Prius in the snow

Around the Boston area you should invest in a set of good snow tires.

 

it's the tires. I highly recommend snows.

rpm

 

For those of us who do NOT live in snow country... but would like to visit once/year - what's the latest word on any sort of temporary solution (chains?)

I'm searching around, and I find all kinds of threads that bring up chains, but haven't heard anything definitive. Just go to my local tire dealer and get what they've got? I've got near 1 million miles of driving, and have NEVER had to put chains on. I'd like to keep that record, but would also like to be prepared.

 

Once again, I feel the need to reprise my "there must be two types of Prii" argument. Our Prius with stock tires (with 20K+ miles on them) just performed beautifully in the snow (in fact, from the exact same storm that's hitting FishHawk. I don't know what the difference is, but aside from low-clearance problems, we've never had any problems with our car in snow.

 

My guess that it is VERY subjective, and depends greatly on expectation and driver skill/experience.

The same way that the same Prius can get 35mpg in driver 1's hands, and 65mpg in driver 2's hands.

 

FishHawk,

Where were you driving?

I just got home (walking - took my car home just as it was starting around 12:45 and walked back to work). One of my co-workers left here (Wakefield) at 3:00 and called us at 3:30 on her cell phone and had only gotten as far as 1 1/2 miles down Main St. heading south towards Medford. They have done ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to the local main roads. 20F right now with blowing snow and white-out conditions coming down at 1-2 inches per hour. According to TV reports everyone left work at 1:00 so it just pushed rush hour up 4 hours, and everyone is crawling so they can't get plows and sanders out now. How many remember the blizzard of '78?

Now people are running out of gas on I-95 and the staties have to push them off the roadway. People are sliding down the off-ramps back onto the highway.

OMG! Now they are showing pictures of people out of their cars cleaning windows because traffic is completely stopped!

 

My experience with chains is that they're very useful in deep snow, but not much help in light snow and ice. If you're going to be driving in snow, you need snow tires. If you're climbing mountain passes in the winter, you need snow tires and chains.

 

I'd say Darrell's comment about driver skill is fair, to a point. The terrain makes a huge difference, too. I've ridden a bicycle on a skating rink and lived to tell the tale, but I wouldn't even attempt it on a ski hill. Well, not in the winter, anyway.

 

Well that, and/or huge variances in the coefficient of friction between the tires and what everyone calls "snow". Hard snow with a corduroy pattern frozen into it, with small sharp rocks embedded in the surface might not be a bad surface for launching your Prius from a stop.

I just can't imagine how a Prius with OEM Integrity tires could possibly perform well in snow, given that when I had the OEM tires, I could spin them on damp asphalt leaving a stoplight, and the traction control would then shut my car down for a second and half.

 

There are so many different kinds of road conditions all called "snow." In North Dakota we get very cold temperatures and a lot of wind, but not a lot of snow. I never used chains. On the old Civic without anti-lock brakes I used studded tires all winter. My first winter in the Prius I drove on the OEM tires and it performed very well. But for safety's sake I switched to HydroEdge all-season tires and they did fine winter and summer.

On ice, with decent tires, the Prius cannot be beat. However, its low ground clearance makes it a poor choice for deep snow.

I've never heard chains recommended except for mountain roads, where they are sometimes required by law when it snows. But you cannot drive fast and you don't want to be using chains for normal driving. Chains are an emergency measure. Good to have if you are driving in the mountains in winter, but not the answer to taking the OEM tires into snow country.

Just my opinion.

Oh, and if you do get chains, practice putting them on before you leave home. They can be extremely difficult. And when you need them it's probably freezing and snowing.

If you encounter freezing rain, do not drive. Hole up and wait. It's far too dangerous.

 

Duplicate post.

 

I was stuck in this storm as well

yea the prius sucks in snow theres no way around it

it also has nothing to do with the driver, there are certain situation where it doesnt matter who is driving like how I also got stuck and could not make it up an off ramp from a dead stop

I had to get out and move the snow in front of my car 5 times and finally made it fishtailing all the way

if i had not had the VSB i would not have made it home, ok thats an exaggeration but it helped loads

 

Nokian Hakkapeliitta Q snow and ice tires

Last week, we had a minor snow event and our 2007 Prius could not get up the slight slope on our driveway with the Goodyear Integrities with 19K on them. I drive 40K per year in my job and safety while driving in snow is paramount for me.

So off I went to the local tire dealer in Williamsport, PA who promptly recommended a Full set of 4 Nokian Hakkapeliitta Q snow and ice tires. Today turned out to be winter tire test day as we got a combo of snow and sleet today. I was on the road all day driving through hard pack snow and sleet which eventually turned to a slippery wet slush as the highway crews eventually got the upper hand on the slop.

