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A bit early to be talking about snow, but as we know, Rwd is notoriously bad in the snow.

Do you think the fact that the Battery is over the rear wheels will improve the traction in any way?, I have noticed the extra weight at the back at times, when going over certain bumps etc.

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It all depends on the tyres, in my experience :)

I have a friend with a Toyota Celica and another with a Honda Integra. Both FWD and both went nowhere in the snow. Both run 17" low-profile tyres that are very similar to my IS200.

In contrast, I have another friend with a peasant-spec Mercedes C180 running skinny 15" tyres on steel rims. RWD car but he never had an issue in winter.

So there you go :P

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The thinner the tyres the better, but fitting winter/snow tyres is the only way to do the job properly.

Plenty on this forum if you run a search.

Sent from my Iphone using Lexus OC

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This is a strange post to be writing in August, the outside temperature recorded by my car when I parked it


ten minutes ago having been 31°C, but here goes.



I live at the bottom of a long incline which, at its steepest, is around 1:3 and consists of old cobblestones and


smooth granite slabs. Snow and slush and possible ice can make it extremely difficult for cars to get up the


slope and risky to go down it, so much so that the first sniff of frost in the air, maybe around mid-October, makes


me head for the garage that stores and fits my winter tyres. In fact, this usually puts me ahead of local traffic


regulations which make winter tyres or the availability of chains obligatory from November to March.



Having taken delivery of my 300h in mid-October (18" wheels, rear 255/35), I drove only a couple of weeks with


normal tyres before switching to winter ones (245/45/18, all four) until April. These were Yokohama W-Drives,


whereas the two IS250s I previously drove were fitted, at various times, with Bridgestone Blizzaks, Goodyear


Ultragrips, Pirelli Sottozeros or Michelin Alpins. This lack of loyalty to one brand rests on my inability to find an


objective reason to other than marginally favour any single one over another in terms of grip, comfort, sllence or durability. And since I am suspicious of published reviews whose verdicts in a highly competitive business may


derive from vested interests, I simply go for premium brands offered with deep discounts, preferably off-season


when the discounts may be even deeper.



Because this last winter was so mild as to protect my gleaming new 300h from the sort of slipping and sliding


and fish-tailing which blights my otherwise fond memories of the 250s, I must withhold judgment of the car's


performance in extreme conditions. Nevertheless, the experience of four or five days of compacted snow and


subsequent deep slush make me optimistic, indeed very much so. With the TRC and VSC both off, Snow-mode


on, and first gear engaged, the 300h kept a perfectly straight line up the aforementioned slope and once even


moved off without hesitation after I was forced to stop at the steepest point. In similar circumstances, the 250s


had been known to end up sideways before sliding back downhill.



My personal impression is that the stability of the 300h, which is also noticeable in all bad-weather conditions,


has less to do with improved weight distribution, good as this is, than with the graduality of response of the


transmission and the effectiveness of the controls.

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Winters, everytime!!

I knew you'd be in like a shot on this thread, one of your faves lol

Sent from my Iphone using Lexus OC

It is...my secret is out! lol

Seriously though, I've done all sorts in the past with rear wheel drive cars - sand bags, etc etc. The easiest thing in the world to do is lower the pressures to about 22PSI. It increases the foot print of the tyre by 50-100% depending on the size of tyre, but nothing works as well as winters.

People often say that it's too expensive, and it can be if you buy new wheels etc to go with the tyres. I bought some GS300 SEL wheels off eBay for £110, and an SGS trolley jack for £75. Plus the tyres (2 good 2nd hands for the rear and 2 new ones for the fronts - cost £480)...so about £700 spent in total....but what I do know is this:

In summer, winter tyres will wear quicker (the silica compound is too soft and sticky for warm weather)

In winter, summer tyres will wear quicker (as they lose traction and slip about on wet/damp cold roads)

So actually you'll probably find that your tyres will last a lot longer - i.e. cover more miles in their lifetime.

And at the end of it all, I'll just flog them on eBay again and hope to get half of it back! So actually, the extra re-assurance, grip and safety is well worth it. Even if it doesn't snow - the winter tyres work so much better in cold conditions (<7degs C)

This is all coming from a previously self admitting winter tyre sceptic! The type of summer tyre you have and the amount of tread makes a huge difference, it's largely down to that and how gentle you are with the loud pedal (than it being a Lexus IS300h) that will mean you are OK or not in slippery conditions. I've found that applies to any rear wheel drive car; for example my old e60 automatic was OK in snow and ice on non run-flat Hankook summers, when everyone else complained; whereas my manual IS220d on Bridgestone RE040's was atrocious....

