Shawn S

I’m gonna leave this here for a few days before I park it in the tire section of the Forum.

I bought these tires back in the spring to replace my Falken’s that only lasted 10,000 miles.
All summer they ran great in both wet & dry roads with only a slight loss of handling due to the harder compound.
As of right now they have about 8,000 miles on them.
Remaining tread is still about 60-70% so they’re wearing well.
I also got these because of their “all season” rating.
I figured if I got caught in a small snowstorm of 2-3 inches I’d be OK without my Blizzak’s.

Last Monday we got a mixture of snow & sleet with less then an inch of accumulation.
I took the wife’s RAV4 to work, but I had to move my car out of the garage in the morning.
We were getting some trees cut down by the garage and I didn’t want to take a chance.
All I had to do was back the car out of the garage and drive about 50FT up a slight incline to park up by the house.
I was almost not able to do this. Starting out in 1st gear I was getting no traction at all.
I finally started out in 2nd and was able to get the car moving and I spun & wiggled my way up the driveway.

Part II

I still haven’t mounted the Blizzak’s.
We got 3-4 inches of snow Sunday night so I took the Toyota to work again on Monday.
Today (Tuesday) I figured the roads were clear and it would be OK for me to drive so I took the CL to work.
The roads were DRY, but my driveway still has 1-2 inches of slushy mix on the surface.
My garage sits 90° to the main driveway.
I backed out of the garage and turned the wheel to back UP the hill a bit to face the road.
As the car swung around the corner, the entire front end went sliding the other direction.
Luckily it was a slow speed and there was nothing to hit.

So now I’m on the incline facing the road, but about 40FT from the bottom.
I let off the brake slightly to coast down the hill and she starts to slide.
ABS actually kicked in and started to pump the brakes.
I slipped and slid my way down the driveway and was finally on my way.

With these two low speed maneuvers I was totally surprised by the lack of traction with these tires in less then 2” of snow/slush.
With my Blizzak’s mounted, my car has easily gone through 8+ inches of unplowed road surfaces without incident.
I can’t think that these Toyo’s are any good in ANY amount of snow at all.

Maybe I’m just spoiled by the traction provided by four dedicated snow tires.
Maybe it’s because they’re so wide of a tire. 235/40/18

I just figured I’d post this as a warning to anyone who is planning to drive 4-seasons on these tires.
They might not be as good as you think when the roads are snow covered.
Be careful with the corners and allow plenty of stopping distance until you learn what they can or can’t do.
I made it this far, but I’ll be bolting the Blizzak’s on this weekend.

Shawn S

Rock2534

I was planning on getting the toyos in the spring as my summer tires. i figured they were a little harder and would last longer. I use the blizzacks too. The toyos probably get real hard in this cold and are basically useless. get them blizzacks on, i know what you mean about them pulling through all kinds of snow.

Zapata

whooa wait you have your bersaglio's in the snow?? yipes.... welp i' experienced the same with my yokohamas....down and incline and the ABS started pumping. I really didn't think dedicated snow tires would be necessary but i'm beginning to have second thoughts. Ugh.

Shawn S

Yes I do.
The forecast on Sunday afternoon was calling for “scattered flurries” overnight with no accumulation and then no precipitation the rest of the week.
Like I posted above, we got nearly FOUR INCHES of “scattered flurries”.

Zapata

yea i loved that forecast. I told family nah......it'll snow but no accumulation Regardless, i think i've come to understand that high performance A/S tires are a joke. Long term plans with the CLS at this point look like dedicated blizzaks for the winter.

Shawn S

YUP.... That's the way to go for sure.

tel1sps

I've been through three winters on the Toyo FZ4's without a problem... The new 4's are not as aggressive. This year I went with the blizzaks, LM25's...

BlueByYou

4" would have been nice, we got 18" in Dayton Ohio this past weekend. Almost impossible for anything to get through it.

moomaster_99

Cold tires....that's the problem....and lots of torque.

NOLACLS

I can actualy agree with you on this one shawn believe it or not I did read that about them...that even tho they are all season they blow in the snow. I figured I only need 3 season way down south....then we got some snow wtf lol

evilone

shawn let me know about the blizzacks i need some winter tires and my fz4s and my yoko pradda spec 2s are like slicks in the winter

Chopsie

Interesting, even though we don't really have to worry about this down here, except for in Mark's (NOLA) case, Snowy Louisiana.
We're going to get Blades a pair of these since he is buying my 18's from me.

