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

[Bluesman]

I live in the Hampshire countryside and I only run on Falkens all year round. The one time  I got one side of the car stuck in soft off-road section I just hit the snow button and gently pressed the throttle, hey presto out she came. Upset some bloke going around in a 4 wheel drive wanting £50 to pull you out.

[Nick W858]

As I said, my tyres get me up and down my hill and lots of others so I really don't need to concern myself with convincing anyone else. I also referenced the stopping power of the tyres which for me was a deal breaker, before the winters were fitted I had a bit of a moment with my son who was one at the time when the LS slid onto the main road on snow/ice at the bottom of the hill and I narrowly avoided a juggernaut that was approaching, since the figment of the tyres I have never had a problem stopping there although my wife in her 4x4 does. Andrew Frankel illustrates this in the video and that is at 20mph, at higher speeds the difference would be even greater. I really like the confidence they give me. As Malc has said, best option is to leave the car on the drive in such conditions but that is really difficult with work commitments and getting kids to and from school etc. I must admit that when it is really heavy snow I will deliberately take the car out a bit later in the evening just to marvel at what it can do on the tyres because it seems a bit unreal that a rwd v8 can do what it does. Did get stuck once in some very deep snow in a Tesco car park but a quick dig out of some of the surrounding snow got me on my way, obviously if the snow is really deep the car struggles with the front spoiler getting dug in, I am sure some kind of snowplough adaption could be fitted which would overcome this but not even my love of the winter tyres or the snow would tempt me to try that one!

[Newbie1]

A gripping thread.

[dendonc]

17 hours ago, Nick W858 said:

when the LS slid onto the main road on snow/ice at the bottom of the hill and I narrowly avoided a juggernaut

 

 

 

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[J Henderson]

 

[Nick W858]

Yes Denis it was hilarious with a one year old in the car, how I avoided the Lorry with the tears of laughter in my eyes is still a mystery to me. Lorry driver managed to stop/swerve pretty quick too so I guess he was probably on winter tyres which was lucky for me 😊

John thanks for the video above, doesn't look a million miles away from the gradient in my street and it's a pretty good representation of what I personally have experienced in terms of the difference. Difficult to tell from the video but it does look like compacted snow/ice which in my experience and as others have commented is trickier to get traction on than freshly laid snow. In my experience the 4wd will get you through most stuff but it's the stopping when there is no wheel drive which is the issue.

[ColinBarber]

6 hours ago, dendonc said:

 

 

 

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Please can you draw your attention to the forum T&Cs:

• Ensure your post is useful and related to the subject of the original poster. Do not change the subject of a post, or post non-constructive replies (such as replies containing only smileys).

http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/terms-conditions/

 

[dendonc]

1 hour ago, Nick W858 said:

but it's the stopping when there is no wheel drive which is the issue.

That's certainly my experience here & on a road which normally has no noticeable gradient, ABS will not lock the wheels once the slightest of slides start but not sure if locked wheels in the same situation would any worse, probably would, also, I drove down the A1M from off the M62 at Leeds appx in that pre xmas 2010 snow, I was able (just about) to drive the whole way down, but, the drive was quite difficult, I pulled in a service station somewhere around Newark & slept, carried on the following morning.