Sleeping Beauty awakens....LS400 back on the road

[Nick W858]

So pretty much 6 months to the day I SORN'd the LS400, she is back on the road. Car failed its MOT back in April and I decided to focus on the ISF and tuck the LS away in a local storage place. My intention was to go and turn the car over every two weeks and take it for a brief run around the storage site which is obviously not on the public road, however on my first visit the Battery was already flat!
So for 6 months it hasn't moved a wheel, my local mechanic sourced a new Battery, fitted it at the storage site and then took it back for another MOT which of course it failed and then he set about sorting out the various parts it needed along with some minor service items,  so on top of the Battery he fitted a front coil spring, rear brake discs and pads, rear shoes, brake pipe, hand brake cable, NSR shock absorber and then oil/air filter, pollen filter and the oil itself. After all that obviously the MOT was not an issue although there is still a long list of advisable items although I am told none of these are that serious.
Was great to get back in the car tonight, obviously feels very different to my ISF but it is incredible that after 6 months off the road, a 19 year old car with not far off 300k miles on the clock still goes and rides like it does - they really are incredible motor cars. My intention is to run the car alongside the ISF through winter, the LS has the winter wheels/tyres on it so if the snow comes I will be able to remain mobile.

[The-Acre]

So presumably you didn't have to kiss the sleeping beauty to wake her!  Well done for getting it back on the road, they never fail to amaze, regardless of age.

[Malc]

a testament to the Ls400 longevity .....................  in the right hands 

Malc

[dendonc]

9 hours ago, Nick W858 said:

however on my first visit the battery was already flat!

I 'thought' ( I might be wrong) that if the negative was disconnected they do not go flat if left standing, any comments appreciated???!!!

9 hours ago, Nick W858 said:

the LS has the winter wheels/tyres on it so if the snow comes I will be able to remain mobile.

It might be a 'little bit better' than normal tyre's but make no mistake if we get snow they are not much better (if any) than any other 2 rear wheel drive cars (said in the light of experience), only 4x4s' drive on more or less unaffected & you will find MPG goes down with winter tyres.

9 hours ago, Nick W858 said:

Was great to get back in the car tonight, obviously feels very different to my ISF but it is incredible that after 6 months off the road

Enjoy, nothing ever built like them.

[Chris Skelton]

Battery goes down if you plip the security on. I never did-used key to close car. Alarm systen drains it faster.

Or......as Denis says, disconnect-(or get a trickle solar charger?If in daylight of course!)

I used to SORN my Lex over winter. Let the bus take the slush?

[Newbie1]

Like Chris I noticed a big difference in Battery drain if I used the key fob alarm setting as opposed to just locking the doors. I just lock them manually now; no-one is interested in the Lexus and the immobiliser would stop them driving it away if they did break in.

 

[Nick W858]

Thanks guys yes good tip re locking the car on the key only - car is in a very secure compound and nobody would want to steal it.

Re the winter tyres, sorry after 7 years experience I cannot disagree more, the difference is amazing, my wife has has various 4wds and the LS on winters leaves it for dead in the steep cul de sac I live in, ditto on the snow, it's not just the traction but more than anything it is the braking which is awesome in snow - car stops quickly and the abs does not even kick in, biggest issue is another driver on summer tyres rear ending you. Not sure what your experience on them is but mine is the polar opposite (no pun intended) and I would not be without them, during the winter months when I leave early and come back late almost all my driving is done at below 8c and that is where they win hands down. If they weren't so ridiculously expensive for the ISF I would put them on there too. Plenty of tests show that a 2wd on winters outdoes the 4x4 on summer tyres. 4 wheel drive is immaterial when you are trying to stop a two tonne SUV at the bottom of  a steep hill and I have never even noticed any difference in mpg and even if I did it would never be significant enough for me to change my thinking.Where I  live and for what I do - winter tyres rock!

[dendonc]

8 hours ago, Nick W858 said:

Re the winter tyres, sorry after 7 years experience I cannot disagree more,

The AA bumph on it generally agrees with you under many situations & circumstances, anybody else any info on this? including the environment you have used them in:

AA

https://www.theaa.com/driving-advice/safety/winter-tyres-in-the-uk

[Newbie1]

Good to know.

