Jaguar XF in the snow
Discussion
I've ridden large and small motorbikes in snow/slush/ice but nothing was as bad as my XF in 2" of snowy slush last year.
I had the car in the ice mode (think that's what the button is called) but the slightest braking or acceleration resulted in the car slewing sideways across the road . I expect it to be bad in the snow due to wide tyres and RWD but not that bad. I was the slowest thing on the road and the least in control. Admittedly that day the roads were treacherous and it was mainly FWD cars passing me as I stopped yet again to let the queue behind pass.
I feel I'd have got on better with no ABS etc as at least with no ABS the snow/slush builds up in front of the tyre whereas with it I was simply sailing over the top of it.
Is this how it is or is there some way of improving things in similar conditions?
(Tyres: Uniroyal Rainsport, couldn't at the time get Michelin CrossClimates).
TIA
I had the car in the ice mode (think that's what the button is called) but the slightest braking or acceleration resulted in the car slewing sideways across the road . I expect it to be bad in the snow due to wide tyres and RWD but not that bad. I was the slowest thing on the road and the least in control. Admittedly that day the roads were treacherous and it was mainly FWD cars passing me as I stopped yet again to let the queue behind pass.
I feel I'd have got on better with no ABS etc as at least with no ABS the snow/slush builds up in front of the tyre whereas with it I was simply sailing over the top of it.
Is this how it is or is there some way of improving things in similar conditions?
(Tyres: Uniroyal Rainsport, couldn't at the time get Michelin CrossClimates).
TIA
Winter tyres
LadyB8's Merc E class was beyond pants in the slightest snow. I persuaded her to try winter tyres having driven with them in Sweden and Switzerland. She was rather sceptical but I pointed out it wouldn't really cost that much in the long run as two sets of tyres wears out half as fast as one set. First time she drove in snow she was sold, it's not like driving on dry summer roads but you can steer, pull off, brake and the like as long as you're not going mad. I think they're better on just cold wet mornings too.
LadyB8's Merc E class was beyond pants in the slightest snow. I persuaded her to try winter tyres having driven with them in Sweden and Switzerland. She was rather sceptical but I pointed out it wouldn't really cost that much in the long run as two sets of tyres wears out half as fast as one set. First time she drove in snow she was sold, it's not like driving on dry summer roads but you can steer, pull off, brake and the like as long as you're not going mad. I think they're better on just cold wet mornings too.
Any big RWD automatic with wide tyres is going to be crap in snow. ABS won't do anything, just learn to apply very light brake pressure, as if you had an egg under your foot, and release the moment you feel control going. Go very slowly, look well ahead (because you can't stop) and be very careful.
Snow mode - which keeps it a higher gear so less risk of breaking traction - in my S-Type actually did allow me, very gently, to get up the hill to my house, but the XK, no. XK doesn't go out in the snow, period. The risk is just too high.
Snow mode - which keeps it a higher gear so less risk of breaking traction - in my S-Type actually did allow me, very gently, to get up the hill to my house, but the XK, no. XK doesn't go out in the snow, period. The risk is just too high.
Monkeylegend said:
Same problem in my E Class.
It is all about the tyres.
It is all about the tyres.
as he says. Cold countries manage fine, they just don't expect the same rubber to work all year round.
No idea what the situation with with the XF, but the standard alloy wheels for the E Class weren't expensive, it wasn't worth trying to get a set of steel wheels or swapping the tyres over on the rims.
4 by 4s can have the same issue, put stupid tyres on them and they don't work in snow either.
Edited by a8hex on Saturday 17th October 22:16
fatboy b said:
There was also a video doing the rounds of a 2wd Yeti on winter tyres versus a 4wd Yeti on summer tyres at the same place.It's all about the tyres.
Not long after the wife got her XF in 2013 we bought a set of used 18" Jag alloys (Venus?) and shod them with a set of Petlas Snowmasters. They went on every winter and the difference was night and day, particularly during the 'Beast from the East' in February- March 2018, where here in the North East we got hit especially hard.
She's got an XE now, but the wheels are the same fitment/ PCD as the XF so that's a Brucie Bonus. We got six winters out of the first set of tyres, this winter will be the second on the current set.
Takes me about 45 minutes to swap them on the driveway each December then again in March or April.
Well worth it, especially the look on the faces of drivers in FWD hatches, when you glide past them uphill in the snow
She's got an XE now, but the wheels are the same fitment/ PCD as the XF so that's a Brucie Bonus. We got six winters out of the first set of tyres, this winter will be the second on the current set.
Takes me about 45 minutes to swap them on the driveway each December then again in March or April.
Well worth it, especially the look on the faces of drivers in FWD hatches, when you glide past them uphill in the snow
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