The Nokians were outstanding all day through all phases of the weather. They stuck to the road like glue. I never felt out of control nor did traction or stability control ever kick in. It was a great feeling! Problem solved.

It's the tires, folks!

 

I would only need them where/when required by law.

You're talking to a guy who brings his new car home, takes the included tire changing tools out of the car and pulls at least one wheel off to make sure it is possible, and to figure out what other tools might be needed. This same guy is also the guy who has NEVER had to change a flat tire on his own cars, but has done it for others more times than I can remember.

Fear not. I'm an Eagle Scout.

I'm pretty sure that we call that "hail" here.

 

Ha. Sorry, freezing rain is completely different from hail. Hail is formed from water freezing in the clouds as they get buffeted around in different cloud levels, some above, some below freezing. More layers of water get added to the hailstone and freeze, eventually it gets too heavy for the cloud-level winds and falls.

Freezing rain is when the clouds are warm enough to produce rain, but the ground level is below freezing, so it freezes on contact, putting a sheet of ice on everything - tree branches, power lines, sidewalks, door locks, etc. Aren't you glad you're from California and didn't know that?

You should look into tire socks as well - easier to install, lighter and take up less space than chains. I can't recall the exact name, but you can Google it. (Something I learned from PriusChat last year).

I think experience has a lot to do with how well the Prius handles snow, but it can't be the whole story. I assume Jayman from Winnipeg knows how to drive in snowy conditions, but his Prius is apparently the first to bag it in slippery conditions. I've gone up some good slopes, but if you have to stop and start while on the slope, it makes it a lot harder. Still, I never heard of any FWD car "fish-tailing" (oversteering) up a slippery slope.

I've only driven on stock tires, and even in Chicago snowstorms and ice I haven't had any unexpected problems. I intend to drive to MN this Christmas with the stock tires. Not as much fun in the snow as my Subaru was, but it gets around okay.

 

Yup, slight semantic difference between frozen rain (hail) and freezing rain (hell - frozen over).

 

North Dakota does get a lot of snirt though. For the uninitiated, that's snow and dirt mixed together by the wind, and drifts across roads. I grew up in northern MN where we have snow from Thanksgiving to Easter, but little wind. Driving on cold crunchy snow is no big deal, wet slushy stuff they get more often in the south is much more dangerous.
Traveling one time from my parents who had moved to the SD/MN border, I was surprised that after a snowstorm, the roads were mostly clear because the winds blew the snow off, but every time there was a cut thru a hill or a house with a windbreak (planted trees), the snow would drift over the road, sometimes several feet deep. One time there was a bad drift and several cars parked in front of me. I got out and asked what was happening, the guy said the snowplow got stuck so they were waiting for another one to come from the other side and pull it out. These are big snowplows too, the grader kinds like in road construction.

One last weather lesson for Darell - besides hail, freezing rain, snow (when water vapor goes straight to solid while in air) sleet is another condition, where it forms as rain, but freezes before it hits the ground. Kind of like mini-hail. Sometimes one cloud layer can be snowing and another one is raining and you get a mix of snow and rain or sleet at one time. And of course, water vapor going straight to solid in contact with a cold surface is frost or rime.

 

Whoever said the Prius does well in the snow with the OEM Integrity tires must have been driving on a flat, plowed street. In some snow conditions, the Prius does well, especially if you have VSC and good all season tires, or snow tires.

However, the car has a major design flaw that puts it in contention for being one of the worst cars ever made for the snow. When driving up a snowy, slippery hill, rule number one is Don't Stop! But that is exactly what traction control on the Prius does. Once you stop on a snowy hill, you're probably not going to get going again.

I'm an expert driver in the snow. I grew up driving old V8 rear wheel drive cars, often with balonies in the front (ie: completely bald tires). By tapping the brakes, learning how to steer into skids, and generally developing a good snow sense, I never had an accident, even thought I was often driving fast when I was young.

Two years ago, after just getting my Prius (with VSC), I started driving up a snowy hill in Vermont that I would have easily made up in my old Camry with all season tires. But the traction control stopped the car dead on the hill. The car then started sliding backwards. All my experience was completely useless. I had no control. The car was a like a brick. It slid into a snow bank and stopped.

Some cars have limited slip traction control and/or traction control shut off. The Prius should have one or both of these. People's lives are at risk with this major design flaw. Someone said this is done to protect the hybrid system. But I think it's more important to protect the driver and passengers.

Someone else said if you push the gas pedal to the floor, the Prius will go up snowy hills. I've tried this. It helps. But the car still stops a lot. Which means I've had to back down the hill, then try again with more speed, which is also risky.

I love the Prius (especially with gas prices going up). If I had a billion dollars, I wouldn't buy another car. But the traction control design and failure to put in driver's seat height adjustment (when Japan and Europe got it) are major mistakes on Toyota's part.