Growing up in Montreal that was an old trick my father used for his Plymouth Furys. He used a few bags of salt. Of course gas consumption takes a hit.

 

any type of weight anywhere in the car would help with traction!

 

So forget the resolutions, just keep eating.

 

Really? I don't have winter tires but yes i do have all season tires. Nothing in my trunk except a small snow cleaning thing ( I don't know what is the exact term for that tool lol)
Friday in NYC we had a little storm and in my work's parking lot, since the wind blew towards it, it had roughly 8 inches of snow. I went in and out without shoveling no problem. I guess it is because I never drove a subie in snow. I mean, they are one of the best AWD systems so..

 

Any one knows what does it do when you turn on the snow mode?

 

It locks the car out of first gear to minimize wheel slippage in the snow.

 

Does it do anything for the AWD? Also, I find it weird that I can put it in Snow and Sport mode at the same time.

 

Snow as stated above forces the car to start in 2nd gear from a standing start to reduce torque to the drive wheels whether it's RWD or AWD. Sport + changes the throttle response amongst other things but as long as the car is in Snow mode the car will start in 2nd gear.

 

I can't find anything in the owners manual, but I thought that "snow" mode on AWD also distributes power 50/50 to the front and rear wheels?

 

I posted in another thread my interpretation of a document I got off TechInfo, that describes in more detail how the AWD system works. The snow mode doesn't do that, because when you are starting off from a stop, the AWD system always locks the center differential anyway. It unlocks it once you get rolling or start to turn, but re-locks if wheel slip is detected. It's already set up about as well as it could be for snow, so snow mode doesn't change how it works.

 

I have decided to drive to NY. How is gs350 doing under ice and snow conditions. I have Bridgestones original tires.

Any drivers from the North?

In general its a known fact that RW cars dont do well in the snowy conditions, should I be worried?

 

It does OK with all season tires.

 

My AWD GS is excellent in the snow. I was really surprised. It has a great AWD system...

But...yours is RWD...with the 19s on your F Sport especially its going to be an absolute pig in the snow. My RWD Lexus snow experience comes from the LS, nothing really dramatic has changed in the area of VSC or TRAC in the 10 years since our last LS was made...but both of them were terrible in the snow...and they had narrower, higher profile rubber. Yours likely has summer tires.

When are you going to be driving up to NY? Are you certain you'll be driving in the snow? I would not drive that car in any significant snow on allseasons let alone on summer tires.

 

I drove my RWD IS last year in NJ and it was supposed to be one of the worst winters in a while. I have Michelin Pilot Sports A/S on and, assuming the roads were plowed, the car did decently enough. my advice would be just to avoid driving when in the middle of a storm or before the roads are plowed

 

My awd gs is so so with Michelin all season tires. I got separate set of winter wheels and Bridgestone blizzaks lm32 and the car is fantastic. You need winter tires especially with rwd version. All season tires don't cut it