Winter Tyres RCF

[Richard Kenny]

Folks 

New to the Lexus forums, having only recently bought a 2015 RCF. Starting to get used to the car but have noticed that the back end is light and wondered how it copes with the winter roads given it has a lot of weight up front and a lot of torque in the back end.

Are winter tyres a good investment with the RCF, any views would be appreciated.

Richard

[B1RMA]

The car does have a snow setting so I guess that would help, I ran my RCF last winter on summer tyres for the odd day I took it out. I guess if you are doing a daily commute in it winter tyres are probably a good idea, although there is no accounting for the idiot behind you without winter tyres to plough into you.

There is a long running debate raging about winter tyres, my take on it is if you live up North they are essential, down here on the South Coast it rarely gets so cold as to justify them. If I remember rightly I hadn't bothered to put them on my daily for the last two winters.

I'm lucky enough to have a few cars so I use my Minivan if it gets really bad and leave the RCF at home. The main advantage of winter tyres is the braking distance improvement at low temperatures, but as I said in the first paragraph its no good if the car behind doesn't.

[V8ORBUST]

They also wear slower than summer tyres, so there are quite a few advantages. I would be fitting them, however Im lucky to have my 05 RX on standby should it be snowy or particularly bad.

[B1RMA]

1 hour ago, V8ORBUST said:

They also wear slower than summer tyres, so there are quite a few advantages. I would be fitting them, however Im lucky to have my 05 RX on standby should it be snowy or particularly bad.

That's the best plan if you have another car to use during the bad weather, I've found the Pirelli Sotozero winter tyres to be superb on high performance vehicles.

I remember one year when I had my nice shiny new car I got completely covered with that grit s**t they put on the roads then to add insult to injury it got me going again the other way later in the evening.

[Twellsie]

As my BBS wheels have polished rims which the salt will eat I will be reverting back to standard wheels with Pirelli Sotozeros on for the winter

[tomRCFcarbon]

Autumnal leaves, shorter evenings, frost on the lawn...there is no surer sign that winter is on its way than the obligatory winter tyres thread on the F forum. 

I would love to run my F on a smaller set of split rims in the winter, with a winter tyre with more sidewall to make up the difference (from the Japanese sites the RCF looks f-ing amazing with 15’s and more tyre wall). But I’m no good at working out the maths, or sourcing the tyres, also I don’t have enough money and I’d never get around to swapping the wheels anyway...so I just go with my part warn Michelin’s cross my fingers and hope they find some grip!

[ColinBarber]

1 hour ago, tomRCFcarbon said:

Autumnal leaves, shorter evenings, frost on the lawn...there is no surer sign that winter is on its way than the obligatory winter tyres thread on the F forum. 

I would love to run my F on a smaller set of split rims in the winter, with a winter tyre with more sidewall to make up the difference (from the Japanese sites the RCF looks f-ing amazing with 15’s and more tyre wall). But I’m no good at working out the maths, or sourcing the tyres, also I don’t have enough money and I’d never get around to swapping the wheels anyway...so I just go with my part warn Michelin’s cross my fingers and hope they find some grip!

Unless you are willing to change all the brakes, rims smaller than 19" won't fit.

[tomRCFcarbon]

3 hours ago, ColinBarber said:

Unless you are willing to change all the brakes, rims smaller than 19" won't fit.

Good point, I hadn’t thought of that. They must use RC’s rather than F’s for the modding in Japan. I guess it’s more about show than go...

[MNMJ]

I found the RC-F to be almost undriveable on one day last year on the M56. There had been a rapid dump of snow so it was compressed by morning traffic into ice. There was inevitable stop start traffic and I discovered that what has always seemed like a flat road actually has a slight crossfall, so every time I moved off I slid to the left. Snow mode just seems reduce throttle input.

Every other car on the road was doing much better, though there were no M series or AMGs on that bit of road at the time. They are supposedly just as bad.

But that is only one day in 4 years when I was thinking I'd rather be in something else

 

[Tomag23]

I would go for: 

1. Continental Wintercontact TS860 or equivalent from Conti if size if not available

2. Suprise... Nokian WR A4 or D4

I tested Nokian WR D4 on heavy V70 D5 tuned with plenty of torque and they were better than Michelin Alpin 5. I could compare them as my wifes husband got in Germany same car... Just different tyres.

Continental Wintercontact TS860 is a classic in Germany and first choice as far as price is not a big issue.

Nokian is worth the price and you will love it. If being more recognizable (posh) is important go for Conti. 🙂

 

[tomRCFcarbon]

On 9/14/2019 at 4:46 PM, Tomag23 said:

my wifes husband got in Germany

Your wife has a husband in Germany? 

[Charliecloud]

For the few days a year we get snow ( down sarth ) I would just leave it on the drive or in the garage and use another car or get a cab.  

[NothernDan]

14 hours ago, tomRCFcarbon said:

Your wife has a husband in Germany? 

+1 WTF? 

[Richard Kenny]

All

Thank you for all the advice, from the general trend and the worrying sliding on a cross fall or camber, winter tyres it is.

My RCF is my only car and is vital to getting me to an airport and back, had a look at the Pirelli (Sotto Zero (run flat - so wont being going there) Nokian & Continental a bit pricey, especially on the back set, so thinking of going with Bridgestone Supers or Michelin Alpin (also good pricing on Vredestein Wintertrac Pro), also looking at Michelin Cross Climate.

Any views on those folks?? 

Cheers

 

[Tomag23]

On 9/15/2019 at 10:26 PM, tomRCFcarbon said:

Your wife has a husband in Germany? 

My wife got sister in Germany and she is married to german lad, not my wife... Happy to help... Heheh

[B1RMA]

7 hours ago, Richard Kenny said:

All

Thank you for all the advice, from the general trend and the worrying sliding on a cross fall or camber, winter tyres it is.

My RCF is my only car and is vital to getting me to an airport and back, had a look at the Pirelli (Sotto Zero (run flat - so wont being going there) Nokian & Continental a bit pricey, especially on the back set, so thinking of going with Bridgestone Supers or Michelin Alpin (also good pricing on Vredestein Wintertrac Pro), also looking at Michelin Cross Climate.

Any views on those folks?? 

Cheers

 

I had the Michelin Alpin's on my Phaeton they were very good indeed and lasted forever. You can get Sotozero's that are not run flat, personally for a high powered car they are good.

[Richard Kenny]

Good endorsement, I think I will go with the Michelin Alpin and also might go back to Tyre on teh Drive as I had some issues with Black Circles and the local fitter here in Warwick.

Thank again folks 

[Silkmen]

1 hour ago, Richard Kenny said:

Good endorsement, I think I will go with the Michelin Alpin and also might go back to Tyre on teh Drive as I had some issues with Black Circles and the local fitter here in Warwick.

Thank again folks 

I used code TREAD10 to get 10% off my order with Tyres on the Drive, worth checking to see if the code still works 👍

[Richard Kenny]

Silk I'll try that, thank you.