Winter driving observations from a newbie

[William Short]

Original poster here, just checking back in for any late comments. My thanks to all those who responded.

About sensors being blocked in adverse weather - reading this and other threads on the forum, there are people who say it happens as soon as a there's a bit of rain (like me) and those for whom it never happens even in snow. I have no explanation. I have had a slew of sensor problems in recent months on my car. I took it to Lucid service and no problems were found.

About tires - my tires are the original equipment 19" all-season tires installed when I got the car. Tread wear seems minimal - lots of tread left. About 11,000 miles on the car and the tires.

About location - I live in the Boston suburbs. I learned how to drive in the lake effect snow belt of upstate New York. I'm comfortable with driving in snow. I've attended several winter driving schools over the years. I was visiting family in upstate New York, driving in a lake effect blizzard when the problems occurred that prompted my original post.

About regeneration - switching to low makes sense, and I'll try that. It was when I took my foot off the accelerator that I started sliding into a ditch.

Again my thanks for your comments.

 

[hydbob]

For sensors and whatever, has your car been ceramic coated?

 

[William Short]

For sensors and whatever, has your car been ceramic coated?

Not that I know of, at least.

 

[hydbob]

Not that I know of, at least.

You can buy a cheaper one, like this, Adam's Polishes Advanced Graphene Ceramic Spray Coating (12oz) - 18+ Month Sprayable Graphene Oxide Ceramic Coating for Cars, Boats, RV's & Motorcycle | Adds Extreme Gloss, Depth, Shine & Protection https://a.co/d/bp0xa66

And test it out

 

[William Short]

Original poster checking in again, with a follow-up to the original post.

I recently returned from another road trip to visit family, and once again, I ran into lake effect snow squalls. The performance of the car was quite different from what I reported in the original post. I had no real issues with control or traction. I didn’t have much of an issue with loss of sensors (just the Lidar sensor for a few minutes, which cleared up by itself).

I have no idea why the experience was so different from what I experienced a month or so earlier that caused me to write the original post. Only differences I can think of are updated software, and perhaps somewhat more cautious driving, due to my earlier experience.

 

[kurious]

"I didn’t have much of an issue with loss of sensors (just the Lidar sensor for a few minutes, which cleared up by itself)."
This is so far my only weather effect on my winter Lucid driving experience.
In weather like that I seldom mind my adaptive cruise deactivating because I have to pay special attention anyway, but I do wonder if there's something clever we can preemptively apply to that adaptive cruise lidar sensor (the black planar patch middle low front?), to keep precip/spray from accumulating, obscuring the sensor. Like PAM ("Product of Arthur Meyerhoff") cooking spray aka canola oil. Or something more car-guy sounding that does the same thing, or a technical molecule engineered for yet another purpose that might cost more, and/or might work better.

 

[Tesla2.0]

I have 21” summer tires couldn’t contribute information relative to your experience. For rare severe weather in Texas, I just take big wheels SUV/truck on the road. Most Texans are quite ignorant on icy roads, I have seen so many sliding accidents on the road by smaller cars/wheels that I feel vulnerable to drive out.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

Original poster checking in again, with a follow-up to the original post.

I recently returned from another road trip to visit family, and once again, I ran into lake effect snow squalls. The performance of the car was quite different from what I reported in the original post. I had no real issues with control or traction. I didn’t have much of an issue with loss of sensors (just the Lidar sensor for a few minutes, which cleared up by itself).

I have no idea why the experience was so different from what I experienced a month or so earlier that caused me to write the original post. Only differences I can think of are updated software, and perhaps somewhat more cautious driving, due to my earlier experience.

Where was it that you hit a blizzard before? I live in New England in Providence Rhode Island and have been quite sad we have not seen snow this year. In snow we had last year the Lucid performed much better than I expected, only felt a slip on unplowed interstate a few times while I watched much larger SUVs in front of me struggle. The Lucid seemed to rapidly regain control anytime there was the slightest traction loss of any wheel. The headlights were outstanding for visibility also. I never really tried to rely on any sensors as I didn’t want to relinquish any control. I was in low regen at the time and not super stressed once I realized the car could pull it off.

 

[victoryroad]

Where was it that you hit a blizzard before? I live in New England in Providence Rhode Island and have been quite sad we have not seen snow this year. In snow we had last year the Lucid performed much better than I expected, only felt a slip on unplowed interstate a few times while I watched much larger SUVs in front of me struggle. The Lucid seemed to rapidly regain control anytime there was the slightest traction loss of any wheel. The headlights were outstanding for visibility also. I never really tried to rely on any sensors as I didn’t want to relinquish any control. I was in low regen at the time and not super stressed once I realized the car could pull it off.

Yes, low regen in slippery conditions. High regen caused a bit of a step out of the rear end at about 50 mph deceleration recently on a snowy night in CO and got my attention right away. Otherwise, my AGT with Sotto Zeros performed very well in NH last winter in snowy and icy conditions. One must modulate speed in slippery conditions no matter what compound your tires are.

 

[NoseyReporter]

I imagine you can just use some RainX on any sensor.

