I've changed my conclusions about the WK2 stablity in snow/icy conditions. At first I was very critical and dissappointed in how it handled in snow compared to my previous 3 GCs, but things have changed.
With the ESC updated and the 18" Blizzaks "worn in", the handling has improved dramatically. I've now pushed it on fresh icy/snow covered roads and I can't get the rear to slide out as before. Shortly after I did the ESC update I tested it in snow and was very pleased but held back my enthusiasm until now. This morning there was snow, -11 C, uncleared roads, so I went out for a romp and again it felt stable as if the roads were clear. I now have full confidence in the Jeep once more.
We only had about 2" overnight last night, but the back roads between my house and the highway were in various conditions, from untouched virgin snow (my driveway) to not touched but driven on by other vehicles a lot, to almost clear. I only had one spot where I felt any loss of control whatsoever, and that was on a road that had not been plowed at all, but it had been driven on quite a bit, and on one fairly sharp curve a lot of loose snow had built up on the middle of the curve. I was going slow and was going through the curve in a controlled manner when I hit the deepest part of the loose snow pile, and the front wheels lost traction for just an instant and the Overland was going straight instead of following the curve. I lifted my accelerator foot just a little and it grabbed again and continued through the curve. I admit that I was trying to find the limits since it had been doing so well up to that point, and I was impressed that it took as much as it did to break loose and slide, and how easy it was to regain control.
Those with cars built after Dec 2010 should have the updated ESC and I suspect that helps. The complaints came from early built cars. Do you have winter tires on?
Also an obvious improvement with the ESC is the speed of gear changes. I mentioned in another thread that the 1st to 2nd gear "lag" is gone post update.
Glad to hear your positive feedback.
So we had a little MD rain that became frozen, and turned from sleet to snow last night. About 4 hours into it, the streets were all white and hard to pass up not tracking them. After about half an hour testing this thing, heavier snow started and pissed me off for the next 30 minutes because the wipers sucked at getting rid of ice/snow. I'll be changing them out this week before the wife gets a chance to whine about them next time it really snows. The rear wiper was a bit better but will probably change it out as well.
The 18" Michelin Latitude Touring tires that came with the ORA II didn't do so well and I'm probably going to hear from the wife when she drives in some snow. She'll ask why I got rid of her last vehicle that did really good in snow...they were Silent Armors and the stock "off road" package tires are almost embarrassing.
It was no more than 4" of the stuff and after going 30MPG in virgin stuff I was not confident and never dared hit 40 because I wasn't in an area wide enough to intentionally try and spin out. There were several times when the rear was breaking loose often and ESC was lighting up like a Christmas tree. There was no reason for me to use Snow mode and left it in Auto because there just wasn't enough of the stuff to command it. And this region does not warrant the use of winter tires but will be swapping these out for a couple I've mentioned elsewhere. I felt a little more confident at 20-25 MPH but not always, like when I hit other car's slop.
With the wife's previous combo, I've been able to go through blizzards and up to 50 MPH with confidence. Now I can live with that speed and with the new rubber, it should be no problem.
I agree with you about the Latitude Tour tires. After two days in the snow with them on my new GC, I found a tire place that gave me a reasonable credit for them and upgraded to Michelin LTX M/S2's. I spent about eight hours driving in the mountains in Colorado with them this weekend, and they were fantastic, much better than the Latitude Tours. My only somewhat odd observation about my GC (Hemi, QuadraTracII, SelecTerrain) is that when driving in an out of wind blown ice and snow patches at higher speeds, the car really seems to be more stable in "Auto" mode than it does in "Snow" mode. My conclusion is that "Snow" mode is best when forward traction is a problem, but that it seems to try to do a little too much at higher speeds going in and out of snow patches. My car does have the ESP update, but from now on I'm just using Snow mode when I need better forward traction.
Glad you're fine. Once ice is layed down before snow, I don't think any vehicle would do well even with winter tires. You did right by just driving slow and safe.
