Winter weather driving experience and tips

[iansriv]

Looks like this weekend will be a tough one for most of the country. Please, share your experiences and advice for the forum. The obvious one is not to drive in bad weather if you dont have to. Beyond that, what should people do and be aware of if they do have to venture out. Feel free to post photos. Wishing everyone a safe journey.

Sponsored

 

[Seano]

There are some good threads around here, particularly discussing winter tires.

Some have had great experience with all seasons, but tread lightly

Use snow mode to “detune” everything and learn to feather the throttle vs lifting off if sliding.

With snow tires, we’ve found the Rivian to be very capable in big storm cycles.

 

[technerd]

I love going out in the snow and sliding around. Just slow acceleration, braking and turns. Some 20"s with the Toyo's have been great so far, though I still prefer my Bronco.

 

[RivianRocks25]

The Gen 1 21s are all season and suck in snow. SLOW DOWN, way down is my advice. We are in Wisconsin and bought Hankook Winter tires on Dodge Ram 20" wheels after 1 dangerous winter on the 21s. The D'rivian (Dodge + Rivian) as we call it, is AWESOME IN SNOW now. A Quad motor D'rivian is true 4 wheel drive and goes great.

Plan on about 2 mi/kwh with the winters tires or as low as 1.8 if winters on and -13 deg f like we had on WI tonight's trip.


Preearn the battery to charge to over 51 deg F to get DC fast charge to accept 100kwh speed. At 70 deg it jumps to over 150kwh. Below 51, it's limited to 25 kwh!

So SLOW DOWN, winter tires, expect less range, and prewarm battery.

 

[mkhuffman]

Anyone with snow experience in the 22 Pirelli tires?

 

[350Industrial]

I second the 21" Pirelli's are downright dangerous in the ice/snow- if that's what you're still rocking, definitely need to slow way down and be extremely careful. I'm actually swapping mine out for the 21" Michelin Defenders tomorrow- they still aren't 3 peak snow rated, but reports are they're a big upgrade over the Pirellis (and I don't want to buy new wheels with dedicated snow tires as my lease is up in a year..)

 

[Dark-Fx]

Anyone with snow experience in the 22 Pirelli tires?

Sport tires are garbage in the snow. Survivable, but you have to be *that guy* that's driving slow.

 

[Nixapatfan]

Anyone with snow experience in the 22 Pirelli tires?

They are fine if you know what you are doing but that's coming from a guy who drove a rwd v8 sports car year round in New England. If you plan on driving in deep snow more than 3 inches on the road then probably not a good idea but with decent tread depth it is manageable with the 22's.

The key to winter driving is smooth actions steering, braking and accelerating and leave enough room in front of you to compensate for the bad drivers and always be planning your moves 500ft in advance. Basically you only want your tires to do one thing at a time, turning, braking or acceleration. Trying to do more than one at a time will get you in trouble.

Put regen in lowest setting and slowdown by feathering the throttle instead of braking for turns or stops as much as possible.

Try to time the traffic lights so you can slowly keep rolling while you wait for the green.

On hills try to pick up enough momentum to crest the hill prior to the climb requiring only mild input while climbing instead of trying to accelerate up the hill.

 

[usulio]

If you are driving while heavy snow is falling, beware of snow covering the front headlights and not melting off. If it is also nighttime, beware of glare from the front lights/lightbar reflecting off the snow making it hard to see. I don't have any advice because there is no easy way to fix this, but be aware.

 

[mkhuffman]

Sport tires are garbage in the snow. Survivable, but you have to be *that guy* that's driving slow.

We don't get much snow here, and they are good about getting it off the roads quickly when it does snow. I like to drive in snow, but am a little worried about the tires on my truck. My wife would tell me to stay home, but I have this urge to go drive in it. Just because it is fun.

It is definitely not worth getting snow tires where I live. The 22" Pirelli tires are "All Season", so should perform a lot better than summer tires in the snow.

They are fine if you know what you are doing but that's coming from a guy who drove a rwd v8 sports car year round in New England. If you plan on driving in deep snow more than 3 inches on the road then probably not a good idea but with decent tread depth it is manageable with the 22's.

The key to winter driving is smooth actions steering, braking and accelerating and leave enough room in front of you to compensate for the bad drivers and always be planning your moves 500ft in advance. Basically you only want your tires to do one thing at a time, turning, braking or acceleration. Trying to do more than one at a time will get you in trouble.

Put regen in lowest setting and slowdown by feathering the throttle instead of braking for turns or stops as much as possible.

Try to time the traffic lights so you can slowly keep rolling while you wait for the green.

On hills try to pick up enough momentum to crest the hill prior to the climb requiring only mild input while climbing instead of trying to accelerate up the hill.

Excellent advice. This is how I approach it also. But I have never tried it in my massive R1T with these tires.

Per the Tire Rack reviews, the tires have a decent snow rating:

 

[RivianRocks25]

I second the 21" Pirelli's are downright dangerous in the ice/snow- if that's what you're still rocking, definitely need to slow way down and be extremely careful. I'm actually swapping mine out for the 21" Michelin Defenders tomorrow- they still aren't 3 peak snow rated, but reports are they're a big upgrade over the Pirellis (and I don't want to buy new wheels with dedicated snow tires as my lease is up in a year..)

We have the Defenders on our OG E-tron. I am Huge fan of swapping to winters and do it on almost all cars we drove. But the Etron came with a fresh set of Defenders. The fact that we run them and haven't swapped to winters on the Etron says alot. You will like them!

Defenders are new in 21 size and not available when bought the winters for the Rivian. If had been available, might have done that!

 

[sdemeester]

Key thing is put regen in low to avoid skidding when tires loose grip in higher modes of regen. At low I have had no problems on snow and ice in MI with AT 20 Scorpions. The R1T in all purpose is amazingly solid in winter conditions, even strong winds don't phase it due to weight. The truck gives you extreme confidence, way more than any other vehicle I have driven in bad conditions including 4WD Yukon and ICE pick up truck. Enjoy the security Rivian gives you in bad weather!

 

[mkhuffman]

Key thing is put regen in low to avoid skidding when tires loose grip in higher modes of regen. At low I have had no problems on snow and ice in MI with AT 20 Scorpions. The R1T in all purpose is amazingly solid in winter conditions, even strong winds don't phase it due to weight. The truck gives you extreme confidence, way more than any other vehicle I have driven in bad conditions including 4WD Yukon and ICE pick up truck. Enjoy the security Rivian gives you in bad weather!

You don't use Snow Mode?

 

[MD89]

1. Drive slow (<25 mph), especially going downhill, and when making a turn. But on uphill get momentum and don't stop on the middle of the hill (Rivian manual also says to use momentum going uphill in snow). Maybe keep in snow mode to stay in AWD.

2. Carry a snow shovel and snow brush in the car.

3. Carry rubber mud mats (or use rubber floormats if you have them) to use for grip under your tires if you do get stuck in snow or ice. They can give you traction to get out.

4. Make sure headlights are on low beam (not auto mode which uses high beams mostly) and wipe off the headlights if they seem to not be lighting the road at night. They easily and quickly get covered in snow.

Good luck 1/2 of US! We wish we would get some more snow here out west!

 

[RivianRocks25]

Don't use Conserve Mode on G1 Quad. It become front-wheel-braking only when regens and will lock up front tires on slippery surface. Car then warns "use Snow Mode on slippery surface" but that is after the fact. All Purpose or Snow mode for 4 wheel regen braking.

And another rant, even on Low Regen and Snow Mode , regen braking is still too aggressive. I am worried brakes are going to get rusty, as never have to use brakes in the winter.

Sponsored