Hello everybody,
I was wondering if anybody can share his/her experience in winter driving.
How the ES 350 perform in different winterish condition.
I am in Alberta,Canada and winter just started. I am getting my car in February, so i would like to be sort of prepare (it is middle of the bl... winter).
Practically it will concern owners from Canada and N/E US.

Cheers,
Discoverer

 

Just got ours last month, has just over 1,000 miles (with the cold weather start up ticking too). We plan to drive it sparingly without modification this winter as the tires are new, but we also have a Mountaineer and Lincoln LS to use. I would expect with FWD, traction and stablility control, there should not be too much of an issue in the average snow in Northeast PA.

 

We are in Anchorage and have had snow long enough for it to change into black ice (don't ask) by now. My wife gets the 350 but reports it does fine with front wheel drive, traction control. I guess a light comes on to tell the sensory-impaired that its slippery out. We presently do not have studed snows on, but may switch if it fails in the fluffy.

With temps in the teens, she reports the car starts fine after sitting in the lot all day, and she loves the fact that the seats warm quickly while waiting for the engine to warm up.

 

Garsano,

What's your LS like in the snow? Do you have winter tires? I don't imagine it's very "confidence inspiring" in slippery conditions.

If you have the All-Season or M+S tires on the ES, I have to assume it will do fine in anything less than blizzard conditions.

 

Has anyone bought snow tires from someone other than LEXUS? It sounds like the pressure sensor is an issue. What happens if I install new wheels and tires w/o the sensor? Do you get a light? A beep?

 

Have Michelin X-Ice snows mounted on all four aluminum wheels (base wheels that came on the car) while in the summer, I run chrome LS wheels with Goodyear Assurance Triple Treads. No problem with the LS in the winter (rear wheel drive with traction control) so long as you run snow tires.

 

I think tire dealers / installers have run into the pressure sensors before and are familiar with how to set it up.

 

How do you enjoy our winter drining? How your new car is performing on our streets in -28C? What do you think about tires?, I guess you have Michelin.
I am very interested in ES 350 winter performance. I still wonder if this is good choice for our bl... weather...
Stay warm
Discoverer

 

My car has been fine in our winters Toronto,Canada...even with the ridiculous amount of snow we had last winter...sorry i know you posted this a long time ago. ALTOUGH late into the winter, so say february 08 I did slide right through an intersection ....so maybe it wasn't fine. I've been running the normal all seasons for 1.5 years now. I am now figuring out what I should do for winter tires/wheels.

put 17" winter tires on the stock wheels and buy aftermarket 18"s?
buy steel wheels and hubcaps ...eww.
side note, anyone know how many miles/kms the allseason michelin's i think they are should last. Car is at around 40k km

 

Wow, you brought an oldie but goodie thread back alive.

On my car, at 30K miles I have about another 10K of tread left on my Mich's. I may not let them go to the end, so I have some new treads for the winter.

 

what winter tires did you end up getting? I am new at buying tires. sidenote, are 17" winter tires much more expensive than 15"? i know there seems to be a huge jump from 18" to 19" for normal tires it seems

nevermind..there's no way i'm gonna put 15" steel wheelies on my ride

 

Damn. You guys have Winter already? It was in the 100s last week here.