kg19989

Anyone other than me notice the car is a bit slippery in the rain? I had to switch to the "snow" setting to keep my rear end from sliding out. I do not drive like a maniac....

JimsGX

What tires are you running? How many miles on them? Do you notice this on asphalt or concrete? Do you notice this every time it rains, or just the last time it rained? If the latter, how long had it been since the last time it rained?

PRSUIT460

iTrader: (3)

Sounds like the tires are aged and hard or it's been awhile since it rained last and there is oil on the roads.

usermel

I LWAYS drive when it rains in the snow setting because the car feels more stable when I do so. My tires are great but, it just seems the car is glued to the ground in the snow setting. I thought I was the only one. Its worked prefect for me!!! L.G.N.M

SteveM

How exactly does the "snow" function operate?

TJW98LS

iTrader: (1)

Cuts out most of the acceleration so you don't spin the tires on a snowy day. Try it out one day, it's the first thing I did when I bought my 98 LS400 years ago.

kg19989, I would check your tires, because I'm running All-Season tires and never have trouble in the rain, even when I'm accelerating quickly. It has to be really bad outside for me to use the snow setting... Speaking of which, I washed my car today and realized that I had a rust spot on the bottom part of my hood... Probably because of all the billions of tons of salt that was put down this year.

AlexusAnja

If you have the traction control on and respectable tires, you should not need snow setting in rain unless your tires are bald, and even then I don't you'll need it.

The "snow" setting makes the transmission start off in 2nd gear, rather than first, so that you put less torque to the tires thus preventing spin. On rain, the setting is not as effective as in snow.

OP, look at tires and consider getting new tires because they're not good for whatever reason, especially since you noted you do not drive like a maniac.

kg19989

Thanks gents... I have been looking for a reason to get new tires anyway. What are the quietest tires on the market?

StanVanDam

A lot of people (on these forums, TireRack, and elsewhere online) say the Michelin Primacy MXV4 tires are the quietest all-seasons, which led to my purchase of them. They come in 2 flavors, H-rated and V-rated (and W is a subset of V-rated).

The 2002 LS430 manual states:

"Vehicles equipped with 225/55R17 97W tires: Your Lexus
has been fitted with specially developed tires which provide
exceptional dynamic performance under general road
conditions. However your riding comfort may worsen a little
and road noise may increase during driving. You may also
notice that your tires will wear more rapidly and tire grip
performance will be reduced on the snowy and/or icy roads
when compared to standard tires."

Therefore, the 97H version of the tires should yield better ride comfort and tire life than the 97W/97V.

kg19989

Stan,
Did you notice any difference in the tire noise vs the stock tires? Did you ever look at the Yokohama AVS db
Thanks,
Keith

StanVanDam

I bought my car used during the winter and the previous owner had 2 Falken Ziex ZE912 on the fronts and 2 Dean Wintercat snow tires on the rears. I've never experienced the OEM tires. I have one OEM Dunlop spare in the trunk..

The ZE912 tires had the second best overall score in Consumer Reports - see Excel file in thread https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...ing-to-cr.html

I would have kept the ZE912 tires but I wanted 4 matching, evenly used tires.

I've never looked at the Yokohamas. The Consumer Reports chart shows the Avid H4s are 4th highest in overall score for H-rated tires.

GLIDESUL

I use the snow setting in the rain only when i wanna take off quickly from a stop without loosing traction. Them painted crosswalks are very slippery. Its works well, but dont even think about it in the snow. They should have name it rain setting. lol

kg19989

I have Michelin Primacy MXV4s or something to that effect. The treads seem like they could use a refresh. Tirerack reviews are all good but I am not convinced. I am replacing them this week.

SteveM

Yea I did try it and I felt the accel limitation, I'll be using it next fall again for sure. I think my real issue will be winter tires to work together with the snow setting. Thanks for the response.

Thanks for the info. I was just wondering if it worked the same way some Acura TCS's I'm used to work. Sometimes these things will work better for a driver if tehy understand exatly how it works so they can know limitations of the function and whatnot. Thanks again.

blckstrp

I used to have a set of Bridgestone Turanza GR-80s. They sometimes squealed in the dry and were completely hopeless in the wet, despite having plenty of tread depth remaining and being less than 3 years old. I dropped it in a corner doing 15mph in the wet when the rears spun and TC kicked in sending me sideways. There had to have been oil but I got lucky and stuck the nose lightly into a rock face. Good fun with the TC off though.

I have since replaced them with Bridgestone Potenza RE050s which are fantastic in the dry. I can still spin them out of intersections with an empty gas tank but I haven't pushed them in the wet - I'm getting used to having to be cautious with all the weight of the LS. For sure they're still useless over painted crosswalks and manhole covers though.

I always leave my car in Power mode though - I can't stand the laggy/dumbed down throttle response, even in power mode.