Hello everyone. I have a 2012 CMS all 4. It started snowing lightly today while I was at work and when I left to go home there was a little bit of slushy snow on the road. I was surprised how much my car was slipping and I wasn't even driving fast. What the heck? Why is this if my car is 4 wheel drive?

 

Hmm, mine has summer tires* and I was pleasantly surprised as to how well I was still getting around - yes, it was definitely slick, but I was expecting that.

(* picked it up in Dallas, where they usually have no snow)

 

Give us a little more info on the slipping... Spinning tires and not going anywhere? Something different? Does it have summer tires on it?

 

All wheel drive will not prevent you from slipping. My wife was commenting yesterday how her AWD Outback anti-lock brakes kept kicking in when she was attempting to stop. She has all season tires. Over the same route my 2WD CMS with winter tires had no such problem. Winter tires are huge. Love my Michelin Primacy Alpin PA3's!

 

do you have an auto trans? i wonder if that could be causing it as well.

We have an M6 in ours, and it snowed here over the weekend(about 4 inches or so), and we have the 19" summer P-Zero runflats on.

No problems at all. The All4 system took off from stops with absolutely no slippage, and turns were fine. Very easy to modulate the manual clutch for a smooth, slip-free take off.

short shifting is the key for us in snow and I'm not sure an auto trans will perrform as well in the snow/slush...that's just an educated guess on my part, though, so be kind folks

 

Perhaps too much pressure on the accelerator.

 

We got a few inches here yesterday and I experienced no slipping. My tires are Bridgestone Blizzak WS70's.

 

Slush is the most two-faced a-hole form of "solid" water. It will take you out when you least expect it. I find it worse than snow or visible ice.

Traction on all 4 wheels is good at getting you going in a straight line. That`s it. Anything that involves lateral movement and stopping when dealing with snow, slush or ice and, you need winter tires if you want to deal with that crud the best way possible.

I noticed that you're in Vancouver and probably deal with more rain than anything else during winter. You should at the very least have good all-seaon tires on the ALL4 CM.

 

Why should 4 wheel drive be immune to icy conditions? Get over it, cold stuff is slick regardless.

 

OK, I request unanimous consent to revise my previous post

Wife went to work this a.m. in fresh snow, and indeed the front end is washing out(think massive understeer!) when trying to make turns.

I was really hoping we could hobble through winter with the P-Zero runflats..not so much. Yes, I know, a pipe dream, but we wanted to give it a try.

I am going to order the Nitto Motiva all-seasons from Discount Tire to put on our 19" OEM wheels.

yea, I know smaller wheels might work better in snow, but I just can't bring myself to do that when I am going to be buying the nm engineering 19" wheels and Michelin Super Sport tires come the spring

 

Snow aside, I did the front camber mod on my ALL4 and it helped a bit with the front washing out.

22mm rear sway bar should seal the deal!

 

Front camber mod ?

 

Jeff, put some real snow tires on it if you're going to run summers too. We have a discount deal at Discount Tire in Columbus. Just mention Mid-Ohio Motoring (will probably be censored) or contact Nathan (probably censored too) and he can hook you up.

 

I don't think that tank has winter tracks on. I mean, who would try to drive a tank on icy roads with all-season tracks, huh?

 

Have 2013 Countryman JCW with 18" Goodyear run flats and the traction on snow is terrible.
Today, I am having Bridgestone Blizzak on 17" wheels installed and am really hoping I will have better results.
That they will be 205 instead if 225 should help.

 

so we had the Nitto Motivo's mounted, and have had several snow/ice conditions.

light years better than the P_Zero 19" run flat OEM's. they really inspire confidence in the nasty conditions, and with a 60,000 mile tread warranty, I like it even better. They are really fantastic in rain also.