Dean2

Hi. New to this forum, just found it when looking up how to fix the low speed brake squeal on my GS.

I have an o6 with about 80K on it. Have had it for four years and never winer driven. I am debating trading it off on an AWD GS or putting it into full time service as my year round driver.

I haven't driven a rear wheel drive car in the winter for 20 years. Everything else I have is AWD of 4x4. Here in Alberta we get some serious snow and ice. I have Nokian WR2 tires on it year round because you can get snow in the mountains even in July. I tried mine on the driveway after a good snow fall and even on Winter ESB and with good tires, it does not seem to have great traction.

Have any of you used your GS430s in regualr winter driving, heavy snow and ice. What has the perfromance been like. Any tips on how to get it to perform its best in deep snow or very slippery roads? Thanks.

SirCrush32

See if you can get some Blizzak LM60's that would be your best bet.

twylie

iTrader: (3)

It's not a great winter car. With good winter tires and sensible driving, you can get around, but it wouldn't be anything I'd do by choice for any significant portion of the calendar. Snow mode + only used the first 1" of throttle and brakes last time I drove through a serious storm. Still almost ended up in the ditch a couple of times as the back end wanted to drift to the low side. Ground clearance is not great; it didn't take long until I could hear the center snow ridge dragging underneath.

Simmsled

What are the conditions up there? Do they plow/salt/sand effectively?

Do you see more ice or deep snow?

GS350Lexus

iTrader: (5)

Get the awd

worker

You don't want to depend on that. Good traction can help in any condition.

I agree. You see that much snow and ice that you have to have snow tires on all year round than best go with AWD.

I have GS430, it didn't do great on ice.

Once I had to go up an icy road incline. I would have made it too if it weren't for the stop sign with cars. I would have crawl through that stop intersection if there were no car, but there was a car so I stopped. After that I had a bit of problem getting the car going again. Funny, I waved for others to go and they wave back. hahahaha took me a few tries to finally hit the right spot for my tires to get traction and start rolling again.

I was amazed that I got out of that icy incline. Every soft press on the gas and the back wheel would lose traction. The car even slide back a few times, luckily nobody was behind me the whole time I was there.

We don't get many snow storm here in MD. All season tires + GS430 is fine with me.

Dean2

Thanks for the replies.

SirCrush As to the Blizzaks, have tried them on other vehicles, not my favourite winter tire, find Michellin quite a bit superior. My favourite the last 5 or so years have become the Nokian Hakipilatja and the WR2s. In addition to the set on the 430, also run the Nokians year round on a Forrunner, an Olds and a Dodge 2500 4x4. The Nokian's have equal ice grip, better deep snow grip, and way better high speed, dry/wet road performance performance plus they maintain this for the whole life of the tire rather than just the first 30%. Also, the Nokians last much better than the Blizzaks overall, even running them year round they are getting 50 to 65 thousand miles a set.

twylie
I too am concerned about the clearance too. We get heavy snow dumps, with sometimes two or three days till the roads are all cleared. We also get a lot of ice as salt and the other products they use don't work below -15 and if the roads are wet they just turn to ice.

I tthink you guys have confirmed what I already was worried about. I think I will keep the 430 for a summer car and drive something better suited to winter driving while the snow is on the ground. -40, salt, rock/sand on roads, deep snow and lots of ice is not the right environment for something as pretty as a Lexus 430. Thanks all for taking the time to answer.

Simmsled

FALSE... you have to know what your conditions are to get the right tire for the situation. You must be a snow-belt rookie.

There are tires set up for ice (when glazed over by plows) snow (fresh powder or hard pack) sand/salt etc.

BUT, if you don't have clearance... it won't matter on hard-pack when you just sink into the snow.

I am from South Bend, Indiana and we would get more snow than Anchorage Alaska.

The GS430 is not a snow wizard, but with the right tire for the right situation you can make the best of it... rather than just saying "Go get an AWD"... even though it looks like it may be the way to go under the circumstances.

Bkwindom84

Any of you have experience with tire chains? seeing that the 430 isn't a wizard in the snow I thought it might be a good idea when we expect heavy snow conditions.

Dean2

I have a lot of experience with chains on all kinds of vehicles. Puting chains on a 245 low profile tire, with limited wheel well clearance would be a huge pain in the *** and the limited clearance would aslo mean any looseness, even on the poly chains, could do some majar damage to body work. If you are where chains might be needed I would definitely be renting a more appropriate vehicle for that trip and if it is regular need then I would have a diferent car. Even here in Alberta I only need chains when I am well away from civilization, or in the mountains, and in neither case would I be driving the GS, or any other limited clearnace car.

Simmsled

Subaru Outback. Bam. Job done.

worker

Nope... I'm not a snow-belt rookie, I'm a snow-belt virgin. Are you saying traction is not good with snow-belt?

Yes, clearance would help. Again, no traction if your car is being lift up.

imo, car is not a snow wizard at all. HUV is a much better wizard when it come to snow. Maybe that's why I see more HUV off road and flipped..... after the snow storm. Cause with cars we just give up and stay home.

Simmsled

Some areas allow studded tires for ice traction.
There are snow tires that are 'studdable', but if you cannot use studs, then you get a tire designed for stud-less ice performance. If you just have deep snow... well there is a tire for that too.

So you just have to have the right tire for the situation... not just assume that all 'winter' tires are created equal.

twylie

iTrader: (3)

Here was the car after driving for about 5 hours in a storm. Had just parked it 5 min prior.



Here was the car the next morning when I set off on the next leg of the journey. I was on Michelin Pilot Sport A/S and while they worked, I was really mentally drained after driving it for 5+ hours in the snow. Took me about 20 min to dig out of the parking lot so I could get back on the interstate.

worker

^ I would just call in say I can't come to work.

my GS430 in the snow. It's rare for us to have this much snow in MD.