am I doing something wrong in snow/ice Winter driving?

[Sw00per]

A close #3 could also be watch out for idiot drivers. ?

I have been rear ended by a kid driving too fast in his new car and he slid right into me...

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[Escape.idiocracy]

This is the first significant snow/ice since getting the gladiator - it's all stock standard mojave, and this isn't about the tires, Falken Wildpeak ATs.

I've driven these same roads no issue in similar conditions in previous vehicles. Sealed surface, fun and windy with sections unplowed, unsalted, salted, salted/plowed. I have only needed to use 4H/4L on soft gravel a few times.

Driving in 4H seems like the appropriate choice for mixed snow/ice... but anything short of the slightest turn seemed like the wheels were dragging laterally and without power steering. (as opposed to expected heavy load). This is all driving at low speed. Trying to maneuver for parking was a nightmare.

Driving in 2H was a delicate endeavor, frequent loss of traction but at least I could make a regular turn at the stop signs and sharper corners. Again, driving at low speed.

Any advice, suggestions, recommendations?

What are you at mileage wise?? We hit around 25k and the tires were trash… they have LOADS of meat, but road traction takes a dive…. Wet road traction was enough for us to replace.
Maintenance- tires were rotated every 5k miles (with oil change).

What was super crazy is their first and second year in snow they were phenomenal!

 

[Mad Mac]

It's like I told my teenagers when they got their driver's licenses.
It does not matter if you are a race car driver
in a Porsche or a Ferrari,
you have to stay within the performance envelope.

It is your responsibility as the driver
to know the limits of the vehicle's performance envelope
and to stay within it
even if it is just an old 1980 Datsun 510 station wagon.

Now we have grandchildren driving.
I told them the same thing.

 

[Sting-Gray Neutral Pres.]

What are you at mileage wise?? We hit around 25k and the tires were trash… they have LOADS of meat, but road traction takes a dive…. Wet road traction was enough for us to replace.
Maintenance- tires were rotated every 5k miles (with oil change).

What was super crazy is their first and second year in snow they were phenomenal!

Same:
https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/forum/threads/high-mileage-falken-wildpeak-a-t3w-in-snow.74867/

 

[ErylFlynn]

Seems like I will be swapping tires sooner than I expected. Still many years at my 2k a year driving mileage.

 

[Tim Detour]

36k on my wildpeak at3 tires. We have been in the middle of wet coastal snow in the PNW.
id say they are excellent tires for our area.
I have tried many different brands and types of LT tires over the decades and I am impressed with these enough to buy again.
its truly a regional and individual preference that probably has something to do with our driving style and needs.

 

[BourbonRunner]

Tires have been mentioned but not types. Tall, skinny tires (pizza cutters) do better in snow than wider A/Ts or M/Ts. They may not look as butch as some wide as hell Mickey Thompsons but they'll keep you sunny side up better than the wide MTs.

@OP: I live just a little further north of you in the Baltimore Metro area and plowed professionally for years. Not knowing how to drive in snow in a 4x4 truck can and will get you into trouble and fast. I always had 4x4 trucks to get to the plowing site, then hopped in either the dump truck or skidder and did my work. Never had a problem getting there, even in over a foot on the highway. Just take it slow and be judicious with your throttle. No sudden moves because as you've found the front end will hop.

Unless you're in deep snow (6-8"+), throwing a couple hundred pounds of weight over the rear axle and keeping it in RWD is your best bet. I usually threw a bunch of CMUs and some bags of sand in the bed and braced it with a couple 2x10s to center it over the axle. CMUs were easy to move in and out, and sand becomes a traction medium in a pinch while not removing all of your ballast.

Aside from that, a full time 4wd system like Selec-Trac is the best option overall if you're seeing mixed surfaces.

In our region if you're really worried about getting around, your best bet is a CUV with a decent AWD system. Subarus generally are beasts. We have a 2013 Crosstrek that is unstoppable. I was just out in the Bronquito this morning taking the pup to get his shots. No issues on secondary roads that haven't been touched. Granted, it is a FWD biased AWD system but I didn't touch the locker or 4x4 mode, or even drop into "snow" mode except to test the difference between it and normal.

 

[Badunit]

It's like I told my teenagers when they got their driver's licenses.
It does not matter if you are a race car driver
in a Porsche or a Ferrari,
you have to stay within the performance envelope.

It sounds like you were advising them to not test the limits of the performance envelope. You cannot learn the performance envelope without exceeding it from time to time. Unfortunately it does not seem to be acceptable these days to do donuts in the snow in large parking lots to learn when it will break loose and how to handle a slide and how effective/ineffective your brakes are. The police used to just drive on by and let us have our fun or would pull in and we would all scatter. Even if you were the last guy to notice them, the worst you got was a lecture.

There is a lot of discussion about going too fast and sliding off the road but the other side of the coin is those people who are too timid to go fast enough when momentum is required or just going far too slow in general and causing a backup behind them. These are the people who crawl up snow covered hills at a snails pace until they lose traction, slide sideways, and block the road for everyone else or the people who are going so slow a small pile of slush is enough to stop their forward movement.

 

[Mad Mac]

True, that. But I also took my son to SCCA autocross in 1988
when he was 16 to air out his 1975 Datsun 280Z.
He is currently autocrossing a BMW 330i.

The main takeaway is there are no excuses.
It was not the wet road, it was not the other driver,
it was not the sightline, not worn tires,
ultimately the driver has to ask himself
what should he have done differently
in those circumstances to reduce the risk of crashing.

Some are unavoidable one might argue
such as the time a drunk driver rear ended me
when I was stopped at a red light behind another car.
Even then I felt responsible
because a few minutes before the crash
I noticed he appeared impaired
but thought I had put enough distance between us to be safe.

The only time I damaged a vehicle
was fooling around with my 1972 Audi 100LS
in an empty snow covered parking lot in West Germany.
Sure enough, I found the edge of the envelope.
Fussed up the steering, suspension and a front wheel
but not so bad that I could not limp away
and take it into a shop.
The contemptful looks from the mechanics there
hurt more than the damage.

 

[dmanjones]

I've lived in Vermont for 30 years and it's probably the worst vehicle I've ever had to drive on snowy roads. Tried 4H, tried 2H and it just does not inspire any confidence. These AT tires on the '23 sport are for dry terrain only.

 

[Wheelin98TJ]

I've lived in Vermont for 30 years and it's probably the worst vehicle I've ever had to drive on snowy roads. Tried 4H, tried 2H and it just does not inspire any confidence. These AT tires on the '23 sport are for dry terrain only.

I'd think it's the worst tires you've ever had and not the vehicle.

 

[Gvsukids]

These AT tires on the '23 sport are for dry terrain only.

I switch to the A/T in the winter from the M/T. And I carry weight in the back.

 

[Stan H]

4 wheel drive is not going to help on ice.

Throw some weight (250-400 pounds) in the bed of the truck.

When in 4x4 all tight maneuvering is out the window, front wheels are locked together trying to make a turn at the same speed, bounce, hop, skip.

OP has a Mojave, it dont have a front locker . So front wheels are not locked together in 4H or 4L. Airing down is the answer to some of your problem.

 

[Stan H]

What are you at mileage wise?? We hit around 25k and the tires were trash… they have LOADS of meat, but road traction takes a dive…. Wet road traction was enough for us to replace.
Maintenance- tires were rotated every 5k miles (with oil change).

What was super crazy is their first and second year in snow they were phenomenal!

As I understand it some tires have changes in the rubber compounds which is harder toward the core of the tire. With the softer grippier rubber on the outside. Also as a tire sheds rubber the bend over of the rubber will be less. I wonder if this may be why they didn't do well a 3rd time ?

 

[Sting-Gray Neutral Pres.]

I've lived in Vermont for 30 years and it's probably the worst vehicle I've ever had to drive on snowy roads. Tried 4H, tried 2H and it just does not inspire any confidence. These AT tires on the '23 sport are for dry terrain only.

The Bridgestone Duelers that come on the Sport are an all-season tire with a tiny bit of tight zig-zag added to the shallow middle treads. They are fine as an all-season. But calling them an "all-terrain" is shameful mislabeling on Bridgestone's part, and they are not rated for snow with the 3PMSF.

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