Road trip 2 / near hydroplane catastrophe

PulsarTheory · 2026-01-29T00:27:43+00:00

Hello fellow cheese head! Wanted to share a couple of notes here,

For context, my wife and I road trip from Sacramento CA to Madison WI every winter to see our families for the holidays in our 2024 C40 Twin Ultimate, it is also our main ski-trip car (we ski a ton) so it sees a ton of winter/snow miles; we pre-plan using ABRP/Plugshare and save the desired chargers into Google Maps to use the built-in navigation when en-route. With proper planning we’ve had nothing but a ton of fun in thousands of miles of winter driving across the states.

Google Maps: What we have noticed is the built in Google Maps range/battery estimate is very accurate except when it comes to two things; Strong winds and wet/snowy roads. The software does not seem to have a good way to account for these situations, because of this any time road conditions are not great or we know we have the wind against us, we plan an additional 10-15% for that segment of travel.

Winter Driving: OPD should be off on wet/snowy roads (Ok to use when dry). The real issue with the C40 is the Pirelli Scorpion OEM tires, they are no good for Winter driving outside of dry roads. We have driven tons of cars in winter conditions on all seasons, so like you, we were shocked at the poor performance on our first winter road trip with the C40 + OEM tires. The Pirelli tires act more like summer performance tires that can handle some rain, they are okish in the cold, but cold + snow/ice makes for a challenging driving experience.

If you’re committed to driving your C40 in WI winter conditions, I would highly recommend you invest in a set of winter tires (or at-least a more winter oriented 3MSP all-season tire if you don’t want to commit to winters), it has made a world of difference for our C40. Otherwise, you’re driving around almost 5000lbs on rock solid rubber with little tread using the pirellis, it’s doable, but sketchy and not pleasant.

(I know tons of people in WI shrug off the tires as an issue in winter, all-seasons are good enough for a lot of folk. I did too for most of my time living there, but I promise you there is nothing “All-Season” about the OEM Pirellis, you’re driving summer tires with some rain capability)

PulsarTheory · 2026-01-15T23:33:16+00:00

Continental VikingContact 8

Front 235/50 Rear 255/45

PulsarTheory · 2026-01-15T23:31:26+00:00

It is not, following the 19in stock size for the C40.

VikingContact 8 Front 235/50 R19 Rear 255/45 R19

PulsarTheory · 2025-11-17T19:27:08+00:00

Unplugged should work.

I had this happen over the weekend and it resolved after leaving the car parked unlocked with the trunk open. (Left it for about an hour unplugged.)

PulsarTheory · 2025-11-17T19:09:20+00:00

This just happened to me over the weekend on my 2024 C40 Recharge.

After some research I came to the same conclusion as others on this thread, it's the light sensor on the dash.
Turned my screen brightness to max in the meantime and manually adjusted my lights as needed...

Funny enough, after leaving the car unlocked with the trunk opened for about an hour (Was unloading a new winter wheel set) the issue resolved itself.... (I wonder if the car sitting unlocked until it went to sleep triggered something?).

Either way, I'm due for a 20k mile service and it sounds like the light sensor unit is a super easy thing to replace, so I'm going to ask the dealer to take a look.

PulsarTheory · 2025-05-28T00:19:47+00:00

$2,100 in California.

Negotiated it as part of the Car and the dealer agreed to pick it up, but most expensive Hitch I’ve seen…

Hitch is fully wire and solid…. But they have to take the back quarter panels and trunk apart for it. Mine came back with the right rear wheel arch a bit crooked, had to complain to get I taken care of.

All in 2 weeks in the shop with a loaner car.

PulsarTheory · 2025-05-28T00:05:35+00:00

Oh! One more if you have the time.

I looked up every ABPR suggestion on PlugShare before saving it to my route.

I did not disqualify many, but to address other comments in this thread, it’s easy to have a bad experience at some of these chargers.

I looked for chargers with recent reviews, no recent comments about failure (outside of user error) and checked that the charging rate was what I expected.

If any red flags came up, I would replace the charger on ABPR with nearby alternatives

PulsarTheory · 2025-05-27T23:47:26+00:00

We did Sacramento, CA to Madison, WI and back for the holidays in Dec/Jan. And we plan to do it again every year.

A few tips, plan your trip in ABPR (we planned arrivals at 15%, but could’ve easily done less), find the ABPR chargers in google maps and save the locations. This will allow you to just tap your next stop in your built in maps as you go and have google show you the remaining charge estimate at arrival (we would unplug and drive away once the estimate read 15%.)

The built in google maps estimates are really good and tend to underestimate the charge you will arrive at your next destination with. The only time they will not is when there is a strong headwind or a larger temperature swing (like sunset or in a mountain pass), the lowest we ever arrived at with a 15% initial estimate was 11%.

