# Car is all over road in the snow



## bronze72V (Mar 4, 2005)

Message is entