signdetres

I'll be driving up north for Thanksgiving this year and will have to drive my RWD GS F-Sport in a bit of snow to get to where I'm going. From what I've been told, tire chains will be a must but I really have no idea where to begin. I was born and raised in Los Angeles and have lived here my entire life, so all of this snow talk is completely foreign to me.

Does anyone have any tire chain recommendations and any other tips/tricks/useful info I might need to know? Any help would be really appreciated! I did a search on here and read that chains cannot be installed on the GS' 19" wheels. Is this true? How concerned should I be about damage?

JDR76

I've never tried. I know the owner's manual states that you can't use them with the 19" tires.

Is renting an AWD CUV/SUV and option for your drive? How are north are you going?

peasodos

iTrader: (1)

I drove my RWD 450h 4 hours through a snow storm with several inches of snow on the road. I had no issues. If you know how to drive in the snow, it's not a big deal. Pics from last year.

JDR76

What kind of tires were you on, peasodos?

ItzFilyO

Better rent a car or fly than destroying ur GS.

Plus we have summer tires on RWD right? I heard summer tires don't play well with snow.

peasodos

iTrader: (1)

Pirelli Cinturato P7 All Season Plus

Just drive with a good distance from the car in front of you, easy on the acceleration, easy on the brakes. During lane changes if the car starts to slip on the snow do not hit the brakes, just keep driving forward and let the traction control help set the car strait. People spin out or end up in ditches slamming on the breaks when they loose traction in the snow. I also have a couple hundred pound battery over the rear axel, so that helps. I would recommend putting sand/salt bags in the trunk to add some weight over the rear wheels if the snow is that bad.

bclexus

Rent an AWD SUV for your trip. You'll be glad you did.

ItzFilyO

er34

As a Canadian, I approve all the advice here - except the sand/salt bags... that helps for traction if you are driving a RWD pickup truck where your weight distro is something like 80/20 - but for a regular sedan which is already fairly evenly balanced, having more weight in the back will just make overall handling/stopping distance worse. In an emergency situation, every less inch of stopping distance counts.

Most important of all is to keep an eye on the distance with cars in front, around, and behind you. You can have the best winter tires in the world, but if the guy behind you has ****ty bald tires, you're still going to be screwed up the A.

peasodos

iTrader: (1)

What do you mean by a bit of snow? If the roads are plowed you really have nothing to worry about. Before I had the GS I drove a FWD car, were I use to live we got plenty of snow, never had an issue.

er34

It's going to scratch the wheels, that's why.

peasodos

iTrader: (1)

My car might be more balanced since it has the hybrid battery over the rear axel. I was talking about putting the weight butt up right behind the rear seat over the rear axel, nothing crazy.
Yeah the main thing is watching out for the other cars and keeping a safe distance.

peasodos

iTrader: (1)

I see people with AWD suv's who don't know how to drive in the snow or drive like idiots end up in ditches. So yeah even with that it's not idiot proof.

JDR76

There's a pretty major difference here in tires. OP can clarify, but I bet he's running on summer tires. I would have no issue running a RWD in the snow with snow tires or a good set of all seasons, but I would not do it with summer tires. Unless signdetres swapped out tires, his RWD F Sport came with summer tires.

peasodos

iTrader: (1)

Maybe if you decide to drive in 5+ inch snow on unplowed roads you need a snow chain, otherwise it's totally unnecessary.