Driving in the Snow - Traction Control On or Off?

[emptyminded42]

Not blaming, just asking opinions. Also, got the TSB completed last year. I have heard the same thing about the M/T's being bad tires in the snow. Hard to justify new tires with 6k, but might be able to justify a second set for the winter.

Edit: Glad you got the TSB done. I really think it made a huge difference for me. Sounds like you still have some issues, unfortunately.

M/Ts are just not really designed to be on-road tires anyway despite the fact everyone drives them on road. It's like sports care people driving around on 200 treadware max performance summer tires with next to no siping in rain and cool weather - they might be DOT compliant but they're absolutely not intended to be driven in the wet or cool weather.

You really do need to consider a second set of tires that are of the proper design for the conditions you're driving in.

I know nobody on this forum is gonna want to hear that, but it's true. Even A/Ts aren't really what you want in snow. Just look at the A/T tread (left) and winter tread (right) and note the smaller tread blocks and increased siping to grip the snow on the winter tires:

My all-season Michelins look a lot more like the winter tire on the right than the A/T on the left which is why they're pretty decent in the snow:

I guess this got preachy and I'm sorry for that. I just am a big believer in running the right equipment for the right conditions and M/Ts are not the right type of tire for packed snow-covered and slushy roads. My wife has an AWD Forester that is a beast in the snow and poor weather yet we still run winter tires from Nov-Apr to make sure we aren't caught by surprise. I'm always on the look out for a cheap set of Rubicon takeoff wheels to put my all-seasons on and mount some snows on my stock Sport S alloys. I don't like all-seasons in the winter but I don't commute right now so it's a non-issue - we just take my wife's Forester when conditions are bad.

Edit 2: Buying a second set of tires is expensive and annoying but I consider it the cost of doing business here in NEOhio. There's lots of people selling the all-season LT takeoffs from Sports and Sport S's for cheap on Facebook and here on the forum.

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[xtopherm]

Does anyone else lock the diffs to get out of tough snow? Being able to lock them in 4H was one of my primary justifications for getting a Tazer Mini. The one time I needed it the difference between open and locked was significant.

Note that I have a manual, so 4L isn't much of an option in most snow scenarios since the shifts are incredibly short.

I am not sure, but I think you get some BLD (brake lock differential) in 4-Hi - the computer tries to brake the spinning wheel a bit to encourage power over to the wheel with some traction - kinda like poor man's lockers. But in 4-Lo I think you need to use the real lockers. And, yes, I find them useful in slippery conditions, though I use the front one very sparingly since it makes it very hard to turn on really slippery surfaces.

 

[entropy]

So, quick question regarding driving on snow covered roads. About a month ago I was on an unplowed road with about 5 inches of snow. Put the Jeep in 4-High and it felt squirrely to me, put it in 4-Low, totally solid. Since then I got an alignment and today, the same thing, 4-High at 20mph and it was all over the place, switched it into 4-Low and was able to maintain 20 mph with no issues. The only difference, besides the gearing (and other electronic controls disabled), was traction control is automatically turned off in 4-Low.

Here is the question, does switching off Traction Control help or hurt when driving on snow covered roads?

Drop the tire pressure. It is a 2 door., 2 doors are squirrely af. I driven mine ln snow covered roads a few times and it is terrible. Dont turn of traction control.

turning traction control off will help only if the snow is REALLY deep. Because you need slippage. But if you are talking snow covered roads it is better to have it on.

 

[Kenbike]

Have a new 2 door Rubicon 4 cyl turbo auto out over the weekend in Michigan. We had 10" of new snow that was like sugar sand. Had to egt back to our cabin about 700' and going up hill about 100 from the road. Started in 4 wh high and it was spinning all tires and all of a sudden it just stopped driving all 4 wheels. Turned off traction control and it took off spinning all 4 tires but pulled up the hill!
I still keep it on when driving on slippery roads but turned it off every time I drove up the driveway and no problems.

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