I have a RWD IS 250 F Sport, and recently moved to a whole new state.
Washington to be exact... always been in southern TX - so never had to really be concerned about having a RWD in weather conditions; as, Texas is pretty much a stable 1 1/2 season place - LOL!
However, after moving to Washington state, I am starting to feel concerned about the environment.

I currently have the MICHELIN
PILOT SPORT A/S 3 PLUS. Albeit, I understand these can wear our fairly quick. I am having these thoughts and like some advice; especially if you live or experienced RWD in cold to possible snow conditions in the NW region.

1) The Hills and mountains can be steep in certain areas (steep inclines)
2) Highways = lots of traffic
3) Rain to potential snow in winter (Seattle area).

I have considered trading it in for a Subaru, as it seems to be the common theme here. However, I do not wish to trade due to the obvious financial changes, and personally - I like my Lexus Fsport.

Any advice/suggestion and what tires to consider next?

Advice/Tips living with a RWD in the NW (Washington).

Thanks!

 

Put your car in eco mode and snow mode, drive careful and dont be too agressive. Put on winter tires around this time of year.

 

Pittsy is correct, get a set of winter wheels and tires. Your IS is one of the few cars that has an easy switch for the
Tire Pressure Monitor to avoid needing the dealer to initialize every spring and fall. Have it done once when you
buy the winter set and then just do it yourself.

 

Any suggestions for a good winter snow set of wheels or tires?

I currently have the pilot as3 plus on all for tires at or spec.

 

 

Definitely no need to go and change your whole car just for Seattle. I've seen tons of rwd. I live here as well and winter tires will do fine. Just don't go driving so aggressive when it's rainy/snowy and you'll have no problems.

 

The 3IS doesn't have a switch...the 2IS did though.

For the snows, since you have a 250 you can even downsize to a 16 inch steel rim if you want.
Look in the spec section of the owners manual and you will find the 16 inch rim/tire size that you can use.

 

If you are referring to the snow switch, and the 2014+ (3is) - there is a snow button and Eco mode.

I don't plane on downsizing the tire, as that works actually work against; since it be less surface area/traction.

It's either a different car for the awd - drive train or tires like suggested. In this case, it sounds like Seattle is still tolerable for changing to snow tires.

Thank you!

 

The switch I was referring to is the TPMS switch.
The 2IS had the feature of accepting TPMS sensor codes for 2 sets of wheels. Therefore once both sets were programmed the first time, the driver could select whichever set they wanted via a dash-mounted switch to the left of the steering wheel.
Unfortunately this feature did not carryover into the 3IS.

As for the downsizing I was only referring to the width of the wheel assembly, where the circumference would stay the same. Therefore the speedometer and other systems would not be effected.
Also, there is a popular misconception that bigger is better when it comes to traction from snow tires...and in fact it's quite the opposite.
With summer wheels where the rubber contacts the road directly, the wider the tire the more surface area contacts.
However, with winter tires, when actually driving through snow/slush/ice/water, the better performance will come from a skinnier tire that can cut through all that to reach the actual road surface, where the real traction is.
Wider tires in the winter will tend to ride on top of the snow/slush/ice/water because they have so much surface area...and on top the snow is not where the traction is, it's still on the road surface. Think hydroplaning.
If you observe other vehicles in winter, they either have stock size snow tires or smaller, no one puts bigger tires on in the winter.
Usually people use stock sizes because they don't want a second set of rims, and use the rims the vehicle came with.

With all the safety systems on the 3IS, combined with a good set of narrower snow tires, you should not have any trouble in the winter. I can't imagine the snow there gets any worse than the snow we have here.
Of course we don't have a lot of mountains on the side of the continent where I am...for the most part it's relatively flat in comparison to the west coast.

Ultimately the decision is yours, at least you have the correct information to work with now.

 

For 27 years I've owned RWD cars (INFINITI G35, VW fastback, 3 Volvo 240D's, etc.) in the NE with zero issues. Between all these RWD's, there have been >600K miles.

We moved here from LA. Have never gotten stuck or spun off the road. The key was getting an excellent all season tire like the Continental DWS, Continental Pure Contact, etc., and driving safely.

The 3-IS is my 1st AWD.

If I lived in Syracuse, Boston, NYC or Cleveland, I would switch to snow tires for the winter, tho.