First Snow of 2005 in New England USA

Hasn't hit here yet, I'll let you know. Supposed to get an inch an hour for several hours starting this afternoon. If I'm lucky, we'll have enough that I can compare my drive on the OEMs (~3500 miles) to Sears (where the car will be shod with TripleTreds) to the drive home.

About as close to a scientific experiment as I can get!

 

Drove from Bangor Maine to Boston early this morning - no big issues - snow didn't start til Kennebunk. Saw one stupid unnecessary vehicle flipped on 95 in NH. Will be returning later this afternoon - should be an interesting ride - first real snow - good chance to test my new Nokians :mrgreen:

 

Mine is doing great so far. But the sand trucks were out around here.
I need clean glare ice to really test my snow tires on.

On snow they are great. (Michelin Xice) So far I'm surprised how deep a snow I can
just plow through at end of driveway with the low clearance. Traction control worked
hard getting me up my driveway but no problems. VSC lights too
once in a while. Car is way better in snow than my old one, and that one had
studded Nokians.

Used my little ceramic heater during breakfast, and my new Plug In Prius mod.
Nice to get into a warm car with snow all loose ready to slide off car.

 

We got about 5 inches today. I was out and around town all day...very hilly streets with no problem. The anti-lock brakes seemed better than others I've had, but not as much so with traction control. Can't really complain though as it may be due in part to getting use to a much smaller car.
Tom
So. VT.

 

No. I haven't done that mod yet. Just added a male plug right in the rear bumper cover. See my comments in the performance mods section.
My ceramic heater runs on 120 volts.

http://priuschat.com/forums/auxiliary-12-v...ery-vt6251.html

 

Observations on drive from Boston to Bangor area yesterday afternoon / evening. Never exceeded 50 mph (great for the mileage!). Car handled quite well on various road conditions - snow, freezing rain, sleet - some areas plowed some not recently. I didn't feel quite as confident as in my old subarus but that may be just some caution on my part. Rear of car totally covered in thick, wet, snow at end of drive - I doubt the brake lights were very visible. It is a pain to have to keep pressing the rear defroster window button to keep it running. I have had problems in the past and last night with one or more of the winshield washer fluid jets freezing up and not working. VSC worked as it should - feels funny at first but seems to do the trick when wheels spin. Took advantage of "B" gear on long slippery downhills - I like that feature. Drive took 6.5 hours instead of usual 4+. Now I'm psyched to finally get out the cross country skis!!

 

Hi All,

I live here in central Vermont and we have had some interesting weather tha last couple of days.

I am running studded Nokian Hakkepellita 2 tires on my 2004 Prius and have had very few problems. The only exception is that I do live 1 mile up a pretty steep town road which is dirt. This time of year, Iit has a tendency to ice up pretty badly. The problem I have ist that the VSC on my car really killls me.

Any way to temporarily defeat it?

Otherwise, no real problems. I have a 45 mile commute each way and have been getting 40-44 MPG.

Re the freezing wiper nozzles, I switched to the Rain-X brand of fluid after mine froze solid for 5 days, and have had no problems since. It is liquid to -25. Below that, I stay home!

Thanks!

Dbear

 

Scott, that isn't the VSC it is the traction control. The VSC is great. I tested it with the TTs last night in the KMart lot. Got up some speed on the downhill, slammed on the brakes, swung the wheel. Heard the chimes , but I bet from the outside someone would have thought I was just slowing down and making a nice curving turn. WOW! The TTs definately held better than the OEMs when I did that, though the OEM test still felt controlled. Never thought the rear end was going to pass me.

No, many have talked about it here recently. It is mandatory to keep the electric motors from over spinning and blowing apart. Maybe we can mount a small winch where the towing eye goes and pull ourselves up those hills!

I tested my new TripleTreds on the Humane Society driveway last night. They probably still has bits of the paper description on each one, 4 miles old. 3-4" of unplowed, untracked snow. Very interesting. From a dead stop the trac kept me from moving much, I inched up by going until the trac was holding the hill but not climbing, I then took my foot off the accelerator and it slowly rolled down a couple of feet, then I pushed again. When I started with about 5 MPH, it wasn't a lot different. With about 12 MPH start, it went up without too much trac 'interference'.

This morning I tried again. It had been plowed some and the condition was about the same as when I decided the OEMs had to go. Hitting it at 12 MPH, I had little trouble so I did the "dead stop" start. A few trac bumps but it went up OK. In the same conditions, the OEMs were slipping badly.

So the OEMs on plowed were similar to the TTs on unplowed 3" from a dead or near stop as far as how loooong it took to get to the first crest but they felt WAY different.

With the OEMs, I kept my foot on the accelerator and could feel the trac cutting in and out. Bump, bump, bump. Inch, inch, inch I'm guessing the trac stopped the spin, then the tires slid down to where they had previously dug a little and got a bit farther each time. With the TTs *I* was doing the bump, bump as the tires held on the snow, but the trac wouldn't let them spin. I had to roll back to the prior "got some bite" spot. Kinda of frustrating.

Next time we have decent new snow, I need you to come over and run that hill with the studded Hakkas so I can see how they do. I really would hate to have to run something that agressive full time since my normal driving doesn't include anything like the road you live on.

Moral of the story: Hope you don't have to stop on a steep snow covered road in a Prius.

 

Bruce -

As the wise asian philosopher Hung on Tight once said " Man who stop Prius on steep, icy hill learn to back down VERY Carefully!"

Also, have develped alternate method of hill ascent - get a running start and consult with the appropriate Supreme Being!

Dbear

 

I live on a dirt road, off of a dirt road, so I should have some opportunities to "test" the traction control also. I'm using Nokian RSI - not studded. Guess I'll just gun it for the hills and hope for the best!! New Year's eve we had iced dirt roads and I had a lot of trouble going downhill but not up....Thanks all for the ww fluid tips too...I'll keep that in mind (what I have is supposed to be good to -20F...??