Winter tires give great help even on ice (been there, experienced it), but that doesn't mean the laws of physics no longer apply. Better to take it easy and be safe rather than run out of traction mid-turn.
When there is snow or ice on the road, use snow mode!... it locks the center differential which eliminates the rear bias and eliminates the shifting of power from front to back which can give spooky handling in make.
I got to use the Snow Mode of SelecTerrain for the first time this weekend going up to Yosemite. We had precipitation in the days before the trip, and it was raining at the lower elevations when I hit the CHP snow chain checkpoint. The final ten miles to Tenaya Lodge (CA-41 entrance to Yosemite) was plowed with a steady snowfall. I did not feel any slipping even with the stock Michelin Latitude Tour tires. I was not driving aggressively since I am still getting used to the much larger and heavier WK2 compared to my ZJ. At the lodge I accelerated hard from a dead stop on packed snow, and again no slipping even with the rapid acceleration. However, the parking lot had 6+ inches of fresh snow which required some rocking to overcome, but it was not too bad. I am still going to replace these "all season" tires with "all terrain" even though my first experience was mostly positive.
The remote start is great! The engine, driver's seat, steering wheel, and rear defroster were running when I got down to the car from the hotel. I guess I could have also left the front window defrosters on to start clearing the windshield. The overnight lows were about 20 degrees.
We had just over a foot of snow on Monday so I got to test out QTI w/GY Wrangler SilentArmor tires. I was happily surprised at how well it performed. Traction and stability was outstanding. A huge improvement over my Liberty(Selec-Trac + FS Destination A/T). This WK2 is turning out to be the best vehicle EVER!
I sent Chrysler an e-mail about my experiences with their so-called "Off-Road" packaged tires. Besides the typical thank you and we're sorry response, they were 'dismayed that my expectations weren't met' and sent my concerns to the "product team". I was also told how hard they worked on the new vehicle etc.; I mentioned I was pleased overall except for the off-road tire part I did't receive.
Bottom line, suck it up and spend ~$1K to get A/T tires. I doubt they would consider adding good A/Ts because more people would complain about less gas mileage, road noise and ride comfort. Why would anyone want to go off-road besides parking on someone's yard during some little kid's birthday party?
Those not satisfied with their ORA packaged tires should send them an e-mail as well. I'll see what the dealer can do for me since Jeep isn't interested in just one customer.
I sent Chrysler an e-mail about my experiences with their so-called "Off-Road" packaged tires. Besides the typical thank you and we're sorry response, they were 'dismayed that my expectations weren't met' and sent my concerns to the "product team". I was also told how hard they worked on the new vehicle etc.; I mentioned I was pleased overall except for the off-road tire part I did't receive.
Bottom line, suck it up and spend ~$1K to get A/T tires. I doubt they would consider adding good A/Ts because more people would complain about less gas mileage, road noise and ride comfort. Why would anyone want to go off-road besides parking on someone's yard during some little kid's birthday party?
Those not satisfied with their ORA packaged tires should send them an e-mail as well. I'll see what the dealer can do for me since Jeep isn't interested in just one customer.
I had my dealer change the tires as part of the purchase deal. I told them, change the tires or I am walking. 10 minutes later and they agreed to change them at their cost.
There was another Q&A with the engineers a while back outside JG and I asked them this very thing.. IIRC, their answer was basically what JeepeeJ mentioned above--the tires are good enough for the majority of those who gets the ORA pkgs.
Now I'm very disappointed with the QDII and Blizzaks in several inches of wet or 6+ inches of powder snow. My old 96 GC or the 09 WK that followed me today doesn't have traction issues. The QDII's three drive tires were fighting each other for traction while the WK2 settled into the wet snow while climbing a hill at very slow speed. Almost came to a complete stop before it finally got some traction and forward momentum. Not a reasuring JEEP thing.