Hey guys, i'm planning to head up to Yosemite tomorow night and coming back tuesday night, but i wanted to know how well the first gen gs handles in snow with chains and just Michilin street tires? Will i be getting stuck alot and what are some tips for me when driving in the snow since this is going to be my first time driving through possibly snow fall.

 

oh btw, my first gen does not have trac control

 

Without traction control your boned. I have trac and 280 pounds of sand in the back and so far i've been fine. I turn off trac late at night so I can drift around everywhere but I'd never drive without it durring the day.

 

does TC just reduce the torque of your car and not let you press the gas pedal hard? or does TC tap on the breaks for you when it sense slipping.

 

(I have an LSD on mine [sucky one though], factory I guess, it's not a trd 147, I spin both tires) anyhow these cars slide worse worse then a dog on a freshly polished hard wood floor. Best advice, go slow, and if you start to slide in a left hand turn steer right lol and if you start to slide in a right hand turn steer left, and let off the gas, and do not brake unless you want to do a 180.

when I get more power I plan on adding the TRD-147 (for chasis JZS-147) LSD, which is really good. I am getting mine from Toyota of Japan

 

well i know how to drive in the rain very well and have done a lot of counter steering, but since this is my first time driving through snow falling i wanted to ask. I have previously drove through snow that has been sitting on the ground for a few days but the snow was more like ice and was not fun with the gs, i found it to slip very easily and got stuck easily. What does it feel like with chains on? also should i put chains on the rear only since its RWD or would i need chains for the front to help in turning?

 

just drive with a really light foot.... especially when starting from a stop and you'll be fine. Personally sliding in the snow in a gs is fun lol.

 

how was it man? i forgot to mention that it all depends on your tires too. ****ty tires do terrible in the rain and snow but good ones or at least decent ones do much better.

 

check out the thread on my new paint

 

A couple weeks ago I got caught coming back from VA Beach to D.C. It had snowed maybe 2-3 inches at most, but very icey. Needless to say, it was the scariest drive I have ever been on. Not because of my driving, but the fact that no one else seemed to know how to cope.

My GS has traction control and Michellin Pilots (not M+S) I made the 200+ mile trip, albeit very slowly, with little fanfare. I just look at it this way - traction is a resource to be shared between steering, braking, and accelerating. All of those activities require some of the resource (traction). Choose whichever one (or combination) of those activities you like - they will take from the available pool. Snow knocks that resource pool in half - so you need to make decisions on how and when you take from the resource.

I avoid driving in the snow if I don't have to - the GS is just not as well suited for snow driving (particularly without snow tires). That said, a little knowledge and patience will yield suprisingly good results.

 

or you can follow my theory and forget all you said and just drive sideways in the snow keep it sideways man! lolz

 

Wet pavement uphill from a stop is hard enough for my gs without trac. If it ever snows here I'm not taking the GS. Glad you made it back alive jmai lol.

 

I know what you guys mean I have a GS300 with TRAC and I live up north so like last year in around christmas time, there was a severe snowstorm here and I was on my way to work in the morning.
In fall I was working for 4 months as part of my co-op prog in Univerisity, anyways I used to commute like 100 miles a day back and forth everyday. This was surely not my lucky day that morning they had issued a snow storm warning and said to drive very very carefully especially on ramps as cars were going into ditches like no tomorrow honestly it was baddddd. . .
That day it was snowing continoutly hard and the snow was wet when it fell on thoe roads making it extremely slippery. . . I swear my steering wheel felt so light I couldn't even feel it good feeling but then after a split second I would feel the TRAC system working in trying to prevent slipping, EVERY TIME I HIT the Accelarator the TRAC light came on no matter how slow I was going . . .
I just couldnt believe it the car did not drive normally at all as I usually drive it like I mean if it weren't for the TRAC light I would have been a goner just like the 5 cars I saw in the ditch within 10mins of the start of the heavy snowfall. . . . .
1. honda civic hatchback
2. GMC jimmy
3. Honda CRV
4. Grand-Am
5. Lastly a Brand new 2005 Lincoln Towncar felt really sorry for this one as it was black and really new poor guy wasnt even his fault went in the ditch . . . .

but unfortunately that was not all dat dat, my best friends GS400 also went in the ditch at a turn however not all the way in at first as he jerked the accelarator and tried to come out but jus slid in slowly because he just lost traction! (he got stranded for quite a while actually becuz towtrucks were all over the place)
this and one other incident where he came out of his house and there was some snow outside his driveway and he I guess didnt see it and as he turned his rear slod and hit the wall outside his house courtyard and what he told me later was that he had gotten stuck and used ECT and turned VSC off . . . .BIG MISTAKE never do that because that could lead to more trouble

Anyways our TRAC systems are good enough for the year they were produced in provided we drive responsibly and watch out for black ice and stuff like that. . . .

Lol my friend is selling his car because of these 2 incidents and getting a Nissan Murano Im trying to convince him not to do that his car has about 65K and is in great condition but hes just being an *** and says these cars are unreliable and dont even come close to BMW and Mercedes his dad drives a S500 00 and mom 325xi 02, I mean I wont completly disagree with what hes saying but however for the price Lexus is worth every penny
I mean GS is the definitive and unique blend of performance and luxury coupled together!!!

Anyways I dont know how to convince him to keep his car got any ideas guys ?

 

First explain the obvious to him. The Nissan Murano looks like an egg with wheels.

 

lol I know what you mean he is going to get that or the GMC envoy YUK ! I mean this guy thinks that our cars eat too much money and I keep on telling him that any used car after 50k will eat some amount of money because lets face it has accrued some wear and tear upon itself!
anyways I mean my GS300 93 200K is fine driving smooth except for that problem that groomed after the dealer serviced my car which I'm goin on Thursday to get fixed from Lexus but otherwise yes when I bought my car it was ready to drive! did I have to put money into it? NO but I did anyways because I wanted too as Im keeping it for a while . . .so I put money for things like engine tune-up, new brakes, timing belt, balljoints and steering linkages thats all I mean I try explaining this guy but he just wont understand any other ideas?