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Snow and parking

3K views 19 replies 9 participants last post by  hans.olbrecht 
#1 ·
My drive has a incline and I've never had this before with any vehicle but tonight on its own the iX has slide part way down the drive.

I only noticed because I checked the cctv for snow coverage.
 

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#4 ·
Great video, watched it at least 10 times. The back wheels are definitely sliding and locked, but the front wheels are definitely turning/rolling. The treadmarks that are easily visible on the pictures must have been when you backed up.

Interested to see what BMW says about this.
I better go pick up my car before we get another recall.
 
#14 ·
I had a similar experience yesterday. Parked car uphill in mild incline. Was clearing snow from an adjacent tennis court and observed the car spontaneously roll slide down the hill after about an hour. Back wheels locked but front wheels rolling. Alarm went off. Mild angina. Just missed two walls either side of the slope.
 
#17 ·
I'm genuinely concerned now that the car is unable to keep itself from sliding if there is any reason for the back tires to have less friction than required (to counteract the car weight). I mean, if I'm on a steep hill and the street is wet...will the car slide?
 
#19 ·
New member here, considering an iX. I came to this thread looking for info on how the vehicle handles in snow, but I think I can explain this behavior. I suspect it's due to a combination of factors:

1. As someone mentioned above, parking brakes on virtually all vehicles are on the rear wheels only.
2. Typically the front wheels won't roll on a FWD or AWD car because of the transmission parking pawl and/or engine compression. However, since this is electric AWD, there is most likely an electrical clutch on the front axle that is disengaged except when the computer decides extra traction is necessary. So in park, the clutch is probaly disengaged and the front wheels are free to turn.
3. Summer tires are dangerous in winter conditions, even when parked. They have virtually no traction on snowy surfaces, and in fact the rubber gets very hard at low temperatures. So yes, those hard rubber tires could easily slide on a snow- or ice-covered slope. (As an aside, according to tire manufacturers, driving summer tires in temperatures below about 40F is not only dangerous, but can damage the tires. The rubber compound is soft at higher temperatures, but hard and brittle at low temps. So even if you don't have snow in your area, driving on summer tires in winter can be an expensive and risky proposition.)

Hope this helps.
 
#20 ·
New member here, considering an iX. I came to this thread looking for info on how the vehicle handles in snow, but I think I can explain this behavior. I suspect it's due to a combination of factors:

1. As someone mentioned above, parking brakes on virtually all vehicles are on the rear wheels only.
2. Typically the front wheels won't roll on a FWD or AWD car because of the transmission parking pawl and/or engine compression. However, since this is electric AWD, there is most likely an electrical clutch on the front axle that is disengaged except when the computer decides extra traction is necessary. So in park, the clutch is probaly disengaged and the front wheels are free to turn.
3. Summer tires are dangerous in winter conditions, even when parked. They have virtually no traction on snowy surfaces, and in fact the rubber gets very hard at low temperatures. So yes, those hard rubber tires could easily slide on a snow- or ice-covered slope. (As an aside, according to tire manufacturers, driving summer tires in temperatures below about 40F is not only dangerous, but can damage the tires. The rubber compound is soft at higher temperatures, but hard and brittle at low temps. So even if you don't have snow in your area, driving on summer tires in winter can be an expensive and risky proposition.)

Hope this helps.
1. See video on this forum. Looks like only breaks at the back.
2. An electrical car is not a CE. You need some forces to start turning a combustion engine (compressor phase). This force is used to park the car. An Electrical motor without electricity is just a turning cylinder without any forces. So you can't count on a break of an electrical motor in stillstand.
3. Winter tires have a better grip on snow surfaces. I don't see the point.
 
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