Handling in snow worse than last year?

Tires.

I got only a little snow play last year, in a nordic ski lot, and it handled quite well. But this year's Thanksgiving storm produced very poor traction. I'm blaming it on tire wear and aging, and believe the car handled the little available traction extremely well.

My Subaru's winter tire set (somewhat fresh all seasons, not true winter or ice tires) are never run in summer until they are demoted out of winter use by a fresh set. The OEM tires on my Prius have 23k miles and two summers, putting them beyond the wear I allow on the winter sets of past cars.

Beware, though, that winter traction can change drastically from snow event to event, and even a few hours different on any given day. It is difficult to know whether the conditions you are remembering are really comparable.

 

Yep, tires...

 

Do you have the OEM all seasons on or snow tires? If the OEMs, did you super inflate your tires? How many miles do you have on the tires?

 

Hi Madelinesonja,

I would not be too concerned about those behind you. They are having the same problems being on the same roads.

The weather is close to freezing, lately. We get the pineapple express storm, which deposits snow up near freezing, cars drive on it and melt it, then the slighly colder weather comes in or the sun goes down and freezes in ice patches. And of course, municipalities are not spending allot of money keeping roads open when traffic is low for Christmas Eve / Christmas. Which means, they do not salt for every puff of snow that comes through. And ice patches build up. And traffic being low does not wear away the ice patches either.

Best thing to do is stay off the roads till the regular driving/road salting routine starts up again on Monday....

 

This was on CNN iReports a few days ago. AWD Merc. with snow tires vs. Subaru AWD with all season tires. Up a road with about 6 in. of snow. What's the saying? Where the rubber meets the road? or should that be snow?

Compared: Snow vs. summer tires - CNN iReport

 

Actually they said the Merc had A/S tires with the Mud & Snow rating. I don't believe they were dedicated winter tires. The Scooby was on straight summer tires.

I'd like to know how many miles the OP has on those tires and what kind of tires they are. Ours came with the Yokohama Avids. I took it out for a test in one of our storms last year and was pleasantly surprised how well it did.

 

Tires tires tires! You have worn off the sharp edges that were giving you marginal traction last winter. The tires you have on the car are NOT winter capable! If you want good all-season tires that actually work consistently in winter try the Nokian WR. Slightly less capable but quieter are the Nokian WRG2. Both are -real- winter tires that won't wear excessively in summer. They both have the snowflake symbol on the sidewall, allowing you to use them on interstates when others may be forced to install chains.

 

I just picked up my son. He lives in the Humbolt Park area. I left Green Bay at 4PM and got back by midnight. My son was amazed at the amount of snow we have. As you know the snow belt hit Chicago harder for about the last twelve years ending last winter, we're now getting more than you.
But I ramble, the point is, I also went from Subaru to a Gen III Prius, I remain impressed with it's snow going ability. I've had to drive secondary streets that are unplowed, slushy and rutted. I leave it in "ECO" for linear acceleration and do my best to anticipate stops. I seldom go past regen to the breaks.
Good Luck

 

My experience has been similar to yours'. Last winter my 2010 Prius with less than 10K on its OEM Yoko S33D LRR tires performed well in the snow and ice. Thursday before last, we had a 2-3 inch snow fall and the Yoko S33D's with 22K+ miles and 6/32 tread had very poor traction in the snow, to the point where it was difficult and felt unsafe to go above 30 mph without slipping and sliding. The ABS and traction control work OK, but the tires just wouldn't cut it. Looking at the tread pattern of the S33D, it appears to me that the two wide center tread bands and only three grooves do not allow the tire to bite into the snow.

That same evening I place an order on Tire Rack for 4 Michelin Harmony tires which have performed well on my other cars. Tire Rack delivered them in less than 24 hours at a net cost of $359.10. I took them to my very good local Toyota dealer (Antwerpen) who mounted and balance them at a cost of $25 each and also did a four wheel alignment for $80. Problem solved.

