I have discovered that my Stratus R/T is almost not driveable on snow. I have lived in northern Michigan my entire life so driving on snow isn't a big deal to me but this is ridiculous! If it is on the SLIGHTEST amount of snow, the rear end swings back and forth like a pendulum. Seems to really start once I'm past 40 mph. I just put new tires in the back which helped a little but it still feels like it wants to slide out from under me. Anything else I should look at? Even though it's FWD, would weight in the back help? Any suspension things I should check or is this car just squirelly?


I just bought it in non-running condition and did a bunch of repairs so the car is still new to me. While most of it isn't related to traction, here's a list of what I've done in the last 6 days: Rear tires, front sway bar links,clutch, brake pads, intake gasket, valve cover gasket, exhaust gasket, head gasket, timing belt, power steering belt, serpentine belt, various pulleys, water pump, distributor/rotor, spark plugs, spark plug wires.

 

How much is 'slightest'? In the 1 inch we had recently in my area, I embarrassed the local awd/4wd vehicles driving right past them. You may have alignment issues.

 

By "slightest" I mean if there is a dusting of snow on the road, the back end is swaying back and forth. I did some research and it is possible that the rear tires are toe-in when they should be toe-out. It was for a different vehicle. Does that sound right? I'm going to get an alignment this next week so we will see.

 

In most cases its not the car, but the tires used in winter driving. If you have low profile performance tires, your gonig to be squirly in every aspect of winter driving.

My 2011 elantra touring is the worst car I ever owned when it comes to winter drving, all because of the stock low profile tires I'm running.

FWD cars suck in winter driving, perhaps Im just used to rwd!!

 

My friend and I fixed it last night. The left rear wheel was WAY toed-in due to a bad lateral link. The rubber on the back of the link was worn away so the lateral link was basically just flopping around. replaced it, toed it out just a bit and it rode awesome on the 8" of snow that was on the road.