HPvsMPG

I have tried different tires and just cannot get the front tires to bite. I'm not talking about it being a little slippery in the snow. I mean that car is almost undrivable on any kind of hill of even a few degrees of slope with snow on it. Is this typical of the beast or anyone have recommendations?

I'm assuming the weight being centered in the middle of the car rather than front heavy over the front tires is the reason. I had a '97 Chevy front wheel drive Lumina sedan that did better in the snow than my Mountaineer as long as it didn't get high centered!

Thanks!

plovell

Are you trying winter tires, or just all season. My 05 330 has Yokohama Ice Guard winter tires and it drives almost as good as my Jeep with 4 X 4 in the snow.

speedkar9

My 2005 ES is horrible in the snow, or any slick conditions.
I'm using Michelin MXV4 Primacy tires, and my car does not have traction control.
I find my self skidding and slipping all over the place.
The other day I tried passing a truck, downshifted and my wheels started spinning out on the highway @ 90Km/h!! Scary!

That's why when it snows, I drive my Solara, Michelin X-Ice winter tires, traction control, and a much easier to control drive by cable throttle. Much more confident.

Oro

The 4es is competent in the snow if you have either:

A) less than 50k on it, or
B) replaced the crap factory rear susension.

It's a really Binary thing. The rear springs are ****e on this and wear out fast, ruin the weight bias. Fortunately Moog makes a cheap fix for this. You did not hear it from me, but it is called cc273. Toyota and Lexus do not abide by that simple fix, or it would cost them money.

But the Dude abides.

I live in the Cascade Mtn Foothills, occasionally go to ski, go east in winter, or on just a really bad wintery day, take the 12 year old step son to a very empty parking lot and show him balance and throttle/brake exercises. I was learnign that crap safely on Ford 8Ns on Indiana pig farms back in the day, gotta figure I pay it forwards some way, right?

What you are fighting is the crap rear OE suspension tuned to sell the car it geriatrics on a test drive, not an inherent problem with the design. This Lexus has great guts but was suspensioned-tuned to be an Oldsmobile. Heard of them these days?

Megafast13

Mine doesn't handle well in the snow, which is fun but scary. It's a pretty heavy car. My tanabe suspension helped a little with the snow, mainly think lowering it 1.5" did, but can also be counterproductive in heavy snow. I usually turn off the traction control though, it irritates me as it literally disables my brakes and I'll just slide forward.

twc300

my 03 es300 has 218,00 and handles very well in the snow. I am running Ecopia all season tires and my
Lexus is real stable and predictable in the snow, i drive 80 to 100 miles per day on 2 lane country roads to my office. I have only owned this car 4 months and handles much better than expected given its size and weight.