PS - www.mytyres.co.uk normally do great prices at this time of year. They deliver them quickly and most Indy tyre fitters will charge you £30-40 to fit and balance all 4...

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Winters, everytime!!

I knew you'd be in like a shot on this thread, one of your faves lol

Sent from my Iphone using Lexus OC

It is...my secret is out! lol

Seriously though, I've done all sorts in the past with rear wheel drive cars - sand bags, etc etc. The easiest thing in the world to do is lower the pressures to about 22PSI. It increases the foot print of the tyre by 50-100% depending on the size of tyre, but nothing works as well as winters.

People often say that it's too expensive, and it can be if you buy new wheels etc to go with the tyres. I bought some GS300 SEL wheels off eBay for £110, and an SGS trolley jack for £75. Plus the tyres (2 good 2nd hands for the rear and 2 new ones for the fronts - cost £480)...so about £700 spent in total....but what I do know is this:

In summer, winter tyres will wear quicker (the silica compound is too soft and sticky for warm weather)

In winter, summer tyres will wear quicker (as they lose traction and slip about on wet/damp cold roads)

So actually you'll probably find that your tyres will last a lot longer - i.e. cover more miles in their lifetime.

And at the end of it all, I'll just flog them on eBay again and hope to get half of it back! So actually, the extra re-assurance, grip and safety is well worth it. Even if it doesn't snow - the winter tyres work so much better in cold conditions (<7degs C)

This is all coming from a previously self admitting winter tyre sceptic! The type of summer tyre you have and the amount of tread makes a huge difference, it's largely down to that and how gentle you are with the loud pedal (than it being a Lexus IS300h) that will mean you are OK or not in slippery conditions. I've found that applies to any rear wheel drive car; for example my old e60 automatic was OK in snow and ice on non run-flat Hankook summers, when everyone else complained; whereas my manual IS220d on Bridgestone RE040's was atrocious....

PS - www.mytyres.co.uk normally do great prices at this time of year. They deliver them quickly and most Indy tyre fitters will charge you £30-40 to fit and balance all 4...

To be fair, all season tyres are good enough to deal with snow. Obviously, that depends on how much snow you get but the main problem is, its difficult to find them in IS F Sport fitments, dont know about the other trim levels as I havent checked

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Winters, everytime!!

I knew you'd be in like a shot on this thread, one of your faves lol

Sent from my Iphone using Lexus OC

It is...my secret is out! lol

Seriously though, I've done all sorts in the past with rear wheel drive cars - sand bags, etc etc. The easiest thing in the world to do is lower the pressures to about 22PSI. It increases the foot print of the tyre by 50-100% depending on the size of tyre, but nothing works as well as winters.

People often say that it's too expensive, and it can be if you buy new wheels etc to go with the tyres. I bought some GS300 SEL wheels off eBay for £110, and an SGS trolley jack for £75. Plus the tyres (2 good 2nd hands for the rear and 2 new ones for the fronts - cost £480)...so about £700 spent in total....but what I do know is this:

In summer, winter tyres will wear quicker (the silica compound is too soft and sticky for warm weather)

In winter, summer tyres will wear quicker (as they lose traction and slip about on wet/damp cold roads)

So actually you'll probably find that your tyres will last a lot longer - i.e. cover more miles in their lifetime.

And at the end of it all, I'll just flog them on eBay again and hope to get half of it back! So actually, the extra re-assurance, grip and safety is well worth it. Even if it doesn't snow - the winter tyres work so much better in cold conditions (<7degs C)

This is all coming from a previously self admitting winter tyre sceptic! The type of summer tyre you have and the amount of tread makes a huge difference, it's largely down to that and how gentle you are with the loud pedal (than it being a Lexus IS300h) that will mean you are OK or not in slippery conditions. I've found that applies to any rear wheel drive car; for example my old e60 automatic was OK in snow and ice on non run-flat Hankook summers, when everyone else complained; whereas my manual IS220d on Bridgestone RE040's was atrocious....

PS - www.mytyres.co.uk normally do great prices at this time of year. They deliver them quickly and most Indy tyre fitters will charge you £30-40 to fit and balance all 4...

To be fair, all season tyres are good enough to deal with snow. Obviously, that depends on how much snow you get but the main problem is, its difficult to find them in IS F Sport fitments, dont know about the other trim levels as I havent checked

That is a good point, we've put some Hankook Optimo 4s's on our Golf now - will report on how that goes when it gets slippy out there. In summer they have been superb so far, even in the down-pours.

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