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Very disappointing snow experience

Tbirdjeff

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R1T on 22" all-season tires: I live in the Utah mountains and we have 3+ feet of snow on the ground, so I have driven up and down the mountain passes to the ski resort 12 mins away many times, with little issue. However, today we headed up to Snowbird as the snow was falling hard. It had turned from rain to slush to snow and was admittedly slicker than normal, but as we progressed up a steeper incline, I couldn't keep the truck from sliding sideways as the tires slipped. The truck slowed to 8 to 9 mph and wouldn't go faster. I couldn't even make the tires spin if I wanted to. It was like it went into a turtle mode but had no indicators. I decided to put it in Sand mode as none of the other modes seemed to help, as I hadn't updated the software to have access to a Snow mode yet. I barely made it to snowbird. Yes, i don't have dedicated snow tires and I am sure I will get a lot of "duh" comments saying they aren't meant for snow and they are also 22" but it is disappointing performance regardless. Unlike a traditional 4x4 (5 Jeep Grand Cherokees in our family over the years), there wasn't that clear sense of the 4x4 doing some extra work despite poor tire grip.

Time to bite the bullet for snow tires.
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windblowlc

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What were you thinking of, no snow mode and no snow tires? Not wise decision.
 

ads75

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Just curious, why haven’t you updated to the newest software yet, knowing it had snow mode and you live in a snowy area? I do agree snow tires still maybe the best help.
 

cardad

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R1T on 22" all-season tires: I live in the Utah mountains and we have 3+ feet of snow on the ground, so I have driven up and down the mountain passes to the ski resort 12 mins away many times, with little issue. However, today we headed up to Snowbird as the snow was falling hard. It had turned from rain to slush to snow and was admittedly slicker than normal, but as we progressed up a steeper incline, I couldn't keep the truck from sliding sideways as the tires slipped. The truck slowed to 8 to 9 mph and wouldn't go faster. I couldn't even make the tires spin if I wanted to. It was like it went into a turtle mode but had no indicators. I decided to put it in Sand mode as none of the other modes seemed to help, as I hadn't updated the software to have access to a Snow mode yet. I barely made it to snowbird. Yes, i don't have dedicated snow tires and I am sure I will get a lot of "duh" comments saying they aren't meant for snow and they are also 22" but it is disappointing performance regardless. Unlike a traditional 4x4 (5 Jeep Grand Cherokees in our family over the years), there wasn't that clear sense of the 4x4 doing some extra work despite poor tire grip.

Time to bite the bullet for snow tires.
I don't know about you, but my R1T made it up to and around Alta just fine the other day. I live in PC and have cruised up and down snow covered roads with no problems in my R1T this season, but I am running 20" ATs and probably in the 99th percentile in terms of Utah snow driving experience. I am not familiar with the tires on the 22s but I'm guessing you did not think this one through as 22s will limit your tire options substantially and they will be absolutely impossible to air down for traction and I suspect the stiff sidewalls in the 22" tires could be a reason the traction is relatively worse. Snow mode isn't going to fix that as there is literally nothing special about snow mode. It is just a lower level regen standard. You can go to "all-purpose" and simply select "low" in regen and you get the same thing.

I have tried to hoon my R1T in a snowy parking lot with stability control on and off and it is not easy. I have been up and down LCC and BCC in all kinds of conditions and there are situations where snow tires are necessary if you want to maintain a certain speed but I have never seen any condition where snow tires were required by an AWD or 4x4 in Utah in my nearly million miles of experience on these roads. If you think 8-9 mph is too fast then you really have not experienced the full gamut of snow conditions in Utah. I could go on and on, but there are scenarios where you can literally drive only 2-5 mph in absolute white out conditions on unplowed roads.

It sounds like the rain to snow likely caused some ice to form and the rain will wash off the salt so I wouldn't necessarily blame the tires, but even 8-9 mph can be "too fast" depending on conditions. I would not use the speed of other drivers to judge how fast you should be going. 90+% of Utah drivers are not very savvy. I literally passed 200+ vehicles going up Parley's today in the right lane behind a semi this Tuesday evening.

I wouldn't be so hasty to move to snow tires. In the past I had a fleet of winter vehicles and my favorite tire was the Yokohama YK580 all seasons that Discount Tire would mechanically sipe for increased winter grip. It lasted forever and performed about as well as most winter tires without the noise. You might want to consider just getting a set of 20" wheels with the off road tires instead of buying winter 22s which I personally think is pretty ridiculous. I just made it to Moab from PC with no charging stops so the range has been decent on the ATs.

