So, I've searched around here and found that the snow / gravel / grass setting is intended for snow that isn't too deep. So what's the best setting for deep snow? I imagine that's most like a sandy or muddy surface, so which of those two modes would work better? I'm imagining trying to climb a hill on an unplowed road or trail with 6" to 10" of snow. Which mode?

 

Owner's manual says sand mode for deep snow.

 

I've used sand mode with low gear when climbing a steep driveway with about 12" of heavy unplowed snow. Be sure to use offroad suspension height as well. Most important, use winter tires. I was the only vehicle that could make it to our rental house that day as one friend with a Ram pickup and AT tires failed as did another friend with an X5 and winter tires since he lacked ground clearance.

 

It does, but I also noticed that in the Sand section, it says to use Mud Ruts if the wheels might sink. I figure in deep snow they might sink. So... I'm highly uncertain what the recommendation is!

 

Snow and manual mode

 

Which winter tires did you use? I went to GY Mud Terrain on my Jeep for snow, anything less I have had all 4 tires spinning in deep snow, and had to use my winch

 

I was doing exactly that last weekend in Flagstaff. Auto mode worked fine... make sure you set off-road height or you'll turn into a plow (learned this one the hard way)

 

Maybe we can make this link sticky?: https://landroverforums.com/forum/20...ion-lr-109271/

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The Wading, Sand and Mud Ruts programs are all least aggressive in applying the individual wheel, fast braking capability (which is used to avoid spinning the wheels). This makes them "momentum modes" in my mind -- spinning the wheels is allowed in these modes, just don't stop your forward progress !!

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Sand and Mud Ruts vary in both accelerator response aggression and differential lock aggression:

Sand has the fastest throttle response of any program. This is so you can powerfully clear away the densest sand (which is quite heavy) and at all times spin the wheels. I think the necessary assumption to use sand mode is that you will not sink up to the body of the vehicle in heavy sand by seriously clearing out the stuff ahead of each wheel.

Sand mode is set in the least aggressive mode for locking the differential (it is the same as normal mode). I think this is because dragging along a locked up, no traction providing wheel through dense sand is a BAD idea because the traction available to any wheel is NOT likely going to be sufficient to drag the other wheels to clear a path in the dense sand. Best to spin all tires all the time.

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MUD RUTs mode is medium on throttle response (same as normal mode), but most aggressive in locking the differentials. I believe this is because the variable density and composition of mud (and the rocks, sticks, etc. within it) will provide enough alternating traction for both of the wheels locked together to contribute traction to the axle. Plus the weight per cubic volume of the mud to clear away is less than in dense sand.

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For heavy snow, I think Sand mode is preferred for the reasons I note, unless the snow is of a nature to have spinning all the wheels very aggressively sink the wheels up to the bottom of the vehicle.

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Enjoy !!

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P.S. I think the worst of all worlds is very fine, uniform, tightly composting sand -- No variation in traction possible, very heavy per cubic volume, and very willing to move just slightly to force the wheel to sink up to the body of the vehicle.

 

Nokian Hakkapeliitta R3 SUV winter tires. Since replaced by the current Nokian R5 SUV version.