The most important factor is the IS350 is a performance car. So the tires are high performance and low profile which turns into poor winter performance.
There are only a select few tires in performance size that work in winter conditions (eg Nokian WR G2)
“How much difference do snow tires make ?”
ALL the difference !
I had two identical trucks, 91 and 92 4x4 Ford Explorers.
The TIRES were the deciding factor in driveability.
I have stories.
Please understand the context of the question though. Any safety device that saves you from an accident is a meaningful difference. I was wondering if it would make enough difference for my wife to agree that my 3 yr old car is good enough and stop pushing me to trade in the RWD Lexus sports car for a FWD Toyota Camry–not that there is anything wrong with driving a Camry if that is what you like. I like what I have and would prefer to hold onto it and drive it into the ground.
Since then I bought a set (four) of Michelin X-Ice tires and have become a victim of my own success. Seeing how my car now handles in the ice and freezing rain she seems to prefer it to her Subaru. All of a sudden it is her car of choice when there is any driving to do. Live and learn I suppose…
Check discounttire.com I bought some hankook Ipikes on there and they were the best tires I ever had. Mad a huge difference in driving
Good winter tires and some weight in the back would be my vote.
Step away from your status symbol lexus and find a 4x4. Put All Season tires on it. Problem solved.
Nice you posted back.
Winter tires are absolutely SUPERIOR to any AWD vehicle/all-seasons in control and stopping on winter conditions. It is by a large margin.
I am glad you listened. Enjoy your safe winter vehicle now.
Winter tires that have studless design work wonders one ice. I owned the Blizzack WS-50’s (now upgraded to WS-70’s) which were studless tires. I can remember driving on sheer ice without even realizing it wondering why people were sliding all about. I stopped, got out my car, and could not even stand in the parking lot.
Look at some tirerack video’s where they take winter tires on extreme conditions like a frozen lake, they stop and usually about 50-100% better.
Problem already solved, he bought four winter tires and has superior control and stopping power to ANY 4x4 or car equipped with all-seasons.
All for about a $1000 likely and gets to drive a decent car he likes.
Rear wheel drive is never going to have superior control over 4x4
I respectfully disagree. I think the tires make a huge difference and a RWD car with good winter tires is at least as good as a 4x4 with supposed “all season” tires. I wouldn’t have thought so before buying these X-Ice tires, but now I know better.
Actually, the last time I was in a car accident I was completely stopped and the driver in the 4x4 next to me slid sideways into me. Until he tried to move forward his car was sitting in place on an icy ramp. As soon as he tried to start forward and his tires spun, he lost the static friction that was holding him in place and started to slide. At least in the DC area with the annual ice storms, having a 4x4 doesn’t mean having better control than a car with good winter tires.
I respectfully agree to disagree
It turns out it is even worse than that – my OEM tires are the Bridgestone Turanza ER33 tires (http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Bridgestone&tireModel=Turanza+ER33&partnum=24YR8ER33). According to the Lexus dealer they are supposedly “all season” tires, but according to the Tirerack reviews the tires don’t appear to have any rating for snow or ice conditions.
My understanding was that no matter how bad they are, if they have any rating at all they can be sold as “all season” tires, but what does it mean when they don’t even have a rating? I’m very, very disappointed in Lexus to say the least. Maybe they figure it works as an inducement to trade in older cars for newer cars with All Wheel Drive–I don’t know. What I do know is that driving my car is fun again and driving across some ice or snow no longer has the ‘drama’ factor it did.
Thank you so much for the Tirerack links!
It would be very cool to see that as a demonstration – a RWD car with winter tires and an all wheel drive or 4WD vehicle attempting to complete the same driving course.
From what I’ve seen so far, I think the 4WD might accelerate faster but the car with the winter tires would be able to turn and stop more effectively on icy roads. At low speeds there wouldn’t be much difference and at higher speed the car with winter tires would be able to complete a turn when the 4WD vehicle would keep going in a straight line.
I would agree though that the very best option would be a 4WD or AWD car with good winter tires. I’m trying to persuade my wife to get some winter tires for her AWD Subaru Outback, but she seems content to save the $1000 for a second set of tires and just drive my car… 
Put the “Good” Tires on the 4wd or Awd and its no contest.
Peacefrog please share how much experience you have using winter tires vs all-seasons?
I got a very dramatic illustration of the importance of the proper tires for winter driving with my '02 Outback.
My first Outback (a '97 model), equipped with Michelin all-seasons (I don’t recall the model of Michelins), was excellent on winter road surfaces.
Then, I got a rude awakening when driving my '02 Outback, equipped with Bridgestone Potenza RE-92 “all-season” tires. These tires had essentially no traction on snow, and the difference between the old Outback and the new one was truly shocking.
As a result, I bought a set of Michelin X-Ice tires for the '02 Outback, and that gave me excellent traction on every winter road surface that I ever had to drive on. So–although in theory AWD is superior, the lack of decent traction with those crappy Bridgestones made the car almost a cripple in winter conditions. Then, with the right tires, it became an all-star on wintery roads.
If winter tires made such a dramatic difference on a vehicle with a very good AWD system, just imagine how much they would improve traction for a RWD or AWD car!
With my 2011 Outback, I have not yet decided whether to buy a set of winter tires. So far, the OEM Continental tires are surprisingly good on snow. And, since I am now retired, I have the option of just staying home when conditions are bad. However, I might wind up buying a set of winter tires next year, just for an extra margin of safety.
Anyway–the right tires make all the difference in the world, regardless of what type of drive system you have on your vehicle.
Actually, if you look on TireRack’s site, next to the name of the tire, it says Grand Touring Summer. This means that they are summer only tires, and should never be driven in the snow.
Also notice how low the “Would Buy Again” column is on those tires.
So, which tires did you end up choosing?
BC.
I have experience with the ContiProContacts, and they are not good tires in the snow.
They might be better than the Bridgestone RE92 tires, but they are not good.
My Altima is night and day better in snow driving switching from the ContiProContacts to Goodyear Assurance TripleTreds. But that’s just my experience with them.
BC.
Tell that to the guy who passed me on highway 36 in his white Ford Explorer in a damn hurry in a major snowstorm back in '97 after we just got off the on ramp with him tail gating me the whole way around.
Halfway up the big hill between Boulder and Louisville, his tire tracks showed that he had hit the ruts in the road surface, spun out of control, hit the center concrete highway divider, and the spun back across the highway, and rolled onto his side in the ditch on the right side of the road.
I was driving my '82 Monte Carlo, and drove past him, while the two passengers in my car rolled the passenger window down, and waved at him standing next to his wrecked 4x4. We gently climbed the hill, and didn’t spin out of control, and crash, yet my car was just a RWD car, with pretty bad tires at the time.
BC.