Just a side note here, I once stood at the bottom of Michael Jordan's driveway in Park City watching an entire crew of valets desperately changing a flat on someone's Range Rover with 22" or 23" wheels. That wheel size generally speaking just isn't the most reliable option and will flat in all types of mundane circumstances. That being said I have also flatted a variety of all season and AT tires in various mundane circumstances.
 
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BrentInCO

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Re: “In the past I had a fleet of winter vehicles and my favorite tire was the Yokohama YK580 all seasons that Discount Tire would mechanically sipe for increased winter grip. It lasted forever and performed about as well as most winter tires without the noise.”

FYI, Discount Tire no longer performs nor recommends tire siping https://www.discounttire.com/learn/tire-sipes
 

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I am sure I will get a lot of "duh"
How about guh. Notice the seasons Rivian mentions. The tires are M+S rated but that doesn't really mean they are actually going to provide reasonable performance in extreme mud and snow conditions.
Rivian R1T R1S Very disappointing snow experience 1673356879799
 
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Zoidz

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Sorry, but here's my obligatory "duh".
 

DTown3011

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I live in Colorado and expect my R1T delivered soon - we go up and down I-70, US40, Berthoud Pass, etc multiple times per year and many times I have my children with me so I pre-bought some Michelin X-Ice 275/50R22 Snow tires that will go on for the winter months. I figure for the minimal investment the peace of mind is worth it especially with my kids in the car. We have been caught numerous times on mountain passes in blizzards (this is actually a good thing, means a powder day the next day!) over the past few years in our Explorer and the driving is hairy but not unmanageable. Growing up I never had snow tires (Michigan, no elevation changes) on any of my vehicles but given the time we spend in the mountains of Colorado I think they are a worthy investment.

Could I get by on the stock Pirelli 22s most likely? Probably. But the 1 time I can’t similar to your story above I would be kicking myself. I think of it as buying an insurance policy on our safety and with a family in tow, its imperative!
 

COdogman

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It’s a free country and you can be disappointed if you like, but it’s totally unrealistic to expect those tires to perform in those conditions. It’s an all season performance street tire. Don’t blame Rivian because you decided to try that.
 

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as I hadn't updated the software to have access to a Snow mode yet.
I missed this the first read around. Thanks for everyone else that pointed it out.
Rivian R1T R1S Very disappointing snow experience 1673362502505
 

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R1T on 22" all-season tires: I live in the Utah mountains and we have 3+ feet of snow on the ground, so I have driven up and down the mountain passes to the ski resort 12 mins away many times, with little issue. However, today we headed up to Snowbird as the snow was falling hard. It had turned from rain to slush to snow and was admittedly slicker than normal, but as we progressed up a steeper incline, I couldn't keep the truck from sliding sideways as the tires slipped. The truck slowed to 8 to 9 mph and wouldn't go faster. I couldn't even make the tires spin if I wanted to. It was like it went into a turtle mode but had no indicators. I decided to put it in Sand mode as none of the other modes seemed to help, as I hadn't updated the software to have access to a Snow mode yet. I barely made it to snowbird. Yes, i don't have dedicated snow tires and I am sure I will get a lot of "duh" comments saying they aren't meant for snow and they are also 22" but it is disappointing performance regardless. Unlike a traditional 4x4 (5 Jeep Grand Cherokees in our family over the years), there wasn't that clear sense of the 4x4 doing some extra work despite poor tire grip.

Time to bite the bullet for snow tires.
The quad motor design has some benefits, but tends to perform very poorly in very slippery situations. With a traditional differential design, it allows one wheel on the differential to attempt forward motion, while taking torque away from the other to maintain lateral stability. With no connection between the wheels (the differential), the tendency is for both Wheels on the axle to slip on a quad motor Rivian. This will send you sideways.

The new snow mode seems to be a lot better, but because of the design, it will never be as good as having a differential. Because my use case does involve a lot of snow and ice, I never ordered a Rivian until they offered the dual motor variant, exactly for this reason.
 

DTown3011

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So many people think they will be okay in the snow if they have a 4x4 or awd . Tires matter, a lot. Ive had rear wheel drive sports cars with snow tires, and they were great. Watch this, really is cool.
The bottom line is, there is no substitute for winter tires!!!
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