Best Preparation For Driving Is 250 In Ice/snow

[Valkirk]

does it help to add weight in the boot? thinking of a couple of dozen bricks

Most definitely! Would suggest a couple of bags of sand or rock salt though rather than bricks as a) going round corners it won't tend to damage your boot with flying bricks and B) if you DO get stuck you can use the contents to get out :)

[Rob]

Mine is rubbish in snow and ice. The Snow ETC button does nothing much but light up the dash with a "snow" light, which helps remember that I am on snow

Got stuck so many times it's embarrassing. Went to turn car around on snow melted street and got stuck straight across the street mid turn. Took ages just to get it back into original spot and then go out in Toyota Estima instead.

Haven't found a way to make the blighter stick to the road. Have a bag of sand/salt and some sticks of wood in boot in case I get stuck again. Took two hours to get it out of a car park before Xmas.

your wide summer tyres just might have something to do with it.

[Callyman8]

took my is220D out whilst icy/snowy this week and drove it home after five mins and swopped for the jeep.........jeessuss was it a pig to drive, even with traction control on

This might sound stupid..... Traction Control ! ! ! how do I know its ON....... is this when the yellow glow light (car skidding) is lit...... or is it when its not on, then suddenly flashes and beeps....... This is doing my nut in, the weather outside Edinburgh has been horrendous for the past 2 weeks, Ive been stuck a few times therefore decided to park the Lexus up in the garage and steal the wives honda....

Only had the car a few months now, therefore you may understand why Ive just not worked out the traction control yet, the hand book makes no sense to me...

Cheers

Stevie

[giorgoXXI]

took my is220D out whilst icy/snowy this week and drove it home after five mins and swopped for the jeep.........jeessuss was it a pig to drive, even with traction control on

This might sound stupid..... Traction Control ! ! ! how do I know its ON....... is this when the yellow glow light (car skidding) is lit...... or is it when its not on, then suddenly flashes and beeps....... This is doing my nut in, the weather outside Edinburgh has been horrendous for the past 2 weeks, Ive been stuck a few times therefore decided to park the Lexus up in the garage and steal the wives honda....

Only had the car a few months now, therefore you may understand why Ive just not worked out the traction control yet, the hand book makes no sense to me...

Cheers

Stevie

Traction control is ON when the yellow glowing light is OFF... that is why you only ocasionally see it beep and flash when it kicks in (when you loose traction). In very few ocassions you may need to turn traction control OFF (light comes solid ON) to allow your driving wheels to spin until they get some grip... although as a general advise, and as you've done, the best thing is to leave the IS parked and seek for alternative transport. I found mine to be completely useless on the snow.

[Callyman8]

took my is220D out whilst icy/snowy this week and drove it home after five mins and swopped for the jeep.........jeessuss was it a pig to drive, even with traction control on

This might sound stupid..... Traction Control ! ! ! how do I know its ON....... is this when the yellow glow light (car skidding) is lit...... or is it when its not on, then suddenly flashes and beeps....... This is doing my nut in, the weather outside Edinburgh has been horrendous for the past 2 weeks, Ive been stuck a few times therefore decided to park the Lexus up in the garage and steal the wives honda....

Only had the car a few months now, therefore you may understand why Ive just not worked out the traction control yet, the hand book makes no sense to me...

Cheers

Stevie

Traction control is ON when the yellow glowing light is OFF... that is why you only ocasionally see it beep and flash when it kicks in (when you loose traction). In very few ocassions you may need to turn traction control OFF (light comes solid ON) to allow your driving wheels to spin until they get some grip... although as a general advise, and as you've done, the best thing is to leave the IS parked and seek for alternative transport. I found mine to be completely useless on the snow.

Many Thanks

Much appreciated..... I have done as you say and the car is now back in the garage...... I can take that shovel out the boot and put it to good use clearing the drive this morning.....

Cheers

[RobNorm]

does it help to add weight in the boot? thinking of a couple of dozen bricks

Most definitely! Would suggest a couple of bags of sand or rock salt though rather than bricks as a) going round corners it won't tend to damage your boot with flying bricks and B) if you DO get stuck you can use the contents to get out :)

This helps a bit but it's still poor IME

[gordi]

I have found a couple of bags of sand in the boot and the snow button work wonders and make it driveable , not exactly the best car in the snow I have driven but we manage .

[adjust8r]

What i find very useful when driving my 220d in snow and ice is to have my towing eye close to hand and to have the mobile telephone number of a friendly 4x4 driver. Spotty teenagers in 15 year old Toyota starlets that whizz pass, find it absolutely hilarious to see the rear wheels spin on a Lexus..............needless to say, i dont find it so amusing!!!!

[Rob]

if adding weight in the boot use bags of grit as then if u need to you can scatter this on the road to get moving.

