All Season Tires On Snow

[JET LI FAN]

anyone has experience driving 04 GS 300 in winter on regular Goodyears? need comment badly to decide if I should buy winter set or no? My tires have 28Kmi on em

[1990LS400]

There have been a "gazillion" threads on this forum about your question.

All I can say is that there is that real snow tires with the mountain/snow flake symbol on the side wall make it much easier to get around in the snow and make winter driving a lot less scary in my 00 LS400. The handling of the GS and LS don't differ by all that much.

Yes, you can probably get by with all season M+S tires. However, "real" snow tires with the "mountain/snow flake symbol on the side wall" (did you get that, LOL), make it a lot more fun to drive in the winter.

As in past years, I am putting my Bridgestone Blizzak snow tires (with the mountain/snow flake symbol on the side wall) on my LS the day before Thanksgiving. Snow is in the forecast for where I am headed!

[new2mud]

As stated above, ONLY tires with the mountain/snowflake extreme service rating are to be trusted for true snow use. All-season tires are an entirely lower level of snow traction...and you'll notice it immediately.

For comparison, my RWD LS400 can get around way better on snow tires than AWD/4WD with all-season tires, and I live in an area that gets over 300 inches of snow every year.

Now, the only truly all-weather tire that has the mountain/snowflake rating that I am aware of is the Nokian WR tires, and they are the same compound all the way through, unlike Blizzaks, which only have the good stuff on the outer 1/2 of the tread. Plus the wear rating on the Nokians is comparable to an all-season. You can put these on and leave them on year-round, without the worry of chewing through them on dry roads. However, you won't get the responsiveness that a true summer tire provides.

[Jim Clark]

The best A/S tire for snow, by far, is the Continental ContiExtreme Contact. Their tread pattern is very similar to the popular Dunlop M3 winter tires.

[SW03ES]

Have you tested every other allseason tire in the snow? ;)

Tread pattern doesn't have a whole lot to do with snow performance. It has a lot more to do with rubber compound, siping, etc.

[Jim Clark]

Have you tested every other allseason tire in the snow? ;)

Tread pattern doesn't have a whole lot to do with snow performance. It has a lot more to do with rubber compound, siping, etc.

No, I haven't tested them all. BUT, I can tell you that I drove our Audi S6 in conditions that had other AWD cars off the road and/or unable to get up hills. I'm sure the excellent Quattro AWD system in the Audi had a lot to do with that but I was impressed how well the ContiExtremes did in VERY slippery conditions. I never had them in really deep snow (the Audi S6 doesn't have enough ground clearance for the really deep stuff), but had them in moderate levels and they did just fine.

Doesn't siping relate to tread pattern? All A/S tires must be made from rubber compounds that can handle the cold.

Take a look at the tread pattern similarities between the Extremes and the very popular Dunlop Winter Sport M3:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?ti...Winter+Sport+M3

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?ti...iExtremeContact

Here's the ratings for the Ultra High Performance A/S category:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresult....jsp?type=UHPAS

The Bridgestone's were rated slightly better on ice but I can tell you the Extremes performed extremely well when I had them in sheet ice conditions.

[SW03ES]

All A/S tires must be made from rubber compounds that can handle the cold.

Yes, that can HANDLE the cold, not that are specifically designed to perform in the cold. A/S tires need to have a balance and don't perform as well as a dedicated summer tire in the heat or a dedicated winter tire in the cold.

[Jim Clark]

Of course, A/S tires are a trade-off. If you live in an area that gets a lot of snow, dedicated winter tires are recommended. It also depends on how good your AWD system is. The Audi Quattro system is the gold standard. As much as I love our new 400h, I have no misconceptions that its AWD system will be anywhere close to the Quattro system. We'll go into winter with the A/S Michelins that came stock, hopefully they'll be OK, we don't get a lot of snow in VA. But, I'd rather have ContiExtremes on there as they are the best A/S tire for snow and ice and are darn good in all conditions.

As far as the original poster and his question, it depends on where he lives. My only experience with Goodyear tires (OEM on my Jeep) was not good.

[Lexusfreak]

Of course, A/S tires are a trade-off. If you live in an area that gets a lot of snow, dedicated winter tires are recommended.

Exactly.....some call all season tires '3 season' or 'no season' tires. The Goodyear Triple Treds are decent in the winter weather conditions.....for an all season tire, but I had the opportunity to drive a Lexus IS250 AWD with Blizzak's & what a difference the winter rubber made.....I was floored.

My only problem is, we do not have the room (nor the budget at the moment) for 2 set's of all season & winter tires for each vehicle.

I'm seriously considering the Nokian WR All Weather Plus tire (50 - 60k mile tread life) for my ES 330 because we live in a snowbelt region of Ontario now.

If anyone has any experience with these tires on their Lexus, I'd love to hear your feedback. :)

[Gaugster]

FWIW - I an rolling the Dunlop Sport 3D this season. They work great in snow and ice but still maintain the performance of a low profile tire in the wet/dry times. We have had a lot of snow (relatively) this year in Chicago so I have taken full advantage of their capabilities.

Regards,