The Michelins run smoother and quieter than the OEM Yokos and it appears I am getting at least the same, if not a couple better, MPG. Based on past experience with the Michelin Harmonys, they should last at least 60K miles with good to excellent snow and ice traction throughout that mileage.

Therefore, I am very glad to be rid of the LRR tires and would not recommend them to anyone who has to drive in snow and ice and expects tires to last more than 22K miles. LRR tires are advertised to save money and gas, but it appears to me that at least one of them, the LRR Yoko S33D, does neither.

 

Since you made no mention, are you using the stock tire that came with the car? Also, how many miles on your tires, how much remaining tread depth?

The typical all season with half it's tread depth gone (say around 5/32" remaining), will have lost all or most of it's lateral tread and siping (the tiny lateral slits), and will behave like a summer rated tire, ie: next to useless, and dangerous, in any amount of snow.

Tires like the Nokian WRG2 are a balance between all-season and snow tires, larger tread blocks (especially towards the inside), and moderate siping.

A full fledge snow tire is best for snow: aggressive tread, lots of siping, rubber compound that stays softer in cold temperatures. Mounted on separate rims, usually plain steel, they're more convenient to install/remove, and this protects your more expense alloy rims.

The Prius has limitted ground clearance, any time the snow is deeper than the underbelly you start to compromise traction, regardless of the tire.

 

This is for stopping......Once I reach a slower speed without touching the brakes I will put the car from "D" to "B" and let the motor braking do its job. I also do the same in our Highlander Hybrid and it does wonders

 

Yes, they look fine, and probably are just fine for lots more non-winter driving. This is where it is convenient to have two sets of wheels.

In my specific climate, I'm happy with the winter performance of all-season M+S tires for less than half their tread life, then banish them to summer until worn out. But my particular tire habits are applicable only here in the coastal lowlands. People in places with real winter, i.e. at similar latitudes but more than 40 miles east of Seattle, should have real winter tires, not all-seasons.

 

1st winter in Prius so can't compare. Everyone has indicated there are handling issues, but I haven't seen it yet. two snow storms and several icy days. My big concern is the low clearance, but so far it hasn't been an issue.

 

As said above, tires, tires, tires.

I just drove home in a near-whiteout on VERY slippery roads and was really impressed with how my new Prius handles the bad roads. The key is the Hankook iPike snow tires on all 4 corners. It handles every bit as good as all the other front wheel drive cars I've had with snow tires. I'm convinced that the Prius's rep as "bad in winter" hangs mostly on it's OE tires.

For as bad as you Chicagoans get hit with snow, I'm surprised that dedicated snow tires aren't super common there. Here in northern New England almost every car you see has snows on it these days. They are such cheap insurance and the handling difference is night and day from "no-seasons." Up here, I wouldn't run the Prius OE tires, even brand new, in winter. Too smooth and hard imo.

Winter Tech - How to Confirm a Winter Performer

 

Hi Sporin,

Chicagoland by its nature is not rural, or do people have to go into the rural areas around Chicagoland often. So, all-season tires, and a modicum of judgement usually is sufficient, as there is lots of street cleaning going on. Except possibly in Chicago proper, where there is on-street parking. And they cannot clean off the streets, as there are cars in the way.

But, when we get the icey spots, the jig is up. And since, we are driving on pavement 90 % of the time, soft gummy ice grip tires are really poor economically - there might not be sufficient thread depth at the end of one season. If they could just let the snow get packed down, and everybody drive slower - ice tires would be fine. But that is not the case.

Its best just to wait till things are cleared and salted. But there are some people without the wisdom of years, or the money to blow through a set of tires in 3 months, who try to drive around on the bad roads.

If a storm hits during the workday, this is the worse, but its still not terrible. Because people are out there driving on that snow, and that packs it down, or melts it and makes roadable grooves. Just going slow works to get everybody home (in a 2 hour per normal 1/2 hour drive time ratio). And overnight the plows clean things up , and your back to driving on pavement again...