Winter Tyres

[kullyb]

Hi All

with the recent weather conditions i have had so much trouble with my lexus getting stuck in the snow.

I have another rear wheel drive car by ford and that has been great with no problems.

But was stuck in snow 50 yards from home for 2 hours.

What tyres hacve other IS220d owners have and how have they been in this weather.

Does anyone run winter tyres because of this weather and change to summer tyres.

Dont want to waste money if they not reliable please and comments welcome.

Thanks

Kully

[matt-c]

Quite a lot of threads on this across the forum, have a little search and you'll find them to read.

I run Uniroyal winter tyres on my IS200, and have been very pleased with them. Gliding up hills, passing all the other boats (Mercs, Beemers, etc) that are stuck, abandoned or stranded. Aside from snow and ice, they are fantastic in the wet; they devour standing water like it was never even there, and keep that crisp, tight, sure footed turn in, and braking, in the very low temps, where we find summer tyres going "off".

[LexIS200Sport]

I suggest that you do a search on this forum mate, this topic has been beaten to death :)

[mikeyv]

I suggest that you do a search on this forum mate, this topic has been beaten to death :)

Do you really have a Datsun Laurel?

Fantastic cars.

[LexIS200Sport]

Do you really have a Datsun Laurel?

Fantastic cars.

Yes indeed! I've got the C31 model :)

Have you got one too?

[mikeyv]

Do you really have a Datsun Laurel?

Fantastic cars.

Yes indeed! I've got the C31 model :)

Have you got one too?

Not for a while now, my last one was same model as yours 81(X) 2.4 - I gave it to my dad in 1990 and he ran it for another twelve years.

We ran the earlier model as taxis in the 80s, must have had at least a dozen of them, all bought at auction, hardly a fault between them and they all went over 200,000 without a major mechanical failure.

We bought the first one at BCA Brighouse, mainly because we couldn't find a decent Cortina or Granada on the day.

T reg 2.0 with under 10k miles, absolutely as new, and ran like a Rolls Royce - I'd never really noticed them before, but boy was I smitten from then on.

The majority of my cars since have been Japanese.

Sorry for going off topic...........erm.............. we used to fit conway remould snow tyres to our Laurels as soon as the white stuff appeared - there, back on topic.

[Tango]

From reading all the posts on the pros and cons of winter tyres I'd have to come to the conclusion that people who say we do not need them are those that have never used them. After living in Norway for a couple of years I got used to driving in cold conditions. The basic misunderstanding, again from people that have not driven on winter tyre compound, is that winter tyres are only required for snow and ice, whereas they're much safer in any temperatures below -7 degrees centigrade.

Before the introduction of purpose designed compounds fitting studs was the norm in countries that experienced harsh weather conditions, but the latest compounds have made this largely unnecessary and because studs wear out the road surface, requiring extensive repairs (especially in the tunnels), their use is actively discouraged.

I am fortunate in having room to store a spare set of rims, so from November the summer set is changed out for the winter set fitted with Pirrelli Sotto Zeros. They're still on the car at the moment, and I'll not change them back until around mid March.

I could go on about passing 4x4 vehicles that have been stuck on the hills in the Cotswolds when we have had snow and ice, but that would only reinforce the argument that it's the only time winter tyres are really necessary, which is far from the truth.

Just to clarify, the winter tyres are on IS250 rims on the IS200 Sport, not the IS-F.

[LexIS200Sport]

mikeyv you've got PM :)

and another +1 from the pro-winter tyre camp

[Silver Arrow]

From reading all the posts on the pros and cons of winter tyres I'd have to come to the conclusion that people who say we do not need them are those that have never used them. After living in Norway for a couple of years I got used to driving in cold conditions. The basic misunderstanding, again from people that have not driven on winter tyre compound, is that winter tyres are only required for snow and ice, whereas they're much safer in any temperatures below -7 degrees centigrade.

Before the introduction of purpose designed compounds fitting studs was the norm in countries that experienced harsh weather conditions, but the latest compounds have made this largely unnecessary and because studs wear out the road surface, requiring extensive repairs (especially in the tunnels), their use is actively discouraged.

I am fortunate in having room to store a spare set of rims, so from November the summer set is changed out for the winter set fitted with Pirrelli Sotto Zeros. They're still on the car at the moment, and I'll not change them back until around mid March.

I could go on about passing 4x4 vehicles that have been stuck on the hills in the Cotswolds when we have had snow and ice, but that would only reinforce the argument that it's the only time winter tyres are really necessary, which is far from the truth.

Just to clarify, the winter tyres are on IS250 rims on the IS200 Sport, not the IS-F.

Big fat +1 - you have to try them!

[mraines]

@kullyb I have run my IS250 on winter tyres now for the past two years and generally get them fitted around November and removed March. They are Dunlop 3D I believe fitted on my normal 17" rims and been very pleased and backup the other comments they are not just for snow...but when it does I've never been stuck yet.

Thanks and plenty of other forum topics covering this.

[bubbles41]

I can back up winter tyres as I ran set of 205 55 16 Avon ice touring st on a 120D BMW and can honestly say is transformed the car.

However not sure wether to get some 16 inch alloys to replace the 17's to run the same tyres on the Lexus in winter or get some 17inch winter tyres as I think the car looks better on 17's.

The other option is All season tyres as not having to swap around would be a bonus but there don't seem to be many options for the rear 245 45 17.