[ParkCityMDX]

Would snow tires help, or does the Acura AWD system on the 2016 MDX SH/AWD just stink?

But please read this first.

My wife & I drove from Las Vegas up to Park City for the winter a couple days ago. I drove my '05 Durango AWD with all season tires while my wife drove her '16 Acura AWD MDX with stock all season tires.

The mountain roads were plowed, so there was no problem there. The problem was our driveway: we had a good 8-10 inches of snow.

I managed the 100 feet of flat driveway into the garage without a problem in my Durango.

My wife got stuck on the driveway in her Acura MDX with stock all season tires. One wheel or another would spin. I finally got her unstuck with some wood planks, then fired up the snowblower to clear the driveway so she could drive into the garage.

So here's my question:

I suspect snow tires on the Acura would help, but would the snow tires help this vehicle in softer snow on my driveway? After all, my Durango did just fine with all season tires that have probably 30K miles on them, yet the Acura got stuck with all season tires that have only 10K miles on them.

Did my Durango make it through the driveway snow because the Durango's AWD system is better? Because it is heavier?

That is, does the Acura MDX SH/AWD system just fundamentally stink in the snow, and will continue to stink even with snow tires?


The OEM tires on this vehicle (2016 Acura MDX SH/AWD) are:

Michelin Latitude Tour HP 245/55 R19 103H

For comparison, my 2005 Durango AWD Hemi tires currently are:

Michelin LTX M/S2 P265/65 R17 110T

 

[mrgold35]

It is just the all season tires you have. The spinning tires on the MDX is the sh-awd tq vectoring system trying all four corners trying to get traction from the all season tires.

A few years ago, I had OEM Michelins with 30K on them on my sh-awd 08 RDX and Conti DWS with 15K on them on my fwd 06 TSX. The RDX felt like I was wearing dress shoes running in the snow. The Conti DWS plowed through the snow like it wasn't there. The wife ended up taking the TSX to work when we had 8 inches of snow the night before.

I never had much confidence in Michelin all seasons when the snow is a little wet to slushy. I now have Conti DWS or DWS 06 on all three Acura.

 

[NVAKeith]

The Durango has 8.7" ground clearance vs 7.3 for the MDX. That probably accounts for a bit of the difference considering the snow depth was ~8-10.

Haven't driven the MDX in the snow yet, but on my Subaru, when the undercarriage is dragging in deep heavy snow I have to turn off the traction control to allow enough wheelspin to maintain momentum. Has anyone had to do that in the MDX?

 

[cardude10]

No didn't had the need to turn off traction control yet on my MDX , it has stock Conti tires hopefully they will do well in more than few inches of snow.

 

[carguy07]

100% tire issue

 

[skirmich]

Yep Tires is the Problem.. No matter how good your 4x4 or AWD system is, If the power cant get to the ground from the drivetrain to the road is useless... Winter Tires offer much needed grip on Snow.

 

[elvisfan]

100% tire issue

You can go to tire rack.com and check ratings for SUV all seasons. The Durango's tires seem to be superior.

 

[kareshi]

It's the problem of MDX's AWD. You hit the corner case of MDX's SHAWD that it couldn't handle. It couldn't gain traction by getting enough friction.

 

[2003whitemdx]

You could have 8 wheel drive and if your tires suck, you'll slip. Also, airing down the tires helps greatly

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