bam

Since the RX is AWD and not 4wd and since it has all-season tires and not m&s tires, would this still count when traveling to the mountains and not requiring chains or is the highway patrol strict on "4wd" and mud and "snow" tires?

I know the RX is not suited for heavy duty snow as the GX and LX would be better suited for that but is a light dusting of snow still too much for the AWD and the all-season tires? Tire rack seems to indicate that the all-season tires are ok for light snow but I'm still wondering if AWD and all-season tires would meet the highway patrol's requirement and therefore not require the use of chains for an AWD RX.

Curious to hear anybody's experience with this especially if you live in Southern California or Northern California and went to the mountains this weekend. If you live in an area that receives real levels of snow, I would like to hear your feedback too. Thanks.

bam

bump...

How about some feedback from our tire sponsor?

TripleL

I don't know much about highway patrol requirements but I can share from person experience that I've been driving AWD cars with A/S tires since 1990 in New England in all sorts of weather and have not had any issues. I would imagine the RX would be as good or better than the cars I've owned (A4q and IS) since it also has much greater ground clearance.

Safe travels!

PS You may want to ask a mod to move this to the Tire's forum as you will probably get more responses.

JimH2

Look at the Cal-Trans site.
http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/traffops/tr...html#fourwheel

AWD meets the 4-wheel drive designation in Cal. Need M&S designation on the tires to be classified as "snow" tires in Cal.

GrandSedanFan

iTrader: (1)

Drove right out. You'll be fine.

bam

I did see that link before I posted my question but it seems that I didn't look hard enough because when I reread it, there was faq that addressed my question.

A shortcut for all of the folks reading, all-season tires do not qualify as a "snow" tire even though the tire manufacturer markets the tire to perform well even in light snow conidtions. That may be true but for the purposes of the CHP, an all-season tire doesn't qualify as a "snow" tire unless it is marked as a "mud & snow" tire.

JimH2

Probably not to worry if one has "All-Season" rated tires. A great number of All-Season tires have the "M&S" designation imprinted on the sidewalls which meet the mud & snow designation. However, having M&S tires does not neccesarily mean that they will do well at all in deep snow and/or ice conditions. If I were a frequent traveller to the Sierra's in wintertime, I would invest in the higher rated M&S (or even a set of snow tires)tires vs. relying on some of the poorly rated OEM tires that come on the Lexus.