I have an AWD 4gs with Dunlop 235/45R 18 all season tires. In February i encountered one instance of near blizzard conditions. It seemed that the car seemed to float on the snow. I am wondering about getting a reasonably priced set of tires and wheels that make a bit more sense. Would a sknnier, more aggressive setup make sense? Thanks.

 

Generally, a narrower winter tire helps bite through the snow to reach pavement. I've found that mounting these on a set of factory wheels provides the best corrosion protection. For my LS, I bought a set of 17" silver painted wheels from an 01 LS430. For my Prius, I mounted my winter tires on my factory wheels and bought aftermarket wheels for summer use. I should also start thinking about what I'm going to do for the GS.

 

My plan (we'll see how it goes through the first winter), is to wear out my Turanza's over the next year or two, and then drop them and get Winters for my F-Sports and buy separate summer wheels and tires. I tend to not drive if the snow is too bad anyways.

I am also going to send a letter to Lexus corporate with a few gripes (tires, soft paint, and my bumper expansion) and see what they say. With my IS300 they actually replaced my tires because they had some quality issues (some were "bubbling"), so maybe they might do the same here. Even though the Turanza's don't really have a quality issue. They're just crap.