Snow Handling

mad trapper · Dec 22, 2015

Even though no snow yet here, what's the opinion of the Trax in the snow?

All we've had is heavy rains, handled great even with flooded roads. Mines fwd, was going to get an awd LT but got a crazy good deal on my LS fwd.

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richbloom · Dec 23, 2015

I live in Victoria BC and we don't get much snow but I did buy snow tires and I would love some snow to test it out. I will update lol if we get a white winter. I also have an LT FWD

beeguz · Dec 23, 2015

I have my snows all set to go on in a moments notice, only no snow, the closest we came to snow was flurries.

Winters like this we usually get hammered later on, I'm ready but if no snow, I can wait next year will be soon enough

3962 · Dec 24, 2015

I'm not sure, but I hope it works well in the snow. I live in the Midwest and the snows can be terrible at times which is primarily why I bought one with AWD. I don't expect it to save me in every condition, but I hope it helps. Luckily, we have been having nice weather lately so I can't complain.

YooperTrax · Dec 24, 2015

I recently had mine out on M28 on a portion of that highway called the "Seney Stretch:. 8+ inches of snow. Wipers did a great job and so did the car with the factory tires. Mine is AWD LT.
Encouraging so far!

James · Dec 24, 2015

YooperTrax said:
I recently had mine out on M28 on a portion of that highway called the "Seney Stretch:. 8+ inches of snow. Wipers did a great job and so did the car with the factory tires. Mine is AWD LT.
Encouraging so far!

Did you by any chance line your windshield with a coating like RainX? I heard that's good for making it easier for your wipers to clear the windshield and makes it harder for snow to stick.

beeguz · Dec 26, 2015

A good thing to do if you plan on driving in snowy conditions is buy a pair of snow blades, put them on before snow take them off in the spring.

You can get years of use out of them if you only use them seasonably.

richbloom · Dec 26, 2015

Ok dumb questions what are snow blades?

mad trapper · Dec 27, 2015

richbloom said:
Ok dumb questions what are snow blades?

They are wiper blades made for the winter. They don't cake up and freeze.

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beeguz · Dec 27, 2015

They are like regular blades but they have a rubber covering over the whole blade.

They are not perfect, ice does build on them but not as much as a regular blade.

http://protechautorepair.com/wp/winter-wiper-blades/

UrbanSuburban · Dec 27, 2015

Having had a LT1 AWD for the last two winters, I can assure you this thing is a tank with snows on. I live in the snowbelt region of Georgian Bay Ont and no problems at all, like all winter driving, you just have to use some common sense.

James · Dec 27, 2015

beeguz said:
They are like regular blades but they have a rubber covering over the whole blade.

They are not perfect, ice does build on them but not as much as a regular blade.

http://protechautorepair.com/wp/winter-wiper-blades/

Thankfully I park indoors

mad trapper · Dec 28, 2015

James said:
Thankfully I park indoors

The winter blades are made not to ice up as much while you're driving.

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mad trapper · Dec 28, 2015

Supposed to have an ice storm for my drive home this morning. Should be interesting.

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3962 · Dec 30, 2015

mad trapper said:
Supposed to have an ice storm for my drive home this morning. Should be interesting.

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I was driving through sleet and freezing rain and on slushy roads that were untreated yesterday and the AWD Trax seemed to perform fairly well. I wasn't sliding all over the road, but then again, maybe it was a little too warm for the roads to be icy. I only had an issue pulling into my 3 inches worth of sleet covered driveway which has a slight incline. I had to give it some gas to get it up. As with my last vehicle, if the wheels spin too much, it seems the brakes just lock up. I'm just glad the drive home wasn't too bad. How was your experience driving the Trax through the ice storm?

beeguz · Dec 30, 2015

Next time turn off the traction control, the way traction control works is by applying brake to the spinning wheel.

When your on the highway its OK but when you are going up a steep drive you are not traveling @ speed so the TC isn't needed.

XL Romper · Dec 30, 2015

Winter wonderland

Just got my Trax. LT AWD. Today was the first real test of bad weather......(about time the northeast got winter). I drive a winding mountain pass call route 218. It is ugly enough that it gets closed for most of the winter. I have the stock continental tires. They did quite well. I didn't push my luck. But I didn't feel any slips or locking. I ran through plenty slushy ice piles.

Seems all good. Still need to drive winter smart though.

3962 · Dec 30, 2015

beeguz said:
Next time turn off the traction control, the way traction control works is by applying brake to the spinning wheel.

When your on the highway its OK but when you are going up a steep drive you are not traveling @ speed so the TC isn't needed.

I'll keep that in mind for the future. Thanks.

mad trapper · Dec 30, 2015

Nightfire said:
I was driving through sleet and freezing rain and on slushy roads that were untreated yesterday and the AWD Trax seemed to perform fairly well. I wasn't sliding all over the road, but then again, maybe it was a little too warm for the roads to be icy. I only had an issue pulling into my 3 inches worth of sleet covered driveway which has a slight incline. I had to give it some gas to get it up. As with my last vehicle, if the wheels spin too much, it seems the brakes just lock up. I'm just glad the drive home wasn't too bad. How was your experience driving the Trax through the ice storm?

It did great. Even with the stock tires. Took it out in the snow yesterday and it did great as well. Even the stock wipers didn't freeze up.
Only complaints would be the way to low front air dam, (my Ram was the same but I took it off after it cracked from driving thru deep snow in our November blizzard). That and the snow gets under the hatch into the area by the hinges.

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Flyinfool · Jan 1, 2016

We finally had our first Wisconsin snow of the season.
I must say I was underwhelmed by the AWD 2015 Trax LT.
It got stuck on flat ground in 4 inches of snow with just 1 tire spinning. Each time it was rocked a different tire would spin. At no time did it seem to put power to more than 1 tire at a time but it was able to power any of the 4 wheels.
We gave up and took my Silverado with real 4X4 and had zero issues.

Snow Handling

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