Ok, I knew that the Crossfire is not the best with snow, but today was a truly harrowing experience. Fortunately, my house is near my office, but the first time I applied breaks at a stoplight, going about 10 MPH, the car slid, and if I did not swerve into the embankment, would have hit the car in front of me.....It's weird, it feels like one part of the breaks simply doesn't respond in the snow. I have an automatic transmission.

PLEASE, I need concrete suggestions on avoiding getting into an accident in the snow. I think one thing I can do is that when I leave my office today, manually try to get the snow out of the tires, and also wait a few minutes for my car to warm up. Are these good ideas? Any other suggestions? Would switching to 4th or 3rd gear help? (BTW, I only have one automobile, so the suggestion of don't drive a crossfire isn't a good one, though perhaps because I'm near my office, when I don't have an outside meeting, I could take a taxi I suppose)

Much obliged

 

Do you have the switch by the shifter on "W"? I don't think taking snow out of the tires will help because after you go back out in the snow it will just be exactly the same. Could be that there was ice under the snow there and it wouldn't matter what you did to stop. They had that video on the news last week where a couple dozen cars couldn't stop because of ice and ran into each other.
Letting your car warm up when it's cold out is always a good idea. If you know you have to stop, it wouldn't hurt to downshift to help slow down.
I don't envy you! I hate winter in MI because of the snow and cold, but I have too many roots here to change. Maybe when we retire.

Good Luck, and stay safe!

 

Are you driving on the Pilot Sport 2's? There a summer only tire.

 

The pilots are definitely not for snow. Took mine out for a quick trip in a blowing snow, it was just enough to coat the road (and my tires) and I slid the instant I touched the breaks. Luckily I had gone less then a block and slowly managed to turn around and head back, traction control flashing the whole way.

 

You should have All Season or Snow Tires. If you have the time while sliding or skidding, place the car in Neutral this will take the torque off of the rear wheels and help in not skidding or sliding a greater distance.

 

The "W" (Winter) setting on the tranny just makes it pull away in a higher gear, nothing to do with breaking. The fact you were able to steer means you were not braking, braking and steering at the same time when sliding doesn't work, you continue in a straight line. If you managed to steer you were not braking.

 

The All-Season tires work great for me. I just drove 30 miles to work this morning in Cleveland in a snowstorm with no problems. The only time I had a problem was the day before Christmas Eve when we got dumped on. I dug out my driveway and backed into the neighbor's driveway to turn around. I should have dug out her driveway too though, cause the snow was so deep the car just got stuck on top. As long as it's not too deep though, I've had no problems.

 

what does the W and S do with the Tranny does it change gear ratios?

which one provides more power?

 

My crossfire can go through around 10inches of snow as long as you got some momentum. In some areas where the snow was above my fog lights the XF just couldnt push it. Of course I'm using blizzak studless snow stires and 17in wheels all the way around. Set me back around 1100 still better than dealing with a beater.

 

Hmmm sport or winter, lets think about that. The power will change the same put you will get better acceleration in sport.

 

So why didn't they give all terrain tires when I got the X-Fire? Should I go to the dealer, order $200? worth of tires, and get them switched, and put the regular ones on storage till spring? Is it the consensus that the problem lies with the tires, and not my car, which during the first snow of the year, almost hit another car going 10 MPH?

BTW, I'm not sure if I did or did not apply the breaks, when I was sliding into the other car. The breaks seem to have a 'grinding' sound, which I thought was just the snow being caught up in the wheels. After the breaks clearly were not working, I might have released the breaks to then swerve into the embankment to avoid hitting the other car. Or I might have done both, I'm not sure.

 

200 dollars worth of tires LOL. You mean 200 dollars worth of one tire. Hehe they are expensive.

 

I'm an idiot with tire prices....Any chance I can lease them? So what's the price for snow tires versus all terrain, which should be adequate for the job? Also, does the switching tires idea seem like a good one?

 

If you have to drive your Crossfire in snow and you live in an area that will get more than two snow storms a season then I think you should consider snow tires.

Regarding driving an automatic in the snow, if you are trying to stop and find the front wheels skidding, either downshift the transmission (just hold it to the left and it will select the lowest gear) and it might help. If you start to fishtail then you should move the transmission into Neutral until you can steer out of the fishtail, unless of course you are like me and you want to see how far you can drive sideways down the road. Don't take my current location into consdieration, I grew up in Connecticut and know who to drive in the snow. I prefer a front wheel drive in the snow but with the right tires I would imagine the Crossfire would be okay to drive.

I don't know if the person that put the blizzaks on, put them on all 4 or not but I would also recommend putting snow tires on all four wheels. Yes it is much more costly but it will provide a lot more control both steering and braking.

Good luck and the next snow storm head on over to an empty parking lot and get the hang of loosing control and getting it back.


If you are going to have your Crossfire for more than one year then I would purchase another set of wheels and keep the snow tires mounted so then you could just switch them yourself, if that's possible.

PS check www.tirerack.com and read some reviews on various snow tires, this is where you don't want to buy the cheapest tire out there, you want a good quality SNOW (not all season) tire.

PPS a good quality snow tire (unless you're driving on the frozen tundra all the time) will only last two seasons.

 

I was looking at all seasons for the XF but It was only acouple hundred more for new wheels and snow tires. So i paid 1100 for snow tires and wheels. That way i dont have to pay someone to bust down my tires off the wheels, and worry about the wheels getting messed up. Buy 17's like i did and toss on the studlesss blizzaks snowtires. AWD ha! I laugh at AWD.

 

Very smart... plus would you say you could drive circles around a Crossfire with all seasons on a snow covered road?

Sorry....

 

Your getting some good advise already and just so you know, the grinding sound is the ABS system pumping your breaks. Also, shifting into neutral will deffinitely stop you better on ice as you have no push from the rear tires. Crossfire LTD is right! Sounds goofy, but it will stop you sooner. The all season Continentals will get you threw but the Blizzaks will make the winter wonderland more fun.

 

That grinding sound was definitely your Anti Lock Braking system going crazy. That's why you were able to swerve to avoid the car in front of you, because the ABS didn't lock up your tires and you were able to stear.

 

downshifting in snow is a very bad idea, it builds up torque which can cause further loss of traction. Furthermore, FULLY pressing the brake without letting up engages ABS and will provide the best possible braking in any condition, especially snow.

 

Unfortunately this is not true about the breaking. You absolutely can steer and break at the same time with rear wheel drive cars. ABS makes it even more apt to steer correctly, while the traction control will continue to establish grip. downshifting will not help slow down in snow or ice though, it can create a more volatile situation that can cause loss of control. The safest way to drive is to rely on the ABS to slow you down and the ESP to keep grip. All you need to do in snow is drive slow, think ahead when breaking and accelerate as slow as possible.