it's not meant to, it's not designed to. They distinguish between summer and winter tires for a reason. That was the first problem I encountered with his story. The second one was that when I mentioned the fact that it had summer tires he brushed it off saying the traction control was on so it didn't matter. That, combined with all the car accidents we've had this winter compelled me to at least attempt to dispel any misconceptions about winter driving, specifically winter tires and traction control.

As most people know, they only part of your car that touches the ground are the four bottom patches of your tire. If you break traction, those four sections are no longer gripping the road well. The role of traction control is to re-establish a solid connection between your tires and the road. This is assuming of course that you have any traction in the first place. As many people also know, snow is not a good surface for maintaining traction on. Therefore when you're on snow, traction control can work it's heart out and you'll still go no where because there is no traction to find, no solid connection to the ground it can get. All it can do to keep from slipping is to cut power altogether which is not particularly useful.

I'll put it in a way maybe more young people can understand, because that's the age group who Nick falls into. Think about connecting to a wifi hotspot on your phone. If you move out of range for a moment then move closer again. Your phone will try and re-establish that connection, and usually it'll find the signal again. Now say that there was no hotspot in the first place, your phone can't connect to the wifi hotspot because it's not there. No matter how good a phone you have you can't connect. Same thing with cars, no matter how good your traction control is, how many wheels are being driven, or where they're being driven, you won't find traction if there is no traction to be found.

Winter tires remedy this problem because they actually give you traction they don't just manage it. With snow tires your car can get traction on snow, similar to a summer tire on pavement. To reference the example, winter tires are like not having the wifi shut off. Your traction control can work in conjunction with the tires and actually help as opposed to continually cutting power and aimlessly spinning tires. I know they're a pain to store and swap for summer tires etc. In the end though they're really worth it if you plan to drive a lot in the snow.

Now full disclosure I drive an AWD car and I think it does edge out RWD and FWD in some areas. The point of this article is to try and educate some of the people who feel like because they're in AWD or FWD cars they're invincible to adverse weather. You wouldn't believe the number of vehicles off the road every time it snows here in New Hampshire, even after the roads are fairly clear. There's no substitute for properly maintaining your car (yes, that means appropriate tires) and just plain driving responsibly when conditions are bad. So I'd like to pose a question to anyone reading this who lives in a snowy area. Do you think winter tires are a good idea and worth the effort and are all seasons at a point where they're just as good?

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > Tom 03/12/2015 at 16:50

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I'm a young person and I hardly understood your paragraph in young people terms. I cannot into computer stuffs.

Tom > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback 03/12/2015 at 16:54

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Sorry I'm pretty new to writing for an audience. Still not quite used to the idea that not everything that makes sense in my head makes sense when I write it down.

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > Tom 03/12/2015 at 16:56

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It's not really your writing. It's more me not really understanding computers and how they really work. It's just one of those things that happen to escape me...

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > Tom 03/12/2015 at 16:56

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RWD in the Snow? Hardly seems problematic.

Winter tires AND traction Control is what makes it work great but in all reality you can use your right foot for traction control.

BeaterGT > Tom 03/12/2015 at 16:57

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I think winter tires are a good idea but not necessary for people that have driven different cars in the snow with no problem. For example, I have driven a Z28 and Firebird through several NJ winters with summer tires and no traction control. Never ended up in a ditch. Now I drive an AWD car but would like to get snow tires just because there are a lot of slope stops near me and stopping on a downhill slope doesn't make me feel 100% confident. For the majority of drivers I think they should get snow tires for my peace of mind alone.

Tom > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback 03/12/2015 at 16:57

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Lol probably a little of both. Thanks for the feedback.

Tom > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 03/12/2015 at 17:04

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Personally if it's snowing like that I prefer to turn off traction control and just take it really slowly. Maybe it's just my car but I find traction control makes it feel really jumpy in the snow.

Tom > BeaterGT 03/12/2015 at 17:05

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Yea I've defiantly had problems stopping on hills around where I live.

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > Tom 03/12/2015 at 17:13

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Take it slowly? When in doubt flat out!

Forgetful > Tom 03/12/2015 at 17:14

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DD'd all fucking winter. Good snow shoes are all you need, and you'll actually want to disable TC to take advantage of wheelspin on super slippery starts.

jariten1781 > Tom 03/12/2015 at 17:18

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Haha, as I referenced here: http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/4-hours-to-go-…

the only RWD car moving along on the most hellish leg of my worst commute of the year was a Charger SRT8 on snows. Around here most drivers don't even know that there are winter and summer tires so it's always a clusterfuck.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > Tom 03/12/2015 at 17:19

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RWD, well-suited tires, and good throttle control worked fine for me. When ever I did get into a little trouble, 4WD was just the pull of a lever away.

Tom > Luc - The Acadian Oppo 03/12/2015 at 17:42

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In all fairness two of those cars are AWD

Justin Hughes > Tom 03/12/2015 at 17:52

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YES!!! Absolutely tires make all the difference. I'll be writing about my Boston BMW CCA IceCross experience once I make some time and get video posted, but here's a sneak preview pic. My car (#86, of course) wouldn't have even gotten off the line on the stock Prius tires. But here, with proper tires, on a freaking frozen lake, I did all right.

Here's the kicker. I found I had better control the more I disabled traction and stability control. The car was more predictable without the electronic aids kicking in. And it wasn't just me - my girlfriend agreed, having driven my car (and stick shift) only a few times before. But she's Canadian, so this is normal for her.

WiscoProud > Tom 03/12/2015 at 17:53

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I will say having power to the front wheels helps the vehicle turn in deeper snow (3"+). For instance if you're stopped and trying to turn, power to the front tires lets them claw and turn. Once you're moving it has less of an impact. In corners like that with RWD, I would basically just turn with the throttle.

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > Tom 03/12/2015 at 19:10

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Tied in with this... Cheap, low quality winter tires are not the solution either. Some winter tires actually perform worse than some all season or 4 season tires like the Nokian WR or Hankook Optio 4S:

http://www.apa.ca/WinterTires201…

Tom > Manwich - now Keto-Friendly 03/12/2015 at 19:19

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Didn't think about that.

Luke Murphy > Tom 03/12/2015 at 19:50

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If anything you want traction control off in the snow, and stability on. All traction control does is stop wheelspin, which you need a little of if you are trying to get unstuck. The stability control is designed to stop the rear overtaking the front. I've driven rwd a lot in the snow and all the traction control does is roast the rear brakes. Just buy some winter tires and skinny steelies and slow down a bit.

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > Tom 03/12/2015 at 20:13

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Did my first northern winter this year after moving to Michigan. I had bought winterforces for rallycross so I put those on for the winter. They were awesome on my FR-S. Never got stuck once. At one point I went through several inches of snow partially sideways.

TC off with an LSD means drift everywhere, and it's awesome.

shop-teacher > Tom 03/12/2015 at 22:55

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I've met too many idiots like Nick to count. I've been driving RWD pickups in Chicago winters for 15 years, and I always managed to do just fine on all seasons. I finally took the plunge on a good set of winter tires and wheels about 5 years ago, and I'll never go back. They make driving in the snow so damn FUN. We bought my wife an AWD vehicle in November, and while the AWD is excellent for accelerating in snow, my RWD truck on snow tires is much easier and more fun to drive thanks to the far greater stopping and turning abilities that they provide. Next year I'm putting snow tires on her car too!