As the winter season approaches, I have a few questions for you seasoned Jeepers. This is my first Jeep and I'm really not sure what to expect with the short wheelbase. I'm looking for some good winter driving advice. Are the stock Rubicon tires like hockey pucks on ice or are they decent? Should I use 4H unlocked for ice? Different for snow? I'm in Dallas so we don't see very much snow. But, we do have frequent ice storms. Should I leave the traction control on?

Thanks

 

Leave the fancy electronics on and 4 wheel drive off. You will not see any road conditions right for
4 wheel drive on pavement around Dallas. The short wheel base will make the rear end come around quicker, this is just part of driving a jeep. The best advice for winter driving is slow down and do not make sudden moves.

Slow and steady is the key.

 

do the steering wheel dance mod and disable the damn ESP!!! Makes winter driving 100000000% better without the F*/**in' computer trying to control the brakes and throttle

 

I ran on a set of stock rubi take offs last winter and we had much more snow than normal for us and found that they worked fine in fresh snow but not so much on hard packed stuff. They were never felt out of control, just not quite as stable when the snow was really packed, especially when stopping.
We had some serious drifts last winter, some were over 3 feets deep and the jeep just went right on through. Found that for those big drifts I had to shut off the esp so it wouldn't cut back on the throttle and risk getting stuck in the dang thing. I spent more time driving with the esp off than on because it would want to kick in at some bad times in the deep snow bogging the engine down to the point that it would try to die. Mine is manual so the throttle steer method worked very well in two wheel drive. When on slick roads with hard packed snow and ice or rain esp on works fine. Have fun and don't worry the jeep will do fine for you.

 

Thanks for the info! Another Jeeper also told me to leave the ESP off. I wonder how many do. Hmmm

I'm sure the manual helps a lot. I have an auto.

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk.

 

Personally I leave the ESP on unless I feel like having fun in an empty parking lot. I am a good driver and have been driving a Jeep in PA snow for over 10 years now with absolutely no accidents. But no matter how good of a driver I am, ESP has helped me avoid OTHER idiots in slippery conditions more than once.

Would I have maintained control and avoided them without ESP? Probably.

Did I maintain BETTER control because of ESP? I would have to say so...

It is a personal option to turn it on or off, but I am just saying in slippery conditions the computer can react much faster than any person. Plus there is probably a way to know whether the ESP was turned off (a black box type deal). If that is the case and if (God forbid) a serious accident occurs in slippery conditions I would hate to have the fact that my ESP was turned off be used against me in a lawsuit.

 

can't speak for the slush box, but on roads I can see no reason to disable the esp unless ypu want to play Mine is row your own and i love it in winter, but remember one thing the stock rubi tires are not siped, so be careful on those cold wet mornings. I use studded winter tires, i would'nt use the stockers for winter but then we get lots of ice, snow, ice, ice, and did i say ice!

 

Here in ND we have already seen snow and I have had a chance to try out the stock Rubi tires on my 2011. On wet and snow covered roads they work good. On ice, not so good. On wet trails/roads there is plenty of room for the water to go leaving the tread in contact with the road/trail surface preventing hydo-planing! On snow, there is plenty of "bite". But on ice, or snow on ice the tires lack "slits" cut in the tread (siped) to give you traction on ice. Good Year Wranglers for example, have more traction on ice, snow packed roads/trails than the stock Rubicon wheels. This dosn't mean you can't drive on ice/snow with them, it just means you need to be a bit more careful.


Example of a Pro Comp All Terrain Radial Tire that will give better ice traction:


BFG Mud-Terrain T/A (no slits = reduced ice, packed snow traction):

 

I agree. At highway speeds when there is a chance of hitting some icy spots I ALWAYS leave on the esp. I feel it's helped me countless times. If you're not ready for it, the esp can react a lot faster than you can. But if you are going fairly slow, and in fresh snow, then I would say turn off the esp because, like mentioned, you don't want it to come on at bad times. Oh and btw......I've been driving in snow all my life. Learned to drive in Tahoe, then moved to AK.

 

+1 on leaving the ESP active.

I've lived in snowy areas for my entire life, and have alomst a decade's worth of driving experience on Canadian oilpatch roads. I am a very confident driver in the winter. I have trained myself (and been professionally trained by driving instructors) to react correctly to a skid or other "loss of traction" conditions. Even with all of that experience, I think that there's more benefit in leaving the ESP on in most winter conditions. This applies even mroe so for people that don't have much winter dirivng experience.

As far as the stock Rubi tires go, you can do yourself a world of good for ice performance by finding a place that will sipe them for you. I paid $30 per tire at a local tire shop to have them done, and they were quite good for two winters for me. I would put the performance of the siped KM's at the same level as a set of good quality AT's. They will never equal a dedicated winter tire, and will fall somewhat short of a "witner oriented" tire like the Duratracs...but they certainly won't cause any issues for you.

As other posters have said, they'll do great in deep or loose snow.