EastWind

How does your LS400 drive in the snow for those of you that drive in snow? Mine a 1990, is pretty much terrible! I got some 15-16 rims with snow tire last winter and it was great! But the rims I believe came from a toyota avalon and when I changed my brake pads, they couldn't fit, now I got the newer GS rims and performance tires and it really sucks so it's parked in the garage on days we have snow on the ground. I need some snow tires. I heard the 98-00 are pretty good and much better than the earlier years. Maybe that's the reason I need to upgrade.

LiCelsior

iTrader: (32)

sucks horribly..definitely getting snow wheels next winter. even with 2 inches of snow on the ground, i go sliding.

hobojoe

Haha well I have the Stock 15" Lexus wheels and i run non studed Hankook Ipikes on em. Works AMAZING! Only real Limit is the snow depth. Also though i have probably 100 to 120lbs of stereo equipment in the trunk which helps with the rear traction!

Kansas

How would changing brake pad cause Avalon wheels to not fit -- Tire Rack and other companies sold a gazillion take-off Avalon wheels in their snow tire packages for the gen 1 LS400 back in the 1990s. The 15" wheels on our 98 Camry fit the 90 LS I used to have just fine. Do you need to get some OEM brake pads to make your wheels fit?

Yes, the 98-00 LS is much better in snow than the gen 1 LS400 but snow tires are also needed on the 98-00 LS. All the electronic traction and stability control gizmos of the 98-00 LS don't do much good without snow tires.

When buying snow tires, make sure they are true snow tires and have a mountain/snowflake symbol on the sidewalls. There is a huge difference in snow traction between all-season tires with M&S or M+S on the sidewall and true snow tires with the mountain/snowflake symbol.

trukn1

I have a 92 myself and while the LS is not the IDEAL car for the snow, mine doesnt do too badly; but I also have close to 10 lbs of audio in the trunk which help a little. What it really boils down to is how you drive the car and anticipate what ou next move is gonna have to be BEFORE you actually have to commit to it. Driving ANY RWD car in the snow is gonna be much harder than driving a FWD one. True snow tires as well as all season tires are gonna perform better than performance tires; this is not what they were engineered for. While the later years did get better with time with aids like Traction control, snow mode etc., it still boils down to the skill of the driver in order to pull it all together and navigate safely. Honestly, like I said, my 92 does just fine in the snow, but I do have a slight mental advantage, since I am used to navigating 18 wheelers thru blizzards. After doing that, my LS is nothing to handle. LOL!!!

farquad

that's funny.. i was wondering why i even bothered getting snow tires for my LS, it's handled extremely well.. any loss of traction would be because i pushed it beyond the limit.. then i realize it's been tame because of the tires
i don't even have a functioning traction control/abs system, and it has still been good.. i do feel like i can't just accelerate and go, that's partly based on not having a functioning traction control, cause i noticed another LS just accelerate off the line fine, whereas mine was losing control
seriously, winter tires are amazing.. good excuse for getting aftermarket summer rims too (Y) i have my winters mounted on the stock 15" rims
edit: i guess i should mention the 2 12" subs i have in my trunk also..

19psi

that's pretty much exactly everything i was going to say.

to be more blunt though, if you changed your brake pads and now your wheels don't fit, you messed something up and you will have much great problems than not being able to drive in snow if you don't go back and figure it out now.

my LS also sucks in snow, but i don't care because i have much more capable vehicles to drive in those conditions. (see sig).

EastWind

first of all, I don't know why you guys are so strong on the avalon wheels, the avalon wheels are not lexus wheels. just cuz they have the same bolt patterns, doesn't make them right. I don't own an avalon but one thing I know for sure and certain is that my 15" lexus wheel fitted fine after the brake change, but the avalon rim didn't, and my 17" GS wheels fit alright too. The brake caliper came out a bit and was rubbing against the rim. On both sides, this is from my personal experience. If you are running avalon rims or anything else that works for you, good for you! This happend around march of 08, it's all in the past. I got the perfect lexus rims for me, and not worried about it. I will just advice people getting snow tires, to make sure they get a rim that may not give them problem if they have to upgrade their brakes, go with LS rims and known GS rims that fit with no issues.

Vander

I have a few 40lb bags of salt in my trunk to help with traction, it makes a big difference

Kansas

I'm not "strong on the Avalong wheels". I'm just pointing out that the Avalon wheel was the only wheel offered in the gen 1 LS400 wheel/snow tire packages sold by the largest sellers like Tire Rack back in the 1990s.

Also, people were merely pointing out that there seems to be something wrong with your brake pad installation if the calipers were rubbing against the Avalon wheels after the new pads were installed.

Regarding your "avalon wheels are not lexus wheels" statement, are you not aware that all LS400s were sold in Japan and a few other countries as Toyota Celsiors. Lexus is just a marketing division of the Toyota Motor Company and Toyota and Lexus branded vehicles are sometimes assembled in the same factory -- like Chevy and Cadillac.

jcrome04

The wheels didn't fit after you changed the BRAKE PADS??????


That makes ZERO sense. And my Ls400 does fine in the snow.

Just like Trukn1 said. Maybe it's not the ideal car for snow. But with the right skill it's not a big problem.

nthach

Just get steelies off a 1990s Camry LE V6 or a 1998-2003 Sienna LE/CE. You want snow tires to be as close to the OEM fitment as possible.

1995LS400

I have no problems in the snow. I am running Falken FK-512's and they get around pretty good. I actually like driving in snow with the RWD cause i like to drift around corners once in awhile.