Nick W858

Very useful thanks Carl, I love winter tyres and have had them on my LS400 for around 7 years, in the snow/ice we always prefer the safe feel of the LS on winters over my wife's Rx450h on summers. I did look at the 300h F Sport a while back but struggled to get a straight answer as to whether 16 inch wheels would fit - seems like they do and they look alright too. Big Rat. - do you have a set of different (smaller wheels for the ISF) or is it just the tyres you swap?

Thanks Big Rat - not seen that one round these parts but I definitely prefer the silver!

No not for Christmas but finally summoned up the courage to have the roof unwrapped. Car is silver and had the black wrap on the roof when I purchased it. The vendor was very trustworthy and assured me there were no gremlins being hidden under the wrap. In the pictures on Auto Trader I really didn't like the wrap but in the flesh it looked good, I guess with the benefit of hindsight I would in future insist on it being removed prior to purchase but was mightily relieved that bar one small stone chip the roof was in A1 condition. I'm guessing that when the time comes to sell the car, any prospective purchasers would have the same doubts I did so made sense to have it removed.Whilst the car was in also had a couple of minor scuffs that were present when I purchased the car painted so all in tip top condition now and the car looks great in all silver, some say it's the best colour but to be honest they all look good to me!

I'm a massive fan of winter tyres and living in a hilly part of the midlands I see them as essential in colder months. I leave early and come back late at the coldest times of the day and the temps are often 7 or below, however I use them on my LS400 but my wife with her RX450h is not interested in the perceived expense or hassle of swapping her wheels. I love the way the LS stops on snow/ice, it is more efficient/safe than anything on summer tyres. However, even in the worst of the snow/ice the RX has never got stuck and I have deliberately taken it out to test it alongside the winter tyred LS to see if I could get it stuck! I store my other wheels free of charge at my local tyre garage and they swap them over for nothing and in return I buy my tyres from them. I do love winter tyres and if I ran an RX myself I would think about getting them but not sure I would be anywhere near as bothered as I am about the LS in seeing them as a 'must have'. As rayanns said, extra care and attention combined with 4WD might do the trick for most but equally I would not blame anyone for going down the winter tyre route as circumstances may dictate this is the best course of action for you.

Ha ha - Mrs W has driven mine twice for short journeys only - she says it's too noisy and she doesn't like speed anyway so it is wasted on her. She gets really grumpy if she has to drive the 19 year old LS400! She can do what she wants with that, it appears to be indestructible and has a few minor war wounds anyway.

Perhaps we could add, does your other half look after their car in the same way as your ISF? Looking at my wife's RX I get quite sad at the number of scuffs/scratches etc but she doesn't seem to care, I guess the other question is are they allowed to drive your ISF?

Yes I offset the guilt re the planet with the fact my wife drives a Rx450 hybrid and before that she had a Prius for four years so hopefully my 9 litres of V8 balances things up!

Well done looks great, I wouldn't worry too much about the mileage, I have had one with 120k on the clock and my current with 94k, if you couldn't see the odometer then you'd easily convince yourself that the car had done many less miles. Enjoy.

Well done, great car and they look good in any colour.

Nice to get a clean bill of health, just some uneven wear on the front tyres and will get the dealer to look at that when it's in for the airbag recall in a couple of weeks. I do get a bit paranoid come MOT time as I have started getting used to the long list of stuff that generally crops up when I take my LS400 in. Nice to see the ISF is all in good health and is untroubled with the 94k on the clock.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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

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!

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.

Well done looks a beauty and you will not regret it!

Great thanks guys, John, used the link which took me to the item at Lexus Sheffield and have ordered.Thanks for your help.

My wife has just got her 2011 model back from the bodyshop today, somebody ran into her a few weeks ago resulting in the need for a new rear bumper. The car looks great now but conscious that before the bump the rear lip was badly scratched and I suspect the same will happen pretty soon unless I put some kind of protector on it. Anyone have any recommendations? Thank you.

49 and a banker. Bought my first Lexus as a one year experiment back in 2003 - an LS400 which 14 years later I still own. On my 2nd ISF and also pursuaded my wife to buy a Rx450h. I love the reliability of the cars along with the great service from the dealers.

Yep they were happy to put one on my last ISF after completion of a minor service, if it has recently been serviced (by Lexus) they may just do it over the phone without any other requirements. Warranty is transferable for a small fee if you sell it on privately which obviously can make it more marketable.

It will be in the beautiful colour you have got, plus it's a lot less common than the other two as well!

Sounds great, I have just requested a test drive with the Rc300h through the 24 hour free test drive offer. Looking forward to it.

I normally get around 300 miles between fill ups, the fuel gauge warning light is a bit pessimistic in my experience, computer says I have averaged 25.2 mpg since I bought the car and this matches up with my own revised/calculations.