[dendonc]

11 hours ago, Nick W858 said:

Plenty of tests show that a 2wd on winters outdoes the 4x4 on summer tyres

Can you name & link some of these tests? numerous tests on all kinds of subjects are done on a bias basis & claims without reference(s) are all to common, which is why I cited & linked AA, so Nick what tests & by who?

Michelin state that winter tyres are for a temprature range of + or - 7c, but, Michelin 'cross climate' for summer & winter seem to come out very well on reviews, its's an interesting specific topic on cars, but, blind statements without some refs lack substance beyond anecdotes.

Michelin Cross Climate Review

http://www.evo.co.uk/features/15600/michelin-cross-climate-vs-winter-and-all-season-tyres

[Chris Skelton]

As mentioned, idiots who drive as if snow is immaterial are the danger. How often (In hilly Bristol) do you see cars helplessly sliding down a hill in winter?

[dendonc]

1 hour ago, Chris Skelton said:

As mentioned, idiots who drive as if snow is immaterial are the dange

Yes, but, after a couple of cars have gone over what was snow then it is no longer 'heaps' or 'inches' of what 'was' snow,  the one time flakes of snow become every compressed & we are driving on what seems to be either an ice layer or a surface that is very similar to ice. Most kids start 'slides' in playgrounds by first sliding through fresh 'non-compressed' snow which very quickly compresses into the same, very slippery, ice type slides in the playgrounds, not safe....end of! A 1998 Lexus LS 400 is just over 1.6 tones

[dendonc]

Well since the above post, I now find that carrying tyre chains is mandatory in Germany as well as winter tyres ''On snow or ice covered roads'', best anyone going to europe reads this list:

http://www.michelin.co.uk/tyres/learn-share/buying-guide/ever-heard-about-winter-tyre-regulations

[Nick W858]

There have been various tests in the mags that back up my point, to be honest I don't really need to research the web when I drive on the tyres and have access to a 4x4 on summer tyres, I also have never seen a test that has been carried out on my street which to be honest is the place that matters for me. The tyres work on compressed snow, ice and everything else so hour playground analogy is indeed kids stuff. The first time we had serious snow, all my neighbours digging out etc, I just got in the LS and they all said, where do you think you are going? My reply "watch this" and off I went. Pm me your details next time we get some heavy snow come on over and in your rwd or a 4wd and we will have a bit of a time trial - start at the top of my street then turn around at the bottom at my house and then back to the top. For every second the winters on mine do it faster you can give me £1 and for every second you are faster I will give you £10, but let me assure you that you either won't stop at the bottom of the hill and will end up in the ditch or by the time you do manage to get up and down I will be safely ensconced in the house with a nice warm cuppa and you will be emptying your pockets and hopefully will have your mind opened to what a difference the tyres make. I spend a lot of time in London and although we joke about it a lot, it is seriously quite a bit more tropical than oop North and much as I love the tyres if I lived down south I probably would not bother

[dendonc]

44 minutes ago, Nick W858 said:

start at the top of my street then turn around at the bottom at my house and then back to the top

I don't have an rwd except my LS, & do I not have a 4x4.....where did anyone say I did? 

44 minutes ago, Nick W858 said:

Pm me your details next time we get some heavy snow come on over and in your rwd or a 4wd and we will have a bit of a time trial - start at the top of my street then turn around at the bottom at my house and then back to the top

I've got a much more sensible idea than me drive from  London to Nottingham in the snow & then back again in the snow (thanks for the kind offer though), a day out I've allways dreamed of

This is the best option, you can use a vid cam (or phone) just let someone hold it on you & your car and then you start at top of your street, brake & stop  part way down, then carry on & turn round at the bottom & drive back up again, 'when the snow has been compressed'...all you need do then is upload it to youtube and let everyone have a look, I'll be very interested to see a rwd LS400 going  up an incline on any tyres on compressed snow, possibly before it's compressed it might....so..are you up for that when/if it snows, or is it all talk?

