What is everyone thoughts on the GS F in the snow? I live in the north east where we get lake effect snow. Appreciate it. I have a car on hold and I’m wondering if I need to re evaluate which crushes me.

 

I grew up in the snow and hate the stuff. You should be OK if you have a set of winter wheels equipped with a proper set winter tires.

Lou

 

Hey topgun24fa, have you taken a look at these two videos (and comments)? They’re from a guy who’s driven the GS F through 3 winters. Seems the trick is to turn traction control off and engage snow mode to get out of snowy banks.

 

Never seen those before. Thanks for sharing. Man lot of power in that snow. Wonder if he had snow tires on it. Wish the video said that.

 

just saw the comments in his video that says he has snow tires.

 

Hoped that helped your decision somewhat, and perhaps any other members on here who can comment.

It may be useful to search the IS F and RC F forums as well.

 

Get snow tires and you should seriously be fine.

Steve

 

It should be fine if you have snow tires. I drove through a sudden snow storm with the stock tires and I braked carefully and pressed the accelerator with just my big toe and made it home.

 

I'm in MA. I have Michelin Pilot Sport AS3+ tires installed for the winter. Mostly for the rubber that handles the freezing temps, not for snow. I have a 16 Yukon for the snow. But I take out the GSF on the dry days.

When I had an ISF, I would keep it in the garage for the winter with a battery tender. But now I feel that's unnecessary.

 

When I don't start up my GSF for 2-3 weeks, the battery dies and I can't start it up. Definitely need a tender.

 

I run the A/S3+ all the time. It's the wife's car. The one thing I don't like about them, they get slick in the rain when they're at about 4mm tread left. To the point I have to really be patient, and I'm not very good at that.

I have them on my IS F right now because I went to visit my dad in Iowa in October, and it was 25 degrees outside while I was there - snowed the day before I got there. I'll leave them on until March to avoid summer tire chatter on cold days.

 

OP

I have winter performance tires for the GSF, the Pirelli Sottozero 3's. I installed them last year after one of my commutes to work I almost crashed trying to drive in 40F at slow speeds on the Summer tires.

My verdict? I'm not too impressed with the Pirellis and was even less impressed with my trip to Vermont. I went skiing with my wife and we got put to the real test in the ski resort parking lot. I did NOT feel safe on the snow, even at slow speeds (high gear, low revs) the car was slipping. They were mounted and pressured by Lexus and everything was done textbook. I would say they work great on cold pavement but in deep snow I was being outmaneuvered by your local SUV with AWD. Sure, getting around on paved roads would be fine and even in light slush. But the moment you're in deep snow or on local roads with fresh powder, you are in trouble.

Then again, it may have been the tires. After my first season one of the sidewalls already had a bump which got replaced under warranty. If I would do it again, I would have gone with Michelins.

 

Just fine In the winter with Snow tires and drive accordingly. Nokian Hakkapaletta (sp?)) is a good winter tire. You cannot drive in the winter with the Michelin performance tires. It’s impossible on slippery snow or ice covered roads.

 

When I say Michelin, I'm referring to the Alpin tires. The other car I drive recommends the Alpin 4 with different specs than the summer tire setup. I wonder if the same is true with the GSF. I think Tire Rack just tries to go by the exact same specs when you do a search.

For example, for the Lotus Evora (not GSF), the factory manual recommends:
As you can see, the winter tires are not as wide and also get inflated much higher. I wonder what the Lexus manual recommends?

 

I'm in Kansas City which doesn't get a huge amount of snow but on the factory tires I would spin the tires with pretty much a dusting on the ground. The car was worthless in the snow. My GSF is a daily driver so I ended up putting Continental DWS06's on the car and it moves around town with a couple of inches no problem. For a daily driver, the Continental's made the car exactly how I would want it. Smooth and comfortable ride like a Lexus should be without feeling each and every bump in the road but then you still have the HP for having some fun.

Stay safe and healthy everyone!