Snow Mode instead of All Purpose for more even tire wear

[sealsinspace]

We have a first generation R1S with 15,000 miles, with 21" Pirelli Scorpion road tires (what's probably now called "Range" - neither Sport nor All Terrain). Hadn't rotated the tires yet. Inspection revealed the front tires are ready for replacement (only ~3mm tread left); rear tires are fine for at least another 15,000 miles.

In the vehicle screen (the drive train icon) it's very clear, as others are posted, that ~90% of the general purpose, paved road acceleration and braking (not hard in either case) is using almost all front motor. Thus the very uneven tire wear. When switching to snow mode (which Rivian says is not for off roading, is specifically for road and highway driving), general purpose acceleration and braking are evenly distributed front/rear. Regen seems the same (plus we can still set it).

95% of our driving is dry paved roads. We're thinking of using snow mode for all of that. We'll trade slightly less acceleration for having to rotate or replace tires every six months.

Anyone else tried this or have thoughts?
Thanks
Dave

Sponsored

 

[electruck]

With that kind of wear, you most likely need an alignment.

 

[Cascadian]

In your present condition it is probably best to rotate front tires for rears and replace all 4 in about 15,000 miles.

 

[Nixapatfan]

Confused why you would choose snow mode instead of all purpose mode for normal driving? What mode were you using before? AP mode at least in the quad uses all 4 motors almost evenly maybe 60/40 split.

 

[Hereforthesnacks]

You likely need an alignment. FWD cars do not wear that differently and they only use their front wheels for propulsion. We have an EV which mostly uses the rear tires for propulsion, but the front motor kicks in when needed and the wear is even. We always align our wheels out the gate, though. Wear is pretty even.

Aligning and rotating tires is probably the easiest solution.

 

[Magicbus]

Confused why you would choose snow mode instead of all purpose mode for normal driving? What mode were you using before? AP mode at least in the quad uses all 4 motors almost evenly maybe 60/40 split.

Wasn't R1S Gen 1 dual motors? My R1T DM switches to front wheel drive over 15mph unless needed. Seems like Snow Mode would be less efficient and more wear and tear on the drivetrain.

 

[Nixapatfan]

Wasn't R1S Gen 1 dual motors? My R1T DM switches to front wheel drive over 15mph unless needed. Seems like Snow Mode would be less efficient and more wear and tear on the drivetrain.

If DM that would explain it, I'm not familiar with the options for DM.

 

[ElGuano]

I misread the thread title as "Snow Mode for EVEN MORE tire wear" and thought "What kind of psycho is this?!"

 

[Birdowin]

I got 28K on my original Perilli tires. I rotated them every 5000miles. When I changed them there was more wear on the inside edge which I think is from using conserve mode and lowest ride height. I just switched to Michelins. Great ride and very quiet.

 

[Doug]

I got 41,000 on my factory 21 inch tires. But I have a 2022 quad R1T and drive 90% of the time in all purpose with auto ride height. I rotated every 10,000 miles or so. As others have said an alignment may be needed. The current tires are looking like I should get about the same with this set. At 67,000 and they look good yet.

 

[jaredm]

OP, you didn't mention what motor setup you have, but I assume Dual since it's the only one with part-time FWD AP mode.

Snow mode is the same as AP except that it keeps the rear motor engaged and reduces throttle sensitivity. It's fine to use if that's your goal, but I don't like the reduced throttle sensitivity.

What I do is reduce Stability in AP mode. This forces the rear motor on as well. Only downside here is it turns off when enabling cruise control, going back to FWD.

All that said, as long as you're rotating your tires as you should, it doesn't matter.

Side note, AWD AP mode and new Conserve mode are coming to Duals soon(tm) so you won't have to do these workarounds for long.

 

[JonClimbs]

I've been running my R1S Gen2 DM in snow mode for this reason. Only downside I can tell is that I lose lane departure and need to switch it back to this mode whenever it default back to AP.

 

[beatle]

Snow mode is the same as AP except that it keeps the rear motor engaged and reduces throttle sensitivity. It's fine to use if that's your goal, but I don't like the reduced throttle sensitivity.

I believe snow mode also reduces regen, or tweaks its response.

Agree with others that if the fronts wear that much more than the rears, an alignment is in order.

 

[jaredm]

I believe snow mode also reduces regen, or tweaks its response.

It just defaults to Low regen. You can manually bump it to standard or high as desired. You can see this by hitting the "reset" button for Snow mode. It's the same Low as the other drive modes if they are set to Low too.

 

[teartags]

Side note, AWD AP mode and new Conserve mode are coming to Duals soon(tm) so you won't have to do these workarounds for long.
[/QUOTE]


Huh?!? How you know 'dis? Does that mean Auto-Auto height will go away again too (please)?

Sponsored