DLinMI

I've an 02 ZX3 and this is my first winter driving experience. I'm not liking it!, when I hit a patch of icy road it feels like the rear end wants to track to the right but then it corrects itself. So I feel like I'm continually about to spin out. This happens even if you cross a patch of ice no bigger than the car itself. I've driven many years on ice and snow being a MI driver and I drive for a living and have never had this experience with a front wheel drive car. It has the 205/50-16 Goodyear Eagle GT on it with decent tread. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Matt Cramer

I'd check the alignment first, at a good alignment shop, and have them measure all four wheels (IIRC, most shops would not check the back as it normally can't be adjusted). Find out what shops the serious racers in your area use, as there's a lot of bad alignment shops out there.

If the alignment checks out OK, I'd get some dedicated winter tires.

360ci

Winter tires all the way. I've owned several sets of GoodYear tires and they aren't any better in the snow than General Tire tires...which is poor to terrible no matter how aggressive the tread design looks. The rubber is too hard below freezing temps to provide a good, safe, winter driving experience. My Taurus was notorious for not tracking the lane properly in light snow/ice conditions let alone heavy weather which I'd park the vehicle and take my Durango to work. It came with General Tire cheapies, I upgraded to GoodYear Allegra 2 tires which were a much improved tire over the Generals, but weren't much better in winter conditions. Michelin is one of the better brands if you want to run all season tires in the winter. Check out Tire Rack - Your performance experts for tires and wheels and look up your size, you can find ratings and reviews on how tires rank in all types of weather and driving conditions. It's a very informative site.

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'00 Durango R/T 360ci 290hp (modded); 138,500m
'06 Pontiac G6 GT 3.5L 220hp; 44,000m
'12 Chrysler 200 Limited 3.6L 283hp; 13,000m
'99 Taurus 3.0L 2V Vulcan 145hp; 154,300m - Traded
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