Dave

Thanks for the timely review! They actually don't sound that much better than the stock Michelin tires!

The combination of the six speed and the Michelins makes for a pretty hairy commute in the snow, and there were a few times last winter that I could not make it up my slightly inclined driveway without a running start (going ten miles per hour in third gear is an experience.)

You are lucky you have an SUV in case of emergency! I have an alternate vehicle as well or else I would be right with you by getting a set of Blizzaks.

Dave

Shawn S

I barely made it up the friggin driveway tonight.
It was 50% dry and 50% frozen slush.

Them suckers are coming off Saturday afternoon if I’m not too hung-over.
Sunday at the latest.

Shawn S

Blizzak’s rock in the snow. I’ve been using them for the last 4-years.
What else do you need to know?

Chopsie

All else fails, take the Yota

Red-CL

I know they're all season tires but for some reason I couldn't imagine them being any good in the snow.



I can't believe you still have he blingers on Shawn.

samkws

wow that's kinda scary

we had more than 10" of snow up in Toronto last week, and i was with my 17" Sumitmoto HTR+

i drove up anywhere without any problem, very decent grip in snow and stopping distance was short

a big surprise for a high performance 17" tires

CLASSYCLS

awsome Shawn, I was going to PM you regarding the 4. I wanted to replace the oem Mich for the proxy 4, espicially for the snow purpose, now they are as bad as the stockies. Damn I dont want to spend 5 bills for the snow tires on my leased vehicle, oh will time to splurge!

NOLACLS

Yeah they are good if its not snowing...and we dont really have to worry about that...usualy

When I tried to get in my driveway to I had a littel spinning going on...but my drive way is F'ed up.

phipark

Good right up/review. My main concern when buying tires is the winter handling because I don't have the money to have an extra set of wheels/tires for the winter.

ferizzo

Snow tires ownz all in the snow! I actually have some Mich Alpine a2s and they work great so far in the snow. I try to do some sliding in an empty lot and the tires just hold on (given I'm not gunning it).

derrick

I'm glad I took my 235/40/18 Proxies4 off on Dec 1st and went with 205/50/17 Nokian WR (see 2nd gen TL tire forum). I figured if I got caught with a couple inches of snow or less, the Toyos would be OK ... apparently NOT! But the thing is ... where I live is flat as a pancake so inclines aren't an issue here.

darrinb

i disagree shawn

when the first major snow fall hit last week, it was around 6 inches and i def was impressed by these tires in the snow, i remember my stock tires being alot worse in the snow, i even had some pirelli snow tires on last winter they were hardly any better than the proxes 4's

and these are the same tires i am pullin 2.1 60' on at the track, def a great alll seaon tire but not grippy enough in the corners when i'm pushin it hard, thats why imma get a set of t1's for the summer and keep these for the winter

i can see where you might be coming from though being that you are used to having blizzaks on in the snow...

Shawn S

Yes, that’s probably a big part of it.
That’s why I mentioned it in the review.

DetroitCL-S

Same problem...had the proxes 4...just put on some blizzaks...they're like 4x4 adapters...Recommened highly for snow and ice. Braking is dramatically improved on snow, ice wet roads. Responsiveness suffers but they sure beat not having traction and sliding in ice and snow.

Ahmad310

I have the proxes 4's on my 19's but i didnt even attempt to drive in the 14inch of snow we got last wed/thurs....tue night i took them off and put the stock wheels on the my sumitumo htr+ and had no problems in the weather.

darrinb

i bet ya with the t1-s ya cant even move a foot in the white stuff

Shawn S

I finally put the Blizzak’s on last night.
They’re calling for snow & ice tomorrow.
I could use the wife’s RAV4 again, but the roads will probably be all slopped up for a while.

Nice soft & bouncy ride this morning riding on those 16’s.
But at least I don’t have to dodge every little pothole, manhole cover and bump in the road like it’s a LAND-MINE.

Rock2534

yeah its great going around a corner all slow and still hearing the tires squeal, but they are quite nice in the snow.

DetroitCL-S

Second winter storm in Detroit in 2 weeks. The Proxes4 sit in the garage...The Blizzaks are INCREDIBLE.