 

[Cosmo Cruz]

GT 19" A/S factory Pirelli (Philadelphia, PA, USA)
first measurable snow in 2 seasons ~ 3 inches
freezing rain on top.
expected lows in teens Fahrenheit all week.

Plow trucks went thru leaving a glaze of sub-zero pavement with a cm of snow/ice/slush, and then it "rained". every surface way below freezing.
.... "ignore the coefficient of friction for this problem"


I consider myself an expert driver in snow and on ice. The Lucid GT, on the factory 19" Pirellis, is entirely predictable. Do not drive when it's like this.

The traction control is really good. I've come from the Volvo V70R and the Mercedes E63s. Equal to them. Might be a bit better since I had better tires on the previous wagons. These tires are fine. You will not be able to stop or steer, but the traction is OK. If you live in snow country you know. Get snow tires. All Season don't do anything well.

Observations:

de-icing front windshield is fraught. especially right side.
turn wipers off. they will degrade rubber edge when trying to de-ice right side
unique shape of all-glass roof ... melting dribbles down ... push once on left stalk
turn regen to low
practice braking with the brake pedal (wow...had not realized how much my driving has changed over the year!)

I have a question for those of you who are experienced winter drivers:

It was a thing when I drove automatic transmission cars in winter, to shift into neutral when I was approaching a stop. It was so unconscious for me growing up in NH and a skier that I almost did it today in the Lucid.

I'm wondering if anyone else does / did this .... and worried what would happen if I did this and missed and went into PARK and missed NEUTRAL?

 

[Cosmo Cruz]

that's ice....it's just hit a surface well below freezing.

 

[victoryroad]

GT 19" A/S factory Pirelli (Philadelphia, PA, USA)
first measurable snow in 2 seasons ~ 3 inches
freezing rain on top.
expected lows in teens Fahrenheit all week.

Plow trucks went thru leaving a glaze of sub-zero pavement with a cm of snow/ice/slush, and then it "rained". every surface way below freezing.
.... "ignore the coefficient of friction for this problem"


I consider myself an expert driver in snow and on ice. The Lucid GT, on the factory 19" Pirellis, is entirely predictable. Do not drive when it's like this.

The traction control is really good. I've come from the Volvo V70R and the Mercedes E63s. Equal to them. Might be a bit better since I had better tires on the previous wagons. These tires are fine. You will not be able to stop or steer, but the traction is OK. If you live in snow country you know. Get snow tires. All Season don't do anything well.

Observations:

de-icing front windshield is fraught. especially right side.
turn wipers off. they will degrade rubber edge when trying to de-ice right side
unique shape of all-glass roof ... melting dribbles down ... push once on left stalk
turn regen to low
practice braking with the brake pedal (wow...had not realized how much my driving has changed over the year!)

I have a question for those of you who are experienced winter drivers:

It was a thing when I drove automatic transmission cars in winter, to shift into neutral when I was approaching a stop. It was so unconscious for me growing up in NH and a skier that I almost did it today in the Lucid.

I'm wondering if anyone else does / did this .... and worried what would happen if I did this and missed and went into PARK and missed NEUTRAL?

Hey Cos: Be certain to set re-gen to low. I do not shift into neutral unless going through the car wash. I am not sure if the is a failsafe that prevents shifting into park while moving,but imagine that there is. Otherwise, you know the drill in slick conditions. We had zero-degree days here for a few days with a few inches of snow. They do not sand or plow here so almost immediately the roads had an inch of boilerplate snow and ice. Not even the Sotto Zeros can help much. I am not concerned about my control, but that of others so limited my driving in zero temperatures. I had to use the windshield defroster even with no precip. No big deal though. I think that it was my breadth on the windshield that caused modest fogging on the driver's side until the car warmed up enough.

 

[Cosmo Cruz]

Also, anyone have a report on front vent louvers freezing and making "the noise" ?

Haven't heard it since Jan 2023

 

[WhoDey]

Also, anyone have a report on front vent louvers freezing and making "the noise" ?

Haven't heard it since Jan 2023

Yes, it started happening on mine yesterday. Took a ski trip into Quebec over the weekend and didn’t have any issues with them even though the temps were low and road conditions weren’t good at times. Ran the car through a touchless wash yesterday and have had intermittent problems with them since then. Today was better than yesterday, but I heard them struggling at least once when I got out of the car.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

Hey Cos: Be certain to set re-gen to low. I do not shift into neutral unless going through the car wash. I am not sure if the is a failsafe that prevents shifting into park while moving,but imagine that there is. Otherwise, you know the drill in slick conditions. We had zero-degree days here for a few days with a few inches of snow. They do not sand or plow here so almost immediately the roads had an inch of boilerplate snow and ice. Not even the Sotto Zeros can help much. I am not concerned about my control, but that of others so limited my driving in zero temperatures. I had to use the windshield defroster even with no precip. No big deal though. I think that it was my breadth on the windshield that caused modest fogging on the driver's side until the car warmed up enough.

That fogging may actually be part of a recall. I think they’re going to be reaching out to owners affected as it might involve some part of the HVAC system. Mine did it one time, left 1/4 of the windshield fogged on its own but then resolved after about 5 minutes. It only happened once though.

 

[Cosmo Cruz]

regen on standard
wipers to off
check tire pressure