Modeler

We had about quarter of an inch of snow fall overnight couple days ago in Washington, DC area. I got out of my driveway in the morning and immediatelly knew it was going to be an experience. I had a new 2003 TL-S before this car and it handled very well in the snow.

These piece-of-crap EL42s immideatelly got the VSA working. But the worst came when I had to stop at a Stop sign before entering a major road from our development. That is I tried to stop from about 15 mph, but the Turanzas had something else on their mind: they had no traction, the wheels locked up and ABS got engaged and stayed engaged. I sailed clearly through the stop sign and into the major road. Thank God the oncoming traffic was still couple hundred feet away. But that was unusual for that road so I got very lucky. If it was my 2003 TL-S with whatever tires it had, I would've stopped well before the stop sign!

This experience was unlike anything I've felt in the last 8-10 years of driving and only reinforced my desire to get those horrible EL42s the hell off my car before they kill me or annoy me to death! Fortunatelly, my new Falkens were already on their way to me. I'm getting them put on by Costo right now. As far as all the reviews say, they have great wet and snow traction.

danno

Wow!! I bet there was something left on your seat when you got out!!

lakeman

dulnev, which Falkens are you getting? What size?

Be sure to keep us posted on how they perform - not only in the snow, but in the dry as well. I heard some of the Falkens are also very low noise. I am very interested in a low noise tire. The 030's that I have are not yet noisy, but I understand they may soon be.

thanks in advance

ScotTLTypeS

I had the same problem in that snow with my 2003 TL-S... Everybody seemed to. Lots of accidents that morning. For some reason it was just plain slick...

Not that the EL42s are good tires, but it was bad!!!

Modeler

I got the ZIEX ZE 512 in the same size as OEM EL42s: 235/45WR17. I just picked my car from Costco half an hour ago. I didn't get a chance to drive them much yet, the Costco is only 3 miles away from my house. They do seem a bit quieter than EL42s, but I'd be really putting them through tests tomorrow, when I drive to DC. I'll post a report tomorrow night, I promiss.

There is an ultra-quiet Falken tire - AZENIS ST115 - but it is unfortunatelly an ultra-high-performance Z-rated summer tire. I wanted all-season so I went with the 512's. I thought there was no way to go wrong with the tire that Consumer Reports rated as #1 high-performance tire. We'll see...

First thing though is to check that Costco inflated them to correct pressure...

frqwntbyr

I'm in the DC area too. I too left for work with about 1/4 inch on the ground. Nearly 30 years of driving, with all kinds of cars and all kind of drive systems...never had the lack of traction I had yesterday morning. I'd reserved judgment until now, but I too am convinced its not simply the profile that is the problem. While I don't have a gripe with the (non-snow) cornering, and mine have not flat spotted as far as I've been able to feel or hear, I expected to be able to stop when I need to. Word to the wise: if you don't have the luxury to dump the TL off to your spouse on snowy days (make sure to kiss em' goodbye), then consider talking to tirerack.

RJC RSX

ok guys that time it wasn't the tires. that was the worst snow possible. it was only a quarter inch but it was essentially all sheet ice. EVERYONE was sliding all over and there were countless accidents.

Qatar

It was a quarter inch of snow and no ice.
i live in Arlington, VA about one mile away from DC and I'm telling you guys, my car dances in the snow, and I'm talking about whole car.
I have no excuse, because i hae the summer tires (Yokohamas) on my 18 inch wheels, and i have the HP tires, which are summer too.
I should be getting chrome wheels soon with continental super tires, which will help me make it through.

RJC RSX

many parts were ice. whatever the consistancy, every single car was drifting all over the place and/or fish tailing. many of my friends spun out. all i'm saying is that the snow, for whatever reason, was abnormally slick and giving EVERYONE problems.

Rocketsfan

Man, I hope I never move up north... I'd be scared as hell to own a relatively expensive car after reading what you guys are writing.

Motavar

I had no problems with the tires up here in NJ when we had 3 inches on the ground. Just turn the stupid VSA off. VSA will not allow you to dig into the snow in some cases.

frqwntbyr

OK, in all fairness, there was some ice...it wasn't dry powder. But for a moment, I longed for my "teeny tank" (Subaru Outback VDC); I'd already t-boned someone in a non-snow screw up, so the Subaru was well broken in and fearless. Feeling went away last night, however, when driving home on the dry twisties for the first time after breakin. This is one sweet sounding engine.

danno

There is only ONE thing to do, besides moving to FLA, get a cheapo second car!!

Peters

Ah, you're kidding right? Snow, ice, black ice ... unless you've got snow tires on you're going to have to be very careful. I've driven in snow with these tires and they're not that bad. You just have to be very cognizant of your stopping distances. If the wheels locked up and the ABS engaged it means you mis-judged the road conditions and distance to stop. Good thing you weren't in Toronto the last three days.

ScotTLTypeS

There was ice; no question. It came down as snow, but it was turning to ice underneath on most of the roads (at least in western Fairfax county)... That's what caused most of the problems, because most people didn't expect it to be that slick...

And yea, on summer tires... Forget about it...

danno

Give you guys alot of credit up there, handling those snow seasons!!

Lore

Are you required to get chains/cables for daily driving in those areas? I'm assuming no, because everyone's talking about how much trouble they're having in the roads...

Peters

We use the dog sleds when we have to.

Actually, Toronto has been exceptionally mild this Christmas with an average temperature of around 50 F the days around Christmas, then we had a cold snap. We're fortunate in that we don't get as much snow as, say Buffalo, but we do get big temperature swings in December. By March we're in good shape and it rarely snows much after that.

lflorack

In my area (Hilton, NY -- just outside of Rochester) no one uses chains. We get about 130 inches of snow a year but we're used to it and have the equipment to keep the roads in pretty good shape.

Modeler

I WAS very careful! But I was driving at a speed that I was sure wasn't too high for the conditions, probably 10mph (local residential street). Any car that I had before with any tires that I had before would've been able to stop.

orange-man

I started a thread like this several weeks ago and not many people seems to understand what I was talking about. Now I see that others are having the same problem. The car just shifts and sways and you feel like you have absolutely no control.

Definitely the worst and most dangerous tires I have ever used in my life!

rets

I remember you and your post. If you don't mind, I'll bring it up here again. First Snow with Turanza EL42-Never so scared in my life



For dulnev's case, unfortunately, it's the problems for everybody in that morning. My friend in DC has the similar experiences while driving his MB SUV, he knew there was ice beneath the snow and had been extremely careful, but he still got a couple of slides.

In NYC, we have been below 32degree for a few days, and it's snowing right now. We're sure lots of cars are gonna slip tomorrow morning, so are 04TLs.

Tomorrow, some of ppl living in Northeast may join this thread to complain how bad their EL42s are.

However, what I'm going to say is EL42s would be the bad choice for snow driving, but it's not so useless as you guys said. IMHO, for this icy situation, no one can survive. Otherwise, you should already see that tons of 04TL owners in North already reports how bad their EL42s would be in snow. I guess there are still many drivers not using snow/winter tires and continuingly using EL42s.

need4spd

Rets, thanks, I had to look out the window, I did not know it was snowing till I saw your post