How do the 5.5 gen maximas without tcs and with auto drive in the snow? did any of you guys have trouble drivin last year? And yes i have new tires so it should be good but i mean the car in general?

 

90% of snow driving is a combination of the driver's snow-driving skills and the tires on the car.

1. If it's an automatic...just put it in 2nd from a stop and go from there.
2. TCS only helps with accelleration, and doesn't help that much. By modulating the gas pedal manually you can create essentially the same effect.
3. TIRES TIRES TIRES. "new tires" won't necessarily be great in the snow...it depends on what kind of tread the tires have, and how stiff/soft the sidewall is. Tire pressure has a big effect on traction too. When it snows, let 5psi out of your tires is a good rule of thumb. What tires do you have?

The maxima is plenty heavy that you won't easily lose the tail of the car. With any powerful FWD car, getting traction from a stop is an issue, but it all comes down to how well the driver can modulate the gas pedal (and the brake pedal for stopping...ABS only helps so much...)

BTW, I do ALOT of snow driving in the winter and have found the maxima to be quite stable and secure while driving. Getting traction on a snowy uphill is the hardest thing to do, but with the right tires and a light throttle feel, you shouldn't have any problems...

 

Putting it 2nd from a stop does nothing in terms of abating acceleration/torque. Get some good snow tires and be smooth with your inputs.

 

You're kidding, I hope. "Putting it in 2nd" is the oldest trick in the book for snow driving, with either an automatic or a manual tranny. And trust me, if there's a trick for snow driving, I've tried it.....when a snowstorm arrives in these parts, I'm the first one loading up my maxima to trek up into the storm in the mountans.....

so, if putting it in 2nd from a stop doesn't abate accelleration, why not just start in 2nd at the drag strip and eliminate that first shift

 

...but of course tires are #1. I've used everything from standard A/S tires to studded winter tires in the snow....and there is a great deal of difference.

 

on the automatics, they start in 1 no matter what gear you put it in. There is no difference (besides not shifting past 2nd) putting it in 2 than leaving her in D

 

Yea I was going to say my car would always start in first even if I had the selecter on 2.

 

The 2nd gear trick works great for manuals in rain or snow, but with the automatics, we're stuck starting in low gear every time.

 

Yeah, I hate to say it, because I respect irish a lot, but, he just got . Although, you have to cut him slack, he was the smart one that bought the manual instead of the autotragic, where the 2nd gear start is great for the snow.

As E55 said, it only limits the highest gear the transmissions will select. Very few "manumatics" even allow you to control what gear the car will start in and is why some cars have a "snow" button that does tell the transmission to start in second.

 

Yeah, I thought this was a pretty basic point: putting an automatic in 2nd just locks out the higher gears. It still starts from 1st, even with the newer shiftable automanuals. Some luxury cars have a "snow" mode button that will allow starts from 2nd if slippage is detected, but even that is decided by the computer, not the driver.

The TCS is a mixed blessing in my opinion. Taking a turn from a full stop, it acts like a LSD by applying the brakes only on the side that is slipping, thus sending power to both wheels to get you going. But if both wheels are slipping a lot, like in deep snow, it cuts the ignition. In that case, you have to turn it off in order to get moving.