Rx 330- Performance In Snow/wet Conditions

kevlex · April 9, 2004

This past winter was my first with my RX330. Not happy with performance, lots of skidding and fishtale-ing, even in relatively mild conditions. Anybody out there with similar experience? Anybody out there with suggestion for improvement?

johnnieliu · April 9, 2004

This past winter was my first with my RX330. Not happy with performance, lots of skidding and fishtale-ing, even in relatively mild conditions. Anybody out there with similar experience? Anybody out there with suggestion for improvement?

I had a different experience. We had a couple of snowy-icy days here in the PNW and I thought my AWD RX330 did quite well. I was going down this curvy-icy hill, when I felt the rear end fishtale, but the vehicle corrected itself before it became uncontrollable. I went down this hill(1st gear) an average of about 5-10 MPH becuase of the really icy conditions.

I also took the vehicle out to an empty parking lot to see if I can break the rear end lose, but again, the car corrected itself after the slip.

Overall, I'm quite impressed.

SW03ES · April 9, 2004

Is your RX AWD? 17 or 18 inch wheels?

blue_rx330 · April 10, 2004

I was very happy with the winter performance of my RX330. Even in spirited driving, it was hard to make the vehicle lose its composure.

Did you by chance change your stock/factory tires to summer/performance tires? I had a BMW 328i before, and and there was an enormous difference between the stock performance tires, and real winter tires (I chose Dunlop Winter Sports). With the Dunlops, I was able to accelerate faster than most FWD's from a dead stop. On stock tires, I'd just roll at low speed while the traction control struggled to find grip.

Was your tire pressure unusually low? I've taken lessons at a skid-pad where I was able to force a sedan into a controlled skid. To trick the vehicles into losing traction early, the driving school would purposely deflate the tires. On dry pavement you want to large contact patch. On icy pavement, you want a smaller contact patch.

Jetstream · April 10, 2004

2004 RX330 - Eugene,Oregon

Parts of Oregon not used to much snow really got hit around 1st. of the year. Up here in the hills, vehicle had good intentions, but it was obvious the stock tires (M+S) were not up to the task.

A good skier needs good skis! Nokian Hakapellita SUV w/ studs. These 4 "real" snow tires converted this vehicle into a Snow Cat. Mountain passes where chains were required were like a summer drive. Eugene hasn't gotten any more snow the rest of the winter! That figures!

Jetstream