3dog

iTrader: (1)

The GS400 has a bad rep. It doesn't deserve. I put Blizzack WS50's on mine and my wifes GS400's last winter. In wet snow and sheet ice, up hill and down the Blizzacks griped great

3dog

iTrader: (1)

The GS400 handles great in the snow as long as you put high quality snow and ice tires on.

I've got Michelin Pilot SportAS as my normal everyday tires. They do not handle snow very well.


My wife and I both drive GS400's. During last winters snow and ice here in Seattle Washington, we used Blizzack WS50 snow and ice tires. They handled everything thrown at them. We live on a very steep hill which is possible to slide down. It is a good block long and gains about 100 feet elevation. More than once I went up it while families were tubing and sledding down it. We had sheet ice and then dry snow and then wet slush on top of it all. With proper tires this car goes in the snow very well. They have an amazing amount of grip even on the ice.

I actually enjoyed snow driving with this set up and went looking for places that would challege me to keep from getting stuck. Never had a problem.

One disclaimer on the Blizzack WS50's. I did not like them at all on dry roads. They tend to oversteer on corners. I took them off as soon as the snow was gone.


good luck



3dog

psukhu

Modern RWD cars have stability and traction control, so you should be fine as long as you have the right tires.

Of course an AWD will outperform a RWD in the snow, but that's given.


Funny story- In Dallas we only get 3 inches of ice/snow per year. However, it usually comes all in one day. The last time it snowed here I had I had the Bridgestone Potenza S-03 Pole Positions on my BMW. I reversed out of my garage to see what kind of snow traction these tires had. They had NONE. I was lucky to get the car back into the garage. And this was with traction control.

My RWD truck with all terrain tires (and no traction control) had no problems.

rai

Thanks guys. I won't put Blizzaks on b/c we are 90% snow free in the winter. So I just want something good in dry and good in snow.

I have a FWD Passat I put Michelin Pilot-alpine (high-performance snow tires). I just ordered a set of Dunlop Winter Sport tires for my Sienna.

I find the high-performance snow tires handle about the same as regular all season tires.

One reason I asked how good or bad the RWD will be is because my wife will drive it sometimes and she doesn't care about V8 power (at all) but she'll complain if the car wants to oversteer.

NT2SHBBY

nope...a good driver will always opt for a RWD car...the weight is more evenly distributed and the car is much more predictable, especially in a spin out

BA_GS400

iTrader: (1)

nope.

Navaz

I use pilot alpines in the winter with the stock 17's and I have never had a problem in the winter, they also handle very well in the dry. I think this year I am gonna try the P/A 2's but I will experiment with a different size 225/55/17, Im tring to keep the overall diameter of my 19's.

3dog

iTrader: (1)

The Blizzak WS50's provide the very best snow and ice traction.

It doesn't snow very much here in Seattle. In fact the storm we got last winter was the only one that really had much impact on the area in the last 8 years

We went 3 years without any snow whatsoever. So you can see I don't need snow tires most of the time.

I feel that I need the Blizzak WS50's to guarantee me and my wife the best chance of not having a bad encounter during adverse conditions. It is a little bit of extra work , but what I do is I have my snow tires already mounted on the 16" wheels so if snow is forecast I can switch them pretty quick. I much prefer my Michelin Pilot Sport AS 17" for either rain or dry roads.

I've heard good things about the Michelin Alpin snow tires as well as the Dunlop Wintersport M2 and M3. Blizzack also makes a winter performance tire the LM22.

Someone also made a good point of using the traction control . If you do that and get some good winter tires you will not and your wife will not have any problems . If you don't do these two things you can very quickly have the rear of the car swing around in front of you.


3dog