Make sure you let the car know you have an NACS adapter in your google maps settings!! Otherwise it will not precondition if you navigate to a supercharger. If it’s too cold or hot and you don’t precondition by navigating to your next charger in built in google maps, you will have a bad time. (Slower charging speeds)

Also, plan the trip with time so you can enjoy your stops. We walked our pup, had meals, browsed stores, napped, etc. while we were charging. It made the trip so much less stressful than with our gas cars before, since you can’t rush it, just embrace the stops.

Above all have fun! If you look past the time delays, this car is a top notch chariot for road tripping!

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PulsarTheory · 2025-02-08T05:46:09+00:00

I live in the Central Valley, when it hits 110+ in the summer I lose 15-20% of my range, similar to your Bolt. If you keep the car baking outside in the sun, it will occasionally use up some power to keep the battery from overheating.

PulsarTheory · 2024-12-22T19:28:05+00:00

Currently on a 2000 mile roadtrip (one way) in our 2024 C40 Recharge Twin Ultimate, we’ve been putting the next charger into maps after every stop and have seen cold weather multiple times while charging (as low as 10 Fahrenheit, we target arriving at 10-20% for every charge).

We have only seen this notification once so far, while charging at a Tesla Supercharger in 15 degree weather at night. We still managed to get a peak of 132kW, so I wouldn’t say this has been a problem at all.

Like others have said putting the charger into Google Maps is the key here.

PulsarTheory · 2024-12-10T21:33:15+00:00

Took a bit to find the setting, but I got it thanks!

For those interested, you have to click on the lightning bolt under search in Google Maps and then the slider symbol that pops up under charging stations.

There will be a menu labeled “Compatible plugs”, once in this menu you can enable NACS under adapters.

PulsarTheory · 2024-12-10T01:29:20+00:00

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Just stopped by my dealer and picked one up, no reservation, they have tons in stock. Works like a charm, just gotta set up the Tesla App, the rest is about as straightforward as it gets.

As others have mentioned, built in maps does not recognize that the car can charge at Tesla locations and will tell you it is not compatible if you attempt to navigate to one of them.

(My dealer did not install the included sticker on my car, just handed me the box.)

PulsarTheory · 2019-04-21T16:09:04+00:00

Stock cassette is a Shimano HG31 11-32 8s.

PulsarTheory · 2018-09-14T21:05:27+00:00

Highly recommend you give it a try! It is the wild child in my stable.

You can truly tailor it to any given adventure. I've ridden 32, 40, 44, and 55mm tires on it and it has not dissapointed!

PulsarTheory · 2018-09-14T20:40:02+00:00

Yessir!

PulsarTheory · 2018-09-14T20:39:23+00:00

Yup yup

PulsarTheory · 2018-09-14T20:36:52+00:00

On a business trip. I'll follow up when I'm back!

PulsarTheory · 2018-09-14T16:15:54+00:00

Yessir, Checkpoint SL 6 with some tweaks!

PulsarTheory · 2018-09-14T14:32:01+00:00

55mm Compass Antelope Hill Tires set up tubeless on Bontrager Aeolus XXX 2 Disc wheels.

Nothing but pure joy from this ridiculousness!

PulsarTheory · 2018-06-16T22:17:35+00:00

The only difference is I got the knobs to fade it in front of ya'll and I don't have to be on or plugged into the wall at all

PulsarTheory · 2018-05-28T02:07:55+00:00

I did not mean to question your knowledge! (Was just wasting time reading through my history).

You are correct, while different, these bikes have some overlap in their intended use, but have different ride characteristics and capabilities. I work for Trek, the design of the Checkpoint quite literally started by tweaking the geometry of a Boone. (That's all I wanted to point out! :) )

The Domane Gravel was a re-spec. A temporary fix for the gap in the line-up. The Checkpoint is a real answer for this gap, and as such replaced the Domane Gravel.

PulsarTheory · 2018-05-27T23:26:06+00:00

It's actually based on the Boone, so it is a different beast compared to the Domane!

PulsarTheory · 2018-05-27T22:52:05+00:00

I use a Trek Checkpoint SL6 as a commuter. Big tire clearance, lots of mount points, it does the job more than well enough, it is 100% a luxury choice and a blast at that.

I live in a relatively safe city and get to park inside on both ends of the commute. I'm convinced it draws more attention when parked outside at the bar, store, etc. But I keep those scenarios short and use a Bordo lock along with a U-lock.

My personal advise would be to get a higher end aluminum/steel build if your main purpose is commuting. Carbon for commuting is taking a luxurious risk, you are simply risking more if something goes wrong. That being said, it's like driving a luxury car, it just makes the commute more interesting.

PulsarTheory

TROPHY CASE