[Yamavira]

if adding weight in the boot use bags of grit as then if u need to you can scatter this on the road to get moving.

Hi.

New to the forum and only had my IS 250 auto for 6 months. This is my first auto trans car. Absolutely loved it until this week !!!!!!!.

Took me 1 1/2 hours to get it out of the car park at manchester airport on wed. Got home and the car has been "parked" out on the street for the past few days after refusing to move when I stopped to unload the cases after finally getting home late wed. night.

Carefully read the manual and duly pressed the buttons but to no avail. Just could not get it to move.

So lots of useless summer rubber with no grip. Not a very happy little bunny I can tell you.

Never had this problem with the manual beemer 325 !!!.

This morning it was the shovel and lots of sand under the wheels. Finally moved it. Now in the garage .

Thanks goodness for the Titan 4x4. Loves this weather.

Al.

[mhult]

Never had this problem with the manual beemer 325 !!!.

What size tyres did you have on the 325?

[moonpig]

Have found mine just unpredictable in the snow and ice, i dont mean out of control once you get it going its fine and gives you feedback. I dont have much weight in the boot and am thinking of giving that a go. Havent been using the car much to be fair but, wednesday when it was pretty bad round here was at work til late and thought i would give it a go to get home (with the idea of having to park at the side of the road and walk the rest of the way as nothing on the roads left work at 1 in the morning) but it got home pretty much without a fault. couldnt get it on the drive mind you so parked over the road. next morning had a go at getting it on the drive had no problem at all. cleared the drive tried it later that day and couldnt get 100 yards up the road without the trusty shovel coming out of the boot. its like jeckel and hide.

Am pretty sure its not my driving style changing and i have done a lot of off road/ skid pan etc driving in the past but it still just seems to feel very hit and miss.

I know that things change all the time with ice melting and it being easier to drive on fresh snow than inpacted stuff but, its shanksey pony for me for the next few days

[Gunther]

just some things to help:

Tyre pressures - drop them by 10-15% but then watch your speed and remember to increase when weather is OK again!

With diesel, do not use accelerator to get moving - gentle with clutch only, 1st or 2nd gear

some weight in boot helps

Good tyres with plenty of grip. Less then 4mm and you're in trouble

Winter tyres help, but not practical in UK yet!!

Try not to stop, especially up hill junctions.

Use higher gears (low makes car feel light, you want it to feel heavy)

Plan wel ahead, gentle on brakes. Use engine braking.

If it's sheet ice, then nothing will help.

If you're still stuck, use your legs or take the FWD car

Must say, I've no troubles this year but then I'm ujsing Prius more. Last Feb with Lexus was a nightmare.

[Rob]

Winter tyres help, but not practical in UK yet!!

why not?

[Sagitar]

Winter tyres help, but not practical in UK yet!!

why not?

Why not indeed? I have them on - in the UK and they are entirely practical as far as I can see.

[Solhatt]

I wish i could be in the uk with my car :)

Then i would laugh at you all and then i would laugh again when i got back in my car and drove nicely away from you.

I have studded tires and only conditions i have to be extra careful is around 0 degrees on wet ice but other than that i still drive with a heavy right foot.

[Yamavira]

The snow is beginning to melt so soon we shall all forget about the non grip problems of our IS 250s. Until next time of course !!!!.

Question to any contributors who have bought and fitted genuine WINTER TYRES.

DID THEY DO THE BUSINESS AND GET YOU/KEEP YOU GOING ??.

It will cost the thick end of £600 to fit a decent set of Winter Tyres to my 250IS auto.

I would like to know if it is a cost effective measure or should I just buy a set of Autosocks, put a few bags of sand in the boot or simply put it in the garage until the sun comes out again,

Would welcome comments guys.

Yamavira. :duh:

[Solhatt]

£ 600 for 16'' steel alloys and winter tires?

The rubber tends to get harder after a few years and non studded tires doesn't work that great when the get harder(still works better than summer tires tough).

So i don't know how cost efficient it would be. Taking the bus would be a lot more efficient :)

[Gunther]

"Why not indeed? I have them on - in the UK and they are entirely practical as far as I can see."

The last set I had (and this going back 12 years ago) when I was in Canada, but. they clearly stated that I should not use them below 4Deg C - they were pone to Overheating, and the wear was not very good at all - in fact they wouldn't last more than 7-10,000 miles. They were not recomended for > 100kmh either. I also seem to remember that Fuel consumption suffered too. This is why people tend to have 2 set of rims - one with all weather/summer, and one with Winters in Canada and NA.

Things may have improved, but the road noise and general limitations for the UK don't really make them too viable from my memory. Don't forget - we only get weather like this every 30 years! Unless these Winter tyres have improved a lot!!

Also, as mentioned above, the rubber is different compound and doesn't last long, even if the wheels are removed. Is it worth spending that money? May be if you live in Scotland!

