Does my 2012 Rx 350 need winter tires? I have all season Cooper tires mounted thus far.

 

Do you have 18 or 19 inch wheels? How new are your tires? Is this a new vehicle to you? It sounds like it is. Our all wheel drive is really front wheel drive that engages all wheel drive when it senses slipping.

Well you are in Maine, where I heard it snows a lot. Depends how much you expect to hit unplowed snow covered roads.

I would give the Coopers a chance to see how they work this winter before spending almost $1000 (or more) for another set of wheels and tires. Because you do not want to pay to have your tires swapped on and off the same set wheels twice a year. It costs a lot and will damage your tires. You can easily find used wheels on craigslist or eBay because the Toyota Venza or Highlander, or Camry wheels are an exact fit, as is the Lexus ES350.

And you probably would want 18 inch wheels as that would allow a bigger sidewall in the snow which is less likely to get damaged and costs less, as do tires in that size.

 

The question is more of a personal one, where you may consider the all seasons good enough, while your neighbor would insist on winter tires.

Would have to ask what you were driving before the RX, what tires did you have on it, and was it good enough for you?

Personally, I just have all season radials on my AWD/4WD winter vehicles, including the '13 450h, and it's good enough for me. I did have a set of Blizzaks years ago on a AWD sedan, and have to admit that they were clearly better than the all seasons on the 4-5 days per winter when things iced over, but for me, not worth the expense and hassle of another set tires and wheels to store and swap twice a year.

Of course as I get older I find myself just staying at home in bad weather instead of insisting on having to be somewhere

 

When I was living in the snow I just bought the best set of all season tires I could get and those actually worked great. I didnt drive a lot, so I just kept the tires inflated, rotated and car alligned, so the tires stayed gripping like new.
Like others have said, it's really different for everyone... how bad the snow is, if its plowed, hills, how much you drive, how good you are at driving in snow.
If money is no concern, then yes, get winter tires on a seperate set of rims and swap them out each year. That's your safest bet.

 

Maine sounds nice. I say "no".

 

Not needed, but I appreciate having mine. I've ran winters with and without a set. Just a little bit more comfort in the cars capability when the snow flies.

 

depends on how much you drive, i.e. if you can stay at home when there's a lot of snow, you don't need them.
I'd love to get by without them, but I live in Vermont in the mountains and I absolutely feel they are essential...I have an AWD Volvo I don't drive much, so I leave the
all season tires on it, use the Lexus when there's considerable snow. When you're dealing with heavy, wet snow, they make a BIG difference...
p.s. in Quebec which is next door to us, they have a law mandating snow tire use.

 

We use snows in the winter and it makes a big difference. AWD is nice for getting you going, but you can't be snow tires for helping you steer and stop when the roads are covered.

 

It really is a personal question based on driving habits, location, commute distance etc which all boils to a risk tolerance that only be answered on an individual basis.

 

I've spoken to a number of cops who bemoan the AWD fever that a lot of people get around here (and other places). People drive too fast and fail to use snow tires which (as someone already noted) leads to lots of steering and stopping problems.

 

And no one asked Op if he has AWD or not?

 

The OP hasn't shown himself since he posted his question. What's AWD got to do with it? AWD doesn't help in stopping or steering on slick/icy roads.

The last time I drove without winter tires was in 1978 when I lost control while driving carefully/slowly on a crowded icy Interstate highway and did a 360 degree rotation in the center lane of three east bound lanes on an elevated section of I-70 just east of Kansas City. My wife freaked out and it was incredibly by chance that I didn't hit other vehicles. Since then, I've witnessed numerous vehicles crash on icy roads and have avoided some of them crashing into me due to my winter tires allowing me to take evasive action or to simply slam on the brakes and stop. All our vehicles have some model of Bridgestone Blizzak winter tires on them every winter..

 

It's all about how much of a safety margin you are willing to go with given your specific driving conditions. Granted, this video is from a company that sells tires and testing was performed on an ice rink but it demonstrates the differences in traction when icy conditions are involved. However there are certainly plenty of other comparisons that you can refer to as well.


AWD can provide some small benefit (depending on the system as not all AWD is equal) but even AWD vehicles can greatly benefit from winter tires.

 

Won't argue that winter tires are not better for winter conditions, but, how many times a year do the roads where you live turn into the equivalent of an ice rink? Except for during a snow storm, the DOT gets things cleared down to pavement/asphalt pretty fast where I live. And during and before the storm they usually have the intersections pretty well salted.