Driving In Snow

[dole2000]

I have a 91 LS. When I lived in Minneapolis I have Blizzacks all around and it was great. I could drive through snow well over the axels without any probelms. I would not consider going with all season tires. Snow tires only!!!!!!! I had the Michelin Pilot's for my rear wheel drive Infiniti and the where great.

[90LS400Lexus]

We do not get much snow here, but last winter when I had my 90' LS400, I got caught out in a snow. Despite NEW tires, that car was sliding all over. Not so much the starting, but the stopping was terrible. It was a very scary drive home.

[ArmyofOne]

We do not get much snow here, but last winter when I had my 90' LS400, I got caught out in a snow.  Despite NEW tires, that car was sliding all over.  Not so much the starting, but the stopping was terrible.  It was a very scary drive home.

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I must confess, i drove my friends 85 Olds cutlass (307 V8 woot woot!) and i can see why some of you are more comfortable pushed that pulled. its a more natural feeling. but it was difficult to get that car to do anything more than slide in just a few inches of snow thatwe got last night, i cant imagine what it woudl be like in 12 inches or more!

[SW03ES]

I will tell you on ice and snow FWD is superior to rwd.  The control is better.  Yes you can control your rwd, but that is with lots of experience.  Fwd requires far less expertise to drive safely on wet or snowy roads.  AWD is supreme.

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I agree for most people FWD cars are easier (I like your verbage, take less expertise to control) to drive in the snow. For people that know what they're doing however, RWD is much more stable when you're up to speed and RWD with snow tires is definately a superior setup than FWD, for anyone.

In dry conditions, thats a big negative, yeah you will have understeer, but with a FWD, all you have to do is let off the gas and DONT TOUCH THE BRAKE and she weill slow down enough to regain grip. In snow and ice, through the parking brake, the !Removed! end will slide around and if you are doing any decent speed (witha handbrake) you can control wthe amount of skid by how far up you pull the handle, then once she is sliding sideways, turn into the skid and apply the gas, and she will pull right out, straight and true.

Three problems with that.

1. Nobody's talking about dry conditions, we're talking about snow.

2. Not all cars have handbrakes, in fact a great majority of them don't. I can only think of two vehicles I or my family have ever owned that had handbrakes, a 1987 Ford Aerostar and a 2000 VW Beetle. The rest had standard foot pedal parking brakes.

3. You can't apply throttle through the handbrake. The point isn't just to "skid out" the point is to control your arc through a corner with the throttle, thats something you CAN NOT DO IN A FWD CAR, with the handbrake or not.

i do it regularly, sometimes on purpose, sometimes not. Apply throttle in a RWD car (too much of it anyways) and she wont power out of the skid, but rather into it and you could be looking at the headlights of the cars behind you in a matter of seconds if you are not extremely careful.

Wrong. If you know what you're doing you can absolutely control your way through a skid with the throttle in a RWD car, I've done it many times. If the rear end comes around than you're not in control are you? Its not about being extremely careful, its about posessing the required skill and applying it to the task.

the other key to driving in snow is DO NOT MASH THE GAS. once your wheels break traction, its hard to get it back, and pushing the pedal down more, only makes the wheels spin faster, it doesnt help you get going quicker.

That goes for everything, no abrupt movements. Gradual steady throttle, gradual steady course changes and gradual steady braking.

Driving ANY vehicle in the snow is not nearly as difficult as people make it out to be. If you just practice and take the time to learn how to do it in a controlled environment (even just a parking lot) and stay calm and steady you'll be fine.

[sha4000]

im with sw on this one it took me a little while to become competent with the lex b/c im an aggressive driver and thats not always a good thing in a RWD car even now i have problems in the snow and thats why i dont generally drive in it

[90LS400Lexus]

I was behind someone today in an early to mid 80s Mustang. The roads were wet. At the traffic light, he kept "goosing" the throttle, spinning the tires. When he made the left hand turn, he lost control, the rear of the car spun out. He went into 3 lanes of traffic. Luckily, nothing was coming, or he would have caused an accident.

We had a 1983 Thunderbird back in the 80s that was easy to make spin in the rains and it was even a V6.

This kid was purposely trying to make it spin out however.

[SW03ES]

What a moron...

[ZINFANDEL22]

I lived in the snow belt for 15 years, and the only two cars that I ever totally spun out were FWD.

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CUZ THATS WHAT YOU WERE DRIVING.....

[90LS400Lexus]

My thoughts as well. <_<

What a moron...

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[nc211]

Guys......let's kill this, or at least move it. it's all personal opinion and we've hijacked the original question. kill this thing Steve.

[bartkat]

I lived in the snow belt for 15 years, and the only two cars that I ever totally spun out were FWD.

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CUZ THATS WHAT YOU WERE DRIVING.....

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Not sure what that means, but during that time we had a mix of FWD, RWD including pickup trucks, and 4WD. The only two cars that ever got out of control on me were an Escort and a Fiesta.

[EastWind]

I just drove the LS on snow, and did a 360 on the freeway, going straight, couldn't control it for s**t, was going around 30mph. I have never spun out on a FWD. It was sad seeing econobox of FWD cars doing like 60mph while I was crawling at 20mph. I am benching the LS for the rest of the season, I got it cuz I didn't want to drive the bimmer during the winter, but it's not a performer.

[EastWind]

okay, i judged too fast. no one with snow tires complained, whereas those without snow tires had mixed feelings. i just took out my tires and mounted some blizzaks. WOOOOO!!! Wooooooo!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

need i say more?

