One of the best performance snow tires is the Michelin Pilot Alpins. I've had them as PA3's and also PA4's on the audi a4, s4 and the 335xi. It's a good tire with decent tarmac feel and handling. Snow is good too, but it's a bit lacking compared to the slower/squishier snow tires when the worst storms hit.

Perhaps the dunlop wintersport outperforms the alpin in the worst snow while still being not too squishy.

For the last ten years I have had a car with summer tires available during the winter for warmer days. I'll stay with the more focused snow tires (blizzaks, x-ice's etc).

One of THE best snow tires I've ever driven on was on my g/f's Subaru GL wagon when I first met her in Anchorage, AK. Can't remember what brand it was but it was studded. It was the first time I've ever driven with studs, and man, with Subie's 4WD system (it had a shifter that you select 2WD-high, 4WD-low, 4WD-high, etc.) it would stop and go anywhere.

That thing was a beast. We drove all over AK in some of the slickest, narliest roads, and we never got stuck. Up there, it starts to snow around Oct or so, and the snow=>packed snow=>ice on the streets stays until April or May.

It was also the first time a drove a Subie and was really quite impressed with its 4WD capability.

I switch over Thanksgiving to Easter.

Yea, after 10+ years of having the RWD E46 as my winter vehicle (that sounds weird just saying it) I became constantly paranoid about hills. It would start snowing while at work or visiting family and I'd immediately start thinking about whether there were any hills in the drive home. Even when snow tires.

Part of that was the open diff, which is a deficiency you don't have. The other is the lack of weight over the rear wheels. I think the Tesla has slightly more rear bias but not a lot.

Adding weight to the trunk is supposed to help, but I never tried it for some unexplainable reason.

The Tesla also has an open diff, though it has TC. But that doesn’t help so much on really slick surfaces, where it basically just cuts power to zero.

The Tesla on winter tires behaves about like a RWD BMW on winter tires. It’s fine, but it will still get stuck in places an AWD or even FWD car on all seasons will just motor out of. Like the curb in front of my house.

Oh Jesus. For some reason I thought they were independent. :ack:

:lol:

Winter tires really are the best. My X5 with Nokians is basically unstoppable in the snow.

For RWD Teslas, there’s a single motor that drives through a single speed gearbox to an open differential to the rear wheels.

AWD Teslas have a motor on each axle, which are independent of one another but which both have open diffs.

Yeah, I has read some stuff bragging about the awd Tesla not having a center diff. And I could have sworn that long ago I read that the rear wheels were individually powered as well. Clearly I'm going insane.

Bottom line: I'm with JST. RWD + open diff + all season tires = stuck on any non-trivial incline. It sucks.

But speaking of LSD's, I was in a gravel lot the other day and did a controlled power slide with the rear. It was awesome. I can't wait to try it in the snow. :lol:

:) I LOVE the MLSD. Has totally transformed my relationship with the car. Every drive is a pleasure. And, I actually prefer the A/S 3+ to the MPSS tires. I feel like there's so much more grip and confidence. Or maybe that's just the LSD talking.