The skid pad rating is a measure of how well a vehicle handles around a 300 ft diameter circular roadway. The maximum value of acceleration without slippage, in terms of g, is the parameter. The best handling cars have a skid pad score of > .90 g. Most SUV's are in the range of .7 to .8. Naturally, Porsches, even the Cayenne, score very high (always above .9), but inexpensive compact SUV's score rather low. My 2008 Mercury Mariner Hybrid AWD, with the original eco tires, scored only .66. On purchase, I switched to Pirelli Scorpion ATR tires to get better traction; these lasted for 55000 miles. I then switched to Nokian GR2 SUV tires, which are H-speed rated. I'm sure my skid pad score is around .75 now--still way too low, but much better. So tires are a big factor....