S90 FWD Traction in Ice/Snow

[airforced]

After driving RWD Mercs for a number of years before switching this summer to an S90 on 17" wheels I am wondering what to expect when winter finally arrives.

The Mercs were useless no matter what I tried and wouldn't do anything as far as tackling even slight gradients at low speed without slithering all over the place. As far as getting into my drive which involves a 90 degree left off the main road and then a 90 degree right soon after, up a narrow private road that has no room for slithering due to stone walls in close proximity I ended up leaving the car out on the road or didn't take it out at all when there was bad wether.

My question is, should I expect more from a FWD drive car, even if it is a bit of a barge, or am I likely to be faced with similar problems once agin this winter?

Any thoughts, advice, tricks or tips from existing S90 owners would be most welcome please.

[HDAV]

Winter tyres you will go anywhere in the U.K. pretty much if sensible far more likely to be stuck by blocked roads full of cars on summer tyres abandoned.....

[Quacker]

You will get much further along a snowy road before you block it for others and emergency vehicles. The greater weight is on the drive wheels.

As said, Winter tyres with the snow emblem will get you most, but not all by any means, places that a 4wd car on Summer tyres will. Not many people bother with the expense of buying seasonal tyres and either swapping them on the rim or buying a second set of rims though, although some do.

Essentially if you slide, you slide, whether braking or cornering, so don't get overconfident. If you are experienced and confident then you will know those limits pretty soon for any car and also know that for snow, drifts are what will stop you regardless of grip. Front bumper trim on these cars looks expensive and you may fill the suspension arms with hard-packed snow, stopping suspension movement and even steering in extremes.

[HDAV]

A very balanced video here......

https://youtu.be/mfuE00qdhLA


I found my winter tyres brilliant last winter after a shock at how bad the fwd xc60 was on snow.........I bought some winter tyres and now am a real convert having always bought quality branded tyres, decent winter tyres are a must especially if you live in an area that gets lots of cold temps and wintery conditions....

[Chief inspector]

Originally Posted by HDAV

A very balanced video here......

https://youtu.be/mfuE00qdhLA


I found my winter tyres brilliant last winter after a shock at how bad the fwd xc60 was on snow.........I bought some winter tyres and now am a real convert having always bought quality branded tyres, decent winter tyres are a must especially if you live in an area that gets lots of cold temps and wintery conditions....

Thats about right, yes.

A similar comparison years ago my 156 GTA couldn’t get up the car park ramp. My colleague with his S8 Quattro guffawed and then got.....embarrassed by going exactly as far to the inch (it was compacted before either of us got there).

The tyres on both were the same tread pattern 4 P Zero Rosso’s in the snow spinning has as much traction as 2 spinning.

I sent him to the grit bin.

[Typolee]

Originally Posted by Quacker

You will get much further along a snowy road before you block it for others and emergency vehicles. The greater weight is on the drive wheels.

As said, Winter tyres with the snow emblem will get you most, but not all by any means, places that a 4wd car on Summer tyres will. Not many people bother with the expense of buying seasonal tyres and either swapping them on the rim or buying a second set of rims though, although some do.

Essentially if you slide, you slide, whether braking or cornering, so don't get overconfident. If you are experienced and confident then you will know those limits pretty soon for any car and also know that for snow, drifts are what will stop you regardless of grip. Front bumper trim on these cars looks expensive and you may fill the suspension arms with hard-packed snow, stopping suspension movement and even steering in extremes.

Totally wrong. 4x4 on summer tyres will get you nowhere in snow compared to a FWD on winter tyres. Trust me I've driven both. I had a Yeti 1.2TSI on winter tyres which was FWD and I was driving past abandoned 4x4s on summer tyres. My XC90 is on winter tyres as when it was on the standard summer tyres it was lethal. The weight of the vehicle was very dangerous on ice and snow and it was nothing to do with driving style I can assure you. On winter tyres however it is unstoppable. Even with the large drifts we had last year it just ploughed on without a single wheelspin. Very impressive.

[nu11eaf]

Without doubt front wheel drive cars are by far better in the slippy stuff than rear wheel drive but as others have said tyre grip is whats required in any car even 4 wheel drive cars to improve your traction in snow mud or poor conditions.

Rear wheel drive cars tend to kick their back end out and spin round in slippy conditions, I had this happen to me once in a rear wheel drive Volvo 740, going very slow and just changing into 3rd gear and as foot came off the clutch round she went on black ice, wide frofile tyres do not help, front wheel drive cars pull the car rather than push it so are much better.
But you cant get over confident as you still need to stop and front wheel drive still skid and slide under braking like any other.

I have a landrover defender with selectable low range gearbox, 4 wheel drive, diff lock and traction control and they are renowned for getting you through the rough stuff, but without good tread on the tyres its not going to do it.

[Jcbrown]

some pointers in this thread: Tips for driving big automatic in snow?

[S90]

My S90 in the bad snow we had in April was, in a word, SH*TE lol

Get some winter tyres!

[MaDProFF]

I came across this video the other day, Sums up pretty well in the real world how good some winter tyres are:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOv2g5qTpvA