[CELICA XX]

I just spent 45 minutes pushing my 93 LS up a small hill. It would only spin the tires.

I wish they would have included an LSD rear end !!!

[Lexusfreak]

Apezam,

What did you end up doing? Did you buy new winter rubber? Please advise lol. B)

[EastWind]

Apezam,

What did you end up doing?  Did you buy new winter rubber?  Please advise lol.  B)

   

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I did, JUST DO IT!

[pwfb]

I have a 2005 Lexus LS-430. The current tire size is 245/45R18. It was suggested that I get 225/55/17 Blizzak WS-50 tires and corresponding wheels.

I have had an order in with two different places since mid November and neither can seem to get the Blizzak's and/or wheels in. I did try Tire Rack but had no luck. I see where someone mentioned Discount Tire. I just dropped them an email to see if they can help.

Does anyone else have suggestions for other sources that I can try?

Thanks, Scott

[ZINFANDEL22]

I have a 2005 Lexus LS-430. The current tire size is 245/45R18. It was suggested that I get 225/55/17 Blizzak WS-50 tires and corresponding wheels.

I have had an order in with two different places since mid November and neither can seem to get the Blizzak's and/or wheels in. I did try Tire Rack but had no luck. I see where someone mentioned Discount Tire. I just dropped them an email to see if they can help.

Does anyone else have suggestions for other sources that I can try?

Thanks, Scott

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Punch up blizzak tires on your search engine and see where it takes you. Also go to tirerack and put in your tire size and punch winter tires and click all manufacturers and see who compares,cuz I know some do.. good luck

[akewlguy]

Firestone.

[id1]

Folks... let us accept the reality. Driving in snow demands more attention. Rear-wheel drive makes it a bit harder. But with snow tires, and cautious driving (avoiding sudden acceleration/braking etc) an LS can see winters without suffering much as I did last 3 seasons. Let us not forget that it is a heavy car and has V8 power and we have to be extra careful in taming it. I keep it in 2nd gear most of the time on local roads to avoid excessive spin on snow. Some times I even shift to 1st gear. Like we tread carefully in snow when we walk, we must do the same while driving. Just because we don't feel the snow when in a car does not mean that we abandon caution. As for black Ice any car would be the same - it is just plain glass and would not give any traction to tires.

[SW03ES]

I keep it in 2nd gear most of the time on local roads to avoid excessive spin on snow. Some times I even shift to 1st gear.

This doesn't do anything for your traction. Putting the transmission in second gear doesn't keep it from going down to first, it just keeps it from going past second. Same is true of first, first gear is more apt to create spin and leaving it in first just puts stress on the engine and transmission.

Best to just use ECT SNOW.

[id1]

What I said was QUOTE Let us not forget that it is a heavy car and has V8 power and we have to be extra careful in taming it. I keep it in 2nd gear most of the time on local roads to avoid excessive spin on snow UNQUOTE

The reason a car tires spin in snow are myraid...

1) you brake suddenly

2) you are climbing a gradiant and snow causes loss of traction

3) you are driving down a gradiant and tires lose traction

4) you accelerate suddenly and tires lose traction

Keeping the car in 2nd gear allows me to slow down much faster, without losing traction, without brake help unless absolutely required. Similar to engine braking. I did not mean to suggest driving in 2nd gear spins less... it helps to decelerate faster than in 4th gear.

[ArmyofOne]

What I said was QUOTE Let us not forget that it is a heavy car and has V8 power and we have to be extra careful in taming it. I keep it in 2nd gear most of the time on local roads to avoid excessive spin on snow UNQUOTE

The reason a car tires spin in snow are myraid...

1) you brake suddenly

2) you are climbing a gradiant and snow causes loss of traction

3) you are driving down a gradiant and tires lose traction

4) you accelerate suddenly and tires lose traction

Keeping the car in 2nd gear allows me to slow down much faster, without losing traction, without brake help unless absolutely required. Similar to engine braking. I did not mean to suggest driving in 2nd gear spins less... it helps to decelerate faster than in 4th gear.

and he said you are wearing out your transmission. the heat that engine breaking builds up with an auto is IMMENSE. it will burn the fluid FAST. hope you are changing it regularly, if not i would check it, for your sake.

[cubby]

Hi All,

I've been driving my Lexus cars for over 10 years in Boston winters. Buy yourself a set of Bridgestone Blizzak WS-50 tires. I used them on my 92 LS and now my 05 LS430. They are dynamite in the snow, I've never had a problem with them..

I do find that it is necessary to turn the Traction Control off when you are going up hills, as the Trac just cuts the power so you just sit there.

Hope this helps,

Sam

Sam ,thanks for a piece of advice with shutting off the Traction Control. It is my first winter with 1999 LS and I got Dunlop Winter Sport M3 tires, very happy with them, haven`t got stuck once so far, In my opinion those are very good tires, I will summer tires for summer(not all season) ;)

[nc211]

It's always been my personal experience in snow that having the engine in a lower gear creates too much torque, especially reverse torque when you take your foot off the gas and the engine braking is too much, makes the car slide. But again, that's just been my experience. I always put the car in "N" when I'm stopped so there is no way the car will move forward. Learned this last Feb here in Raleigh when I was stuck in traffic for 12 hours do to a thin sheet of ice and maybe 1/2 inch of snow on top of it. I would sit in traffic with my brakes on, but the pads were wet and the rear pads would not hold the tires in place, they kept moving. Saw a 94' Jag next to me fighting the same problem, and he went into the curb.