[Mike_B]

"Why not indeed? I have them on - in the UK and they are entirely practical as far as I can see."

The last set I had (and this going back 12 years ago) when I was in Canada, but. they clearly stated that I should not use them below 4Deg C - they were pone to Overheating, and the wear was not very good at all - in fact they wouldn't last more than 7-10,000 miles. They were not recomended for > 100kmh either. I also seem to remember that Fuel consumption suffered too. This is why people tend to have 2 set of rims - one with all weather/summer, and one with Winters in Canada and NA.

Things may have improved, but the road noise and general limitations for the UK don't really make them too viable from my memory. Don't forget - we only get weather like this every 30 years! Unless these Winter tyres have improved a lot!!

Also, as mentioned above, the rubber is different compound and doesn't last long, even if the wheels are removed. Is it worth spending that money? May be if you live in Scotland!

I think they have improved - the winter set I have on order (for delivery this week - yay!) are V speed rated, which is up to 149mph. So I think the temp issues must be resolved, you'd have to be insane to drive at >140mph in icy and snowy conditions!

[Solhatt]

"Why not indeed? I have them on - in the UK and they are entirely practical as far as I can see."

The last set I had (and this going back 12 years ago) when I was in Canada, but. they clearly stated that I should not use them below 4Deg C - they were pone to Overheating, and the wear was not very good at all - in fact they wouldn't last more than 7-10,000 miles. They were not recomended for > 100kmh either. I also seem to remember that Fuel consumption suffered too. This is why people tend to have 2 set of rims - one with all weather/summer, and one with Winters in Canada and NA.

Things may have improved, but the road noise and general limitations for the UK don't really make them too viable from my memory. Don't forget - we only get weather like this every 30 years! Unless these Winter tyres have improved a lot!!

Also, as mentioned above, the rubber is different compound and doesn't last long, even if the wheels are removed. Is it worth spending that money? May be if you live in Scotland!

I think they have improved - the winter set I have on order (for delivery this week - yay!) are V speed rated, which is up to 149mph. So I think the temp issues must be resolved, you'd have to be insane to drive at >140mph in icy and snowy conditions!

Actually yesterday i was doing 180kph on ice/hard packed snow. Some of the roads here are in better condition in the winter than in the summer :)

[Sagitar]

The last set I had (and this going back 12 years ago) when I was in Canada, but. they clearly stated that I should not use them below 4Deg C - they were pone to Overheating, and the wear was not very good at all - in fact they wouldn't last more than 7-10,000 miles. They were not recomended for > 100kmh either. I also seem to remember that Fuel consumption suffered too. This is why people tend to have 2 set of rims - one with all weather/summer, and one with Winters in Canada and NA.

You are a long way out of date Gunther!

Things may have improved, but the road noise and general limitations for the UK don't really make them too viable from my memory. Don't forget - we only get weather like this every 30 years! Unless these Winter tyres have improved a lot!!

Mine (Continental Winter Contact TS830) are little if any noisier than the Michelin summer tyres fitted as original equipment. I don't know what you mean by "general limitations". It was the inability to get anywhere in the snow last winter that caused me to change my arrangements for this year - it certainly doesn't feel like 30 years ago. In any case, modern winter tyres are not only for use on snow and ice. They give better road holding performance than summer tyres on both dry and wet roads at temperatures below 7C. Their wear characteristics are not as good as summer tyres if used at temperatures above 7C, but I will be taking mine off at the end of March.

Also, as mentioned above, the rubber is different compound and doesn't last long, even if the wheels are removed. Is it worth spending that money? May be if you live in Scotland!

The manufacturers quote a five year life for the elastomers in the tyre if they are unused. I will be happy if I get three years from them. Buying a spare set of wheels is certainly an additional capital cost, but in the long term the extra tyre cost is very marginal since wear will be spread over eight tyres rather than four.

People will have to make up their own minds whether the extra expenditure is worthwhile. I am driving to and from my home without any significant difficulty at present. Having just helped my neighbour to push his stranded BMW 318 up the Close and onto his drive, I think (for me) it was money well spent.

[Gunther]

They have obviously improved since I last used them

[moonpig]

Just a thought but if you do use different rims and winter tyres do you have to tell your insurer (i mean are you supposed to?) dont have them but may well think about looking throughout the year for a cheap set of rims and then go for the tyres ready for if there is more of the white stuff towards the end of the year or next year

[Sagitar]

Just a thought but if you do use different rims and winter tyres do you have to tell your insurer (i mean are you supposed to?) dont have them but may well think about looking throughout the year for a cheap set of rims and then go for the tyres ready for if there is more of the white stuff towards the end of the year or next year

I certainly cleared it with mine and they sent me an amended schedule. There was no extra charge, but since the change reduces the chance of an accident there should if anything be a reduction in the premium. Fat chance?