[Nick W858]

Yes I did only notice your location after I made the offer so not the best trip although you would probably set off in the warmth and only hit the snow further north but if you were on your summer tyres then of course you wouldn't make it to my house anyway😊

I'll get my 11 year old son to make the film as he seems to be permanently attached to his Iphone - it's not a ridiculous hill where I live. - probably 300 yards from bottom to top with an ever increasing slight gradient. It's certainly bad enough in the snow/ice for most of the neighbours to leave the cars up on the main road. There is a chap up the street with a BMW 520d  --- that might be an easier comparison than you coming up from the smoke although don't believe all that you hear, it is definitely not grim up north - well not all of it anyway!

[dendonc]

7 minutes ago, Nick W858 said:

if you were on your summer tyres then of course you wouldn't make it to my house anyway

I definately would not get up a hill in the snow on these tyres, but I am far very from convinced your winter tyres would fair much better.

[dendonc]

22 minutes ago, Nick W858 said:

it is definitely not grim up north

I'm originally from further north than Notts

 

22 minutes ago, Nick W858 said:

bottom to top

It's not from bottom to top you'll run into probs, it's if you try & stop part way down and the car is/starts sliding, the anti lock kicks in and the car will 'not' stop because of the anti lock action! which in fact stops it 'skiding'

[Chris Skelton]

'Racing' on streets is illegal? (-:

[dendonc]

23 minutes ago, Chris Skelton said:

'Racing' on streets is illegal?

Well he's gonna crash anyway, I just hope he don't knock the head of next door kids snowman.......hmm, still it would be quite fun vid to watch a Lexus LS400 sliding backwards down a hill followed by snowmans head.........

[Malc]

I've learnt to just leave my Ls400 at home in snow and ice coz i know it has a mind of it's own in those conditions and is tempted to go anywhere the fancy takes it 

I admit to only having the one set of quite ordinary tyres on the car ..........  that's enough for me

NOW  I have read in the past of fellow LOC members living in far flung Continental nether regions who have absolutely zero problems in the snow and ice and that's brilliant BUT I bet their tyres aren't quite run of the mill either .........  searching on here might link into some of those posts I guess, somewhere

Malc

[dendonc]

29 minutes ago, Malc said:

tempted to go anywhere the fancy takes it 

That was my own experience in snows of 2010???...

My personal prob now is that I have to go to germany to collect something (puppy) very soon & can well do without the additional expense for 4 tyres which I have never needed here in what Nick thinks of as 'the sunny south'.....not so warm really, we were down to +28c last Xmas day & Jan was awful, down to +25c some days

[Chris Skelton]

I once spent winter in Ottawa; temp of -20 to -25C! AND rented a big Ford once........wheeeeeee.

[Nick W858]

By the way, my reference to seeing a test showing a winter tyred car beating a 4x4 was on the back of reading something in a car mag a few years ago - realised it had to be Autocar because I have been reading that for c40 years and a quick Google search brought up what I recalled which was Andrew Frankel testing two Skoda Yetis - one 4wd and one 2wd on winters. See link, think it articulates why they work better. BTW the point about compressed snow v ice doesn't really work - once the heavy snow has been compressed and the road freezes how on earth do I manage to get up and down my street on the compressed ice? Answer is that the tyres continue to work and the anti lock is not an issue as it rarely if ever kicks in when on winter tyres - given I have never had an issue stopping or sliding backwards or demolishing snowmen in the last seven years I have used winter tyres then I would be surprised if there is a problem this year. However when/if the snow comes I will make the video. In the meantime enjoy the attached. 

 

[dendonc]

29 minutes ago, Nick W858 said:

once the heavy snow has been compressed and the road freezes how on earth do I manage to get up and down my street on the compressed ice?

Because your the one who said they would, I was the one who said:

''I definately would not get up a hill in the snow on these tyres, but I am far very from convinced your winter tyres would fair much better''.

Here in the south we know these things 

Edited November 5, 2017 by dendonc