HTRAC in snow

[TEF]

Bought my AWD Genesis last month and today was my first chance to try it in snow. With the standard all-season Michelins there was great traction, but the lack of dedicated winter tires soon reminded me that stopping is also an issue on snow-covered roads. As I recall, my '09 Genesis with snows all around seemed to have stopped better. Since I live in a snow belt, I am still mulling over the idea of getting a set of dedicated winter tires and wheels.

 

[Ernie3647]

My experience with the Michelins has been good also. I had them on my G35 AWD and found them to be very good in the snow. So I was glad when they were offered as exchanges for the Hankooks which were terrible in the snow barely acceptable in the rain and very good on dry ground. So for my environment they weren’t the logical choice. You’re right though the AWD does a formidable job of getting traction in snow (with the right tires) there is no substitute for good snow tires for stopping power.

 

[smirn0ff]

Today I tried the "Snow Mode"
The gas pedal was unresponsive, even it was hit to the ground(before the kick) the car start to accelerate slowly. There was no room for sliding.
My car is equipped with 4 winter tires Vredestein.

 

[Midnightsun]

Today I tried the "Snow Mode"
The gas pedal was unresponsive, even it was hit to the ground(before the kick) the car start to accelerate slowly. There was no room for sliding.
My car is equipped with 4 winter tires Vredestein.

As I mentioned several times in past posts, snow mode is a joke and actually dangerous IMHO. Its like replacing the engine with the garden variety Briggs & Stratton.

 

[TroyK]

As I mentioned several times in past posts, snow mode is a joke and actually dangerous IMHO. Its like replacing the engine with the garden variety Briggs & Stratton.

i'd tend to agree. in SNOW mode the driving experience in relationship to what happens when you hit the go pedal feels so unnatural that it's semi-unnerving! i don't bother to even turn it on when driving through snow...NORMAL mode works fine for that!

 

[smirn0ff]

today we had some snow here and no cleaning on the streets was performed. the snow cover on the streets was around 3-4 centimeters. temperature all day around -10 degrees Celsius. My car is with 4 new winter tires and it is H-TRAC.
I start from the garage on "Normal mode", when I make on the streets left and right turns the cars tail gets too shaky
After the car get in working temperature, I switched to "Snow mode". The pedal start to be less responsive, the power become very low. But in this way you cannot put much power on the back and to shake the tail. Maybe also the front/rear wheel power ratio is changed.

 

[TEF]

After finding suitable wheels and buying Conti WinterContact SI tires, I finally got the chance to drive my H-TRAC on snow covered roads. While I always use dedicated snows here in NW PA, this was my first AWD vehicle. I must say, that the combination of WinterContacts and H-TRAC is quite impressive. With the Conti's there is no need for the "snow mode" and stopping on hard-packed snow and ice is fantastic. Moreover, one now has a real sense of steering control on snow rather than skittering around on top of it with the Michelins. I do a lot of winter driving on the East Coast, so bad weather is an issue, but this is the first time I feel really confident driving quickly in the snow-covered left lane of Interstates. BTW, after milling out the center bore (by 1 mm) my unused 350Z wheels fit fine on the Genesis.

 

[iSOBigD]

Today I tried the "Snow Mode"
The gas pedal was unresponsive, even it was hit to the ground(before the kick) the car start to accelerate slowly. There was no room for sliding.
My car is equipped with 4 winter tires Vredestein.

The point of "snow mode" just like traction control is to make your wheels spin slowly and gradually in order to move your car instead of spinning in place. If you drive any car in the snow with TCS on, after a brief delay, your wheels will spin very slowly or one at a time in order to slowly push your car and not just dig in. It seems to be the same idea but there's a specific "mode" for it. I don't think it's meant as a "winter" mode, just specifically for when you are driving on slippery ice or snow.

 

[Twenty7]

I've used the snow mode a few times in late Jan/early Feb when we had a bunch of snow. It works well - but, so does "Sport" in the white stuff!

I have Blizzaks installed on the OEM 18's.

 

[kmax1980]

I'm running Michelin X-Ice winter tires and Ive noticed the car behaves very well in light snow, slippery conditions. However, in normal mode (havent played with modes), and semi-aggressive driving, I have noticed the rear wheels break loose quite a bit. Not enough to allow the vehicle to slip or slide, however it is noticeable. You can even smell a bit of "burning rubber" coming from the rear tires after a punching it around a bit on semi-snow covered roads.

I never noticed this sort of thing before on Audi Quattro or BMW x-drive. Perhaps H-trac is just a tad slower to react? Not a real safety/handling issue, but im concerned if i don't take it easy i might kill my rear tires faster than usual. Perhaps i need to activate snow mode.

______________________________

Help support this site so it can continue supporting you!

 

[ntx_v8]

I sometimes use the snow mode while cruising in heavy rain. Snow mode cause the front/rear torque split to default to about 50/50. If I hit a section of standing water, there is no delay in applying power to the front wheels. Of course, I have to really mash the accelerator to pass.

 

[iSOBigD]

You can even smell a bit of "burning rubber" coming from the rear tires after a punching it around a bit on semi-snow covered roads.

I never noticed this sort of thing before on Audi Quattro or BMW x-drive. Perhaps H-trac is just a tad slower to react? Not a real safety/handling issue, but im concerned if i don't take it easy i might kill my rear tires faster than usual. Perhaps i need to activate snow mode.

It makes sense since the tires aren't gripping. It doesn't matter what tires you use, if you floor it, they will slip. If the car's traction was 50/50 and the TCS/ESC kicked in instantly and cut torque, you wouldn't notice it as much, just like in the Audi, but since it's mostly RWD in regular mode, I think what you experience makes sense. I guess the important thing is to understand how much grip you have at any given time and not give it much more gas than needed.

 

[chief1645]

Does the AWD stay on all the time! Or can you turn it off?

 

[GenesisAWD]

Does the AWD stay on all the time! Or can you turn it off?

It's on all the time. If you could turn it off then it would be marketed as 4WD or 4x4.