acadianbob

I think that someone mentioned this issue in another post but . . . have you noticed how the Q5 is extraordinarily bad about amassing major snow goobers along the underside of the car? I've never had a car that accumulated that much snow and ice underneath.

Don't like the notion of a snow/mud guard too much but do you suppose it would help?

NABS4

It doesn't. Snow sticks to those too!

Coolieman1220

kick the rocker panels, they fall right out.

Transfer

Not sure if serious. It's normal, especially for AWD. As stated, give em a kick.

Redd

I'd bet a good waxing, or a spray with molding release compound, or McLube Sailkote (a Krytox and wax spray available in boating stores and some hardware stores) would make it harder for anything to build up on the panels.

One winter I had heavy ice build up ON my wheels, on the center of the alloy wheels, during heavy icing snow on the Jersey Turnpike. If the conditions are right...you're going to get iced up no matter what you do.

acadianbob

No, it's not serious; just an observation. It always accumulates; but I've never had a car accumulate this much is all.

redherring

That was me in the "crappy mpg in the winter" thread. I have the mudguards, and although they do prevent some of the buildup at the bottom of the doors, they hold a lot of snow/ice themselves since they're shaped like scoops and not flat (my old Subaru's were like that also and it never made any sense to me--if they were flat the crud would just fall off, right?). Still think they're better than not having them, however; before I had them installed the snow would build up under the doors and high enough on the body that when it froze overnight it was hard to get the doors open.

I opined in the other thread that maybe it was at least partly due to the protective underpan being made out of a fuzzy feeling cardboard-like material that creates more surface area for the snow to cling onto. When it's as cold as it's been in Chicago this year you can't kick it off either for fear of breaking either the car or your foot.

acadianbob

Agree with that!