10smom

I live in Park City, Where lots of frozen Roads, Snow and Ice in winter. I was wondering if necessay to get All Weather tires if Have the AWD? If so, do I switch them out to regular tires when warmer weather, or can I keep them on there throughout the year?

DunWkg

Sorry, I'm unable to answer your question, but the person who does may wish some additional information. In the spring, summer and fall what roads do you drive on most (interstate, four-lane, two-lane, city streets) and typically how fast do you drive? In other words, what kind of driving do you do in 3/4 of the year?

In the winter, again, what type of roads do you drive on? Do you travel unplowed, deep snow roads?

Not sure if you have used the Lexus all wheel drive, but it is not a full-time all wheel drive. It might be called more of an all wheel assist, which has speed limitations and is a bit of an acquired taste. You may wish all weather tires most of the year and throw on another different set of rims with snow tires for winter.

Someone more knowledgeable will be along shortly to help you out. Till they do, visit the Tire Rack web page and read some of their information. Very helpful.

markrivers

We used to live in the North East. CT and then RI.

simplest answer. Winter tires for winter and All season tires for the rest of the year.
AWD on most CUV/SUV will get you stuck, even with the right tires on, the only AWD i can recommend is that of Subaru.

IF there's a lot of snow in your path, a "Full time" 4x4 ( those with high and lo settings) is your best bet. a Pick up truck, A toyota Forerunner, Lexus GX and LX.

kitlz

I don't bother with winter tires on the RX. It's gotten me through some nasty winters over the years. In fact I like to go out when it's bad to test it out. You might want to do the same before spending the money. You're talking about tires plus the cost of switching the tires in early winter and again after winter. Or buying another set of rims for the winter tires. I think you'll find all weather is fine in the end.

vlad_a

AWD makes no difference for stopping or cornering. If you're going to travel on icy roads, then snow tires are a must. I put snow tires on all of my vehicles. Yes, you can probably do without. But, it will make your winter driving safer. To me, that's important. We got our first snow today. It means I will be switching to snow tire/rim set shortly.

jmhenrie

I purchased my 450h last November and was a little scared of driving it in the snow without winter tires so I drove a little timidly but had no problems in 3 to 6 inches of snow, when driving in town I could feel when the rear wheels kicked in but always got where I wanted to go.
prior to the 450h awd all my cars and trucks had studded snow tires.
now with 10000. miles on the dunlops they still look new but I am debating on putting on winter tires just for the extra traction when stoping.
cheers
Mike

desmo907

Just curious when AWD kicks in?
I watch the Energy display (thought rarely) but never see power applied to all 4 wheels.
I am in ECO mode.... is that why?
(2013 450h)

jmhenrie

accerate hard and you should see the rear motors being used on the display, they will automatically kick in when the car senses a slippage of tires, but when this happens I rarely am looking at the display.
cheers
mike

vlad_a

Or take a hard turn under WOT and you'll see rear motor engage. You can also enable snow mode. It will force more energy to be routed to the back.

Droid13

Most commonly, you will only see the rear drive activate at standing starts or very low speeds. It will quickly revert to front drive only if there is no slippage. Snow mode will keep it on longer and at slightly higher speeds. Other times are possible too, but those you probably should be watching the road rather than the display...

JLRX

I went without winter tires last year and my AWD were fine but I am getting winters tires this year, most likely micheline x-ice Xi2's but man they are expensive.

just out of curiosity how do you engage snow mode? is it that button underneath the most in the middle console?

vlad_a

I got XI-2's as well. Really happy with the result on the RX. However, I went with a new 18x8 set of rims and wider 255 width tires (255/55R18).
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....XLV2&tab=Sizes

The snow mode is in the menu that you access from the steering wheel buttons. Sport mode is there as well.

JLRX

tx Vlad, i will try this mode out when the snow arrives. hopefully not too soon.

out of curiosity what is that button for? the one located below the mouse in the centre console. something i should switch on if wheels are spinning?

kitlz

Snow mode is pretty useless IMO. Just watch the turns.

vlad_a

You're welcome! That's the trac-off button. You can temporarily disable traction control to get the vehicle moving if it is completely stuck. Otherwise, the traction control may not allow any wheel movement on slick surface. Pretty scary when you're stuck on an unplowed road. My Prius did that once and I was lucky it had snow tires on, so I was able to get moving. If it didn't, I would have to resort to pushing it out.