First winter drive in my 25 Type S

[Victorofhavoc]

if it's under 40 out the PS4's will be HORRIBLE even if its dry out Under 40 in wet or snow is asking for an accident to happen. I can't speak to the Hakka's as I've never heard of them.

The hakka r5 is a top tier ice and snow tire. Hakkapeliita is the full name of the brand. I put them up there with blizzaks for winter, and some of the hakka options blow the blizzak options out of the water.

The r5 (and most ice and snow tires) like:
0 degrees camber
below 6 degrees castor
moderate toe in

... An alignment spec the ITS does not come even close to meeting from factory.

Anything beyond -0.7 degree camber starts to spell trouble and impacts traction dramatically on Ins tires. You can fight a bit of that by lowering tire pressure a ton (think 20psi low).

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[STi from DSM]

So we had another snow storm here in MN last night. (Shocker I know) It dropped about 7" of powder on us. I was a bit hesitant to take the car out but I gotta go to work, lol.
Turned traction control off. It handled beautifully through the powder and slushy mess that is created from multiple people plowing through the snow.
Traction Control off for people that are struggling. I still feel the Traction control system is WAY too intrusive and cuts power when you should be adding power in my opinion.
It honestly changed my opinion about this car entirely. The Artwork V2 helps now that the back end isn't so bland anymore as well. Felt like a road warrior again in the snow and that is a good feeling to get back.
@Victorofhavoc What he mentioned about the Hakkapelita is spot on. Hakka's are the ONLY tire I will buy if they are offered in the size I need for winter tires.
FWD is much different than I am used to and just took some time with the car to learn the dynamics of it.
The Hakka R5's are relatively new and came out I believe 2 years ago. I had never heard of this brand either until I got my RS3 and had Hakka R3's on it. Blows Blizzak out of the water. Not even a comparison in my eyes.

 

[Spart]

Traction Control off for people that are struggling. I still feel the Traction control system is WAY too intrusive and cuts power when you should be adding power in my opinion.

This is so weird to me because I have the opposite experience. We even have the same model year. Did you give a thought to replicating the settings I posted a picture of from my "individual" mode at all? I don't know if they influence the TC. Maybe I should try driving in one of the standard modes next time. All of our snow/ice melted off yesterday so I'll have to wait.

 

[STi from DSM]

@Spart I drive in Individual all of the time and use those exact same settings. It is odd how two cars could have such a different experience being the same model year. I tried all of the function modes and did not notice any difference other than in comfort which I found you have to give it a bit more gas.

 

[Spart]

@Spart I drive in Individual all of the time and use those exact same settings. It is odd how two cars could have such a different experience being the same model year. I tried all of the function modes and did not notice any difference other than in comfort which I found you have to give it a bit more gas.

Absolutely bizzare.

 

[Frenzal]

Depends on what you are used to. The traction control is way less intrusive on the ITS than on my old 05 Accord or 14 Fit. So depends on your past experiences I guess.

 

[Spart]

Depends on what you are used to. The traction control is way less intrusive on the ITS than on my old 05 Accord or 14 Fit. So depends on your past experiences I guess.

I honestly think my particular example is quite liberal. It allows a good amount of wheel spin. If I'm not being a complete unhinged discontent, I don't even notice it working.

I have to partially disable the traction control in my Tacoma frequently in snowy weather in order to use 2WD, so I do get the concept of what's going on. I just wonder if @STi from DSM 's car is the odd one out or if mine is, somehow.

 

[elh0102]

I find the ITS traction control to be relatively unobtrusive. Obviously, if the wheels have lost traction, it will intervene at some point. But mine allows a fair amount of spin before intervening. I suppose, if you have aggressive winter tires, then a certain amount of constant spin might allow them to dig down faster and find traction, which might be easier to
do with TC off. Just guessing, sounds odd.

 

[UWU-mancer]

I leave the traction on when driving in snow. No need to turn it off unless you’re stuck in snow. Y’all are strange

 

[Spart]

@STi from DSM check your PMs.

 

[STi from DSM]

I think I am the odd man out here, lol. Saw the PM and message. I will try and get a good video of what I am talking about the next time it snows.

 

[Spart]

I think I am the odd man out here, lol. Saw the PM and message. I will try and get a good video of what I am talking about the next time it snows.

Makes me wonder if there isn’t something significantly different. Wheel speed sensor out of whack? Have you had any recalls done on the car where they might’ve flashed firmware?

 

[GotSeoul?]

Well...I'm I'm upstate NY and we likely got 3ft of snow last night.

Cleared my whole driveway 4 hours ago and there's easily another 5-6 inches of more snow.

Took Peggy out for a drive to the store and she was fine. T/C off in neighborhoods for some fun, turn it on for main roads.

Run the bronze Acura rims in the summer/spring then the black Acura rims in the snow wrapped in 245/35 Vredesteins all around. Does quite well all around. Been waiting for another storm to take her out in.

 

[Schmullis_Bob]

So naturally I wanted to take out the ITS during it's first snowstorm to see how everything held up. I have to say I was disappointed. Here are the reasons why...

• The traction control is overly intrusive. To the point where it almost stalls the car on a slippery surface. I found turning it off helps a little bit but just really feel like the car is struggling for traction 1st - 3rd and then is fine once you get up to speed.
• Not sure if it is just the shape of the car but the back window seems to frost up rather easy.
• Also not sure if this is just a design flaw but the rear window defroster does not automatically turn off?

So the car isn't that bad. Lol. I found out my random USB issues were due to the extremely extremely unlikely circumstance of having 3 USB sticks that just don't work. I plug in one of them from work just to give it a shot and BOOM! It works with no issues. Amazing as now I do not need to just listen to Sirius XM or bring my car in for service. This makes me happy.

I have had AWD cars since 2013 so having FWD again has been a MAJOR item to get used to. It's not terrible, but I wouldn't say it's great either. My Hakka R5 are the best winter tire I have come across so I know I am using the correct tire.

Anyone else feel this way? I knew I would need to make some adjustments with this being a FWD car but I feel like I don't have great traction in snow or rain with either my stock PS4's or my Winter Hakka's.

I always put the AC on with air going to windshield and floor. This does a great job defogging the interior windows.

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