Burning Rubber Smell In Ice And Snow

Maybe someone can help me figure out what caused this burnt rubber smell. I have a 2010 SR5 4 Cyl 4X4 with 15k on it. No yellow wire mod yet.

We received about 12 inches of snow in Sequoia Natl Forest 4 days ago. The road is a steep grade which climbs from 2000 ft to 6000 ft in 7 miles with several icy s curves. The road had around 6 vehicles on it prior to ours so we had somewhat of a packed trail fo follow. The temp was in the low 20s so we had ice as well, it was dark. I have Bridgestone Blizzacks DMV1s and they had about 200 miles on them. I had two sand bags and two cinder blocks over the rear wheel wells strapped to the cab side of the bed extender.

I was in 4Hi with VSC and Trac active but spinning slightly off and on. At one point when we started to slide and the truck took over trying to take us straight into a giant granite boulder just off the road I applied the brakes to stop the vehicle. (Hell of an idea huh?) I backed up a few feet to get going straight up the road again and the smell of burnt rubber was very evident as was the black cloud of smoke that whizzed passed us after we came to a stop. I couldn't imagine the rubber on those snow tires heating up on ice and snow but we had been spinning off and on mostly on for about two miles. They certainly did not feel hot to the touch.

All in all I was damned impressed with the fact we made it to our destination and aside from a few VSC issues, amazed. However this burnt rubber thing has me stumped. Any ideas??

 

Clutch? Over reving? Sorry dont know much about the 4 bangers someone will chim in!

 

Does that vsc thing use the brakes to control the traction? Im thinking it was the brakes smoking.

 

Ya that mite be it I think it does!

 

i noticed this as well in my 2010 reg cab 4x4... i thought it was the truck in front of me because when he turned i couldnt smell it anymore...

might be the brakes... due to the TRAC using the brake system it might have heated enough to smell.

tell you what, if it ever heats up enough to disable trac i will have a locker in that week...

 

I've had a similar experience a couple times without the snow or VSC intervention , but I was driving up an incline . I even crawled under the truck convinced that the exhaust had to be roasting the spare .

Never did figure it out though .

 

I've noticed a similar burnt rubber smell coming from the rear wheels 4-6 times on my '10 4 cyl Access cab, 13,000 km (<10,000 miles).
No smoke, varying driving conditions. There's no strange sounds, and it never persists.
Btw stock suspension, wheels, etc.
It's a mystery to me.

 

Smoke would be white if tires were spinning.

My guess is your clutch (slipping/riding the clutch without necessarily knowing it). Same history happened to me with my previous car (manual) and burning smell was coming from the clutch, I was able to re-create the smell.

Is you truck manual?

 

I plow snow for a living. I have to drive 35 miles to get to where I plow. I drive (until I get my taco) a Jetta with snowtires. My car ALWAYS smells like burnt rubber when I park it. I think that it must be because of the super soft compound of the tires. At least that is what I always blame it on....

 

it wasnt my clutch... i know for a fact it wasnt...

 

I could be wrong here but it seems I've read in the owners manual it says something about the brakes can overheat if the vsc is constantly being activated.

 

yep but brakes usually dont smell like burning rubber, more like garbage burning

 

im pretty sure its over reving mine does the same

 

please elaborate?

 

Wow. Thanks for all the input. Over reving..... I left out that I was in 1st gear for the last 3 miles when the road was really bad. The tac was fairly constant at no higher than 3. I do have a manual transmission. I do not believe that riding the clutch was the case although when the old sphincter tightens up like that I suppose unwittingly I could have. I am heading back up tonight and although conditions won't be quite as bad I'll be sure and watch the tac at all times and make sure I'm not near the clutch. We'll see if the condition happens again. I would have the little lady take notes but that's hard to do with your freakin eyes closed! Thanks again all!

 

Well yesterday trying to get out of the snow i was hitting the gas pretty hard to get out and i smelled the burnt rubber.

 

ok but how is overevving going to smell like rubber and technically you can possibly overev our engines...

 

Most likely it is just your tires, i get the same smell once in a while driving up to my house. i wouldn't worry about it

 

Well, I go in for 15k service tomorrow. I'll have them look at the brakes as they do feel mushier. Friday's drive up was a repeat performance. We determined smoke was gray and not black. It does smell like rubber though.

I have a feeling with the yellow wire mod and in 4lo and by crawling rather than slip sliding up, there might be less wear all the way around. However the grade for the last 3 miles is steep and with the curves to boot not sure if we'd make it up that way in ice and a foot of snow... at least without cabling up over the snow tires.

 

I had the same problem in my 2009 in the snow. I was going up a very slight grade in slush and the traction control was having a heart attack. I was in 4Hi, tried 4Lo Locked, no luck. It was terrible. A 1st gen tacoma passed me like I was backing up. I wasn't going anywhere. Engine cutting, and braking. The smell was terrible.