First Truck - Snow Driving Experience Typical?

[Groovicles]

I would not suggest putting the truck into 2WD in any sort of slippery driving conditions, but especially when there's been even light snow. If the OP is feeling the back end slip out when braking and purchasing dedicated snow tires is out of the question, then the only safe solution is to put extra weight in the back. Do not put the truck in 2WD in any snowy/slippery driving conditions.

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[PowerBoostSoCal]

The stock tires are crap in the snow ... tires are the answer. Good high quality all season and/or three peak snow tires will make your life much better. BTW, I use snow tires so when I drive over mountain passes - almost no issues. Funny to watch other's in new Rams and GMs sliding all over the place ... it's all about the tires.

 

[ks54703]

First truck I've ever owned. Been driving in snow since day 1 with my license so that is nothing new to me for.... too long a time now. But I've always had sedans until now.

Often don't need to venture out much when the roads are snow covered but I did this past weekend and had an "incident" that actually spooked me a bit and I am very very hard to spook even in the snow.

On the expressway, traffic was doing approx 40-45mph. No issues with corners or on ramp acceleration (windy area through mountains). I am cautious and felt that that speed seemed about right. Did have folks passing me maybe 10mph faster.

When time for my exit, I gently squeezed on the brakes well in advance of my exit (ramps tend to be slippery) and was very shocked when the rear end got very squirrely on me. This was a straight brake, no corner or anything, just trying to slow down. ABS started activating in the rear immediately while I got very nervous about the rear end coming around and spinning out. Rear end shimmying side to side. Extremely light brake pedal pressure.

What shocked me so much is that all curves were negotiated prior to the braking with zero issue. Acceleration zero issue. But the braking, which to me is usually zero issue other than making sure you have enough stopping distance, was one of the few times in my life I felt like a car might rotate on me and spin out. The front end seemed to still have traction while the rear clearly did not.

I'm wondering if this is a "problem" in general with trucks. I was well aware of the issues getting moving from a stop because of the light rear end and RWD. That's OK. Either pop in 4x4 or just take my time (I've had a couple RWD BMWs too, so not unfamiliar with that feeling). I also know that if I felt that spooked I was probably going too fast for conditions or the road just at that particular area had a little frost on it or something. That is 100% my responsibility.

But is this normal that during straight braking like that that you can shift so much weight forward that even a slight loss of traction in the rear can quickly make that back end start swaying around on you? I was rather surprised that the truck didn't just engage ABS and track straight, no side-to-side swaying in the rear, like all my sedans have done when I lose some traction during braking. I've never had a back end feel like it was going to come around on me that easily and with such a light brake pedal press. I expected 4 wheel ABS and straight tracking.

I generally have put full winter tires on my sedans. Since I don't generally have to always drive in snow I skipped for the truck but I am now HIGHLY considering it again. I know that will absolutely help.

But is that rear end "action" during braking a thing with pickups generally in slippery conditions? Or did I just happen to hit the perfect bad condition at exactly the time I was hitting the brakes and just a bad situation that isn't really any fault of the truck?

Trying to understand better what I can expect driving a pickup in winter conditions vs a sedan.

As an aside, had an old Corolla before the F150. Other than the FWD and very deep snow (the only time I could get myself stuck), I hate to say it but the Corolla I've found vastly vastly better in winter driving than the truck. Thing was a tank, always knew what the car was doing, very maneuverable, very stable, and it didn't have ABS or stability control. I had FUN with that car in the snow. Just couldn't stop it. I'd hoped a truck might be even better but other than not worrying about deep snow thanks to 4x4 and feeling much safer in the event of a crash... I'd take the Corolla on winter tires every time, hate to say. Truck just seems much less stable and more prone to swing that back end on me.

Drove a 21 302a XLT Screw 5.5 bed PB. Key thing is "REGEN" "REGEN" "REGEN" in a XLT with ELSOF (AKA electric shift on the fly and no 4Auto). Lariat and above have 4A available which is a whole different animal and handles regen a whole lot better while in 4wd.

Check your Regen settings for when letting of the throttle for me it was to quick / hard into REGEN on icy roadways and was always playing DITCH the *itch which was sometimes way to close for personal comfort.

REGEN was the 1 bad thing that was a MAJOR reason for moving on as all it takes is that one time that you cannot catch it and it's game over with a vehicle that has a GVWR of 7300# and a payload of under 1400#'s for a vehicle that then weights in at around 5900# or darn near twice the weight of a small sedan your used to driving.

Am an old farm boy and getting stuck is not something new and not new to -30F below and slippery roads as when 12 years old in the mid 60's we needed to take the tractor and pull the truck 1 mile on ICY roads to find black top to pull start the truck then swap places drive home get the 55 Mercury wagon hooked to the truck drive back that very same mile get to 30 MPH on the blacktop road so the rear transmission pump would kick in and rollover the cars engine so it would start. 50's vehicle had generators, 6 volt batteries and points all far from as good as today's batteries alternators and electronic ignition systems. "Note we hand started the tractor by cranking over by hand". We had 2 sets of spark plugs for the JD A and warmed the 1 set in the house on the stove and carried them to the tractor in a oven mitt.

 

[FaaWrenchBndr]

The stock tires are crap in the snow ... tires are the answer. Good high quality all season and/or three peak snow tires will make your life much better. BTW, I use snow tires so when I drive over mountain passes - almost no issues. Funny to watch other's in new Rams and GMs sliding all over the place ... it's all about the tires.

I have the Pirelli ATR factory set……..they work very well here in snow. No complaints at all

 

[PowerBoostSoCal]

I have the Pirelli ATR factory set……..they work very well here in snow. No complaints at all

I had the hangook something or other ... they were garbage, I was being very general in my comment - should have stated that more clearly.

 

[Calson]

If you hit ice it does not matter which tires are on the truck and 4WD only means you can spin all four wheels. I hit black ice in a parking lot when backing out of a space and the truck slid mor than 30 feet and all I could do was wait it out. Only chains or tire studs would have made a difference.

I have never found a AT tread tire that worked well in snow. Always a trade-off with anything automotive.

Having some weight in the bed between the wheel wells and the tailgate will reduce the tendency to spinout with a truck. I used to have a board behind the wheel well to keep my heavy items where they did the most good.

 

[FaaWrenchBndr]

I had the hangook something or other ... they were garbage, I was being very general in my comment - should have stated that more clearly.

Completely understand quite often, yes OEM tires are total crap.
I had these tires on my 2005 XLT, loved them

 

[MTMan]

There’s no substitute for a good studded tire in winter. When you need it you need it.

Interestingly, my daughter has 35 inch mud terrains on her rig that was an ice skate when we got it a couple of years ago. I had them siped and they are doing pretty good this winter. Still not a snow but the best thing you can do to improve non snows for winter.

 

[HammaMan]

I would not suggest putting the truck into 2WD in any sort of slippery driving conditions, but especially when there's been even light snow. If the OP is feeling the back end slip out when braking and purchasing dedicated snow tires is out of the question, then the only safe solution is to put extra weight in the back. Do not put the truck in 2WD in any snowy/slippery driving conditions.

The issue isn't a blanket slippery situation, it's when you have spots of slippery among otherwise firm pavement. Intermittent traction on pavement in an ESOF is how you break things. The solution is to swap a TOD transfer case in. Ice here is rare, but water is often. I chewed through 1/32nds of tread on my rear tires in less than 3k miles pre 4a from casual driving.

 

[Groovicles]

The issue isn't a blanket slippery situation, it's when you have spots of slippery among otherwise firm pavement. Intermittent traction on pavement in an ESOF is how you break things. The solution is to swap a TOD transfer case in. Ice here is rare, but water is often. I chewed through 1/32nds of tread on my rear tires in less than 3k miles pre 4a from casual driving.

Yup, 100% I understand what you're saying, however I strongly disagree. There isn't such thing as a natural situation in which only some spots are slippery on the portion of road that's being driven. Unless its a grease spill, oil spill, etc. (i.e. not natural), the surface will be slippery in its entirety regardless if we can see or feel the slippery patches or not, though it will most likely not be uniformly slippery. Switching from 4WD to 2WD because the driver feels the road has only slippery patches is just not expecting the expected.

 

[Jerome10]

(just saw this never posted -- wrote this yesterday at 5pm )

Yeah, don't use 4WD in those conditions in the XLT. PB has regen braking so what you may have been experiencing wasn't braking but regen on a slick surface. That will induce yaw. Might try 'slippery' mode in such conditions but make sure to put it into 2WD. Also don't lock your rear end. Putting ESOF in the PB was a big mistake on ford's part. You'd think they tested these things in Michigan during slick conditions but alas, we're here.

Ohhh interesting regarding the regen. That actually could make some sense. You're not coasting like free spinning wheel, there is some drag on it even if you're not hitting the brakes.

I could see that having an effect for sure.

I have tried slippery and put it back in 2WD. But once the roads mostly cleared up I went back to normal. Will try leaving in slippery more frequently and see how that feels.

 

[HammaMan]

The driver is already using 2wd. The suggestion was to use slippery mode and turning 2wd back on as the mode engages 4wd automatically.

 

[Jerome10]

Dedicated snow tires are far, far superior to any all season.

You can get by without them, sure, but icy roads without snow tires just isn’t fun.

I live in Idaho. If the roads are truly bad we take my wife’s q5 with blizzaks. Drives like a tank.

Yeah, my old man used to have a Lexus RX350 with AWD and Blizzaks. Unstoppable. Far more surefooted than the truck so far. Figure it has to be the weight distribution.... and the tires of course.

 

[Jerome10]

I think I'm going to move to a set of dedicated winter tires for next season. Mid Feb 2025 already doesn't make much sense now but having a look on Craigslist and Facebook seems quite a few folks selling wheels/rims from F150s, Expeditions, etc that should all fit if the bolt pattern and offsets match. Pick up a set of those and then keep my eye open for sales on one of the good winter tires.

I didn't expect the OEM Goodyears to be too great. Thought the truck seemed decent last year. But this experience I think is enough for me. I can thankfully afford it and if it saves even 1 accident its more than worth the cost. And piece of mind too.

If it makes the truck far far more stable and make me less uptight, also worth some amount of money there too.

 

[Dakar09]

Even with the crappy Hankooks my 5.0L doesn't get squirrely in the rear under braking in slippery stuff, regardless of what drive is selected.

While I agree dedicated snow tires are the key to safe winter driving, this does sound like a nuance of the PB, and requires more attention to driving one of those in the snow. Seems pretty dangerous to regen off just the rear brakes in an already tail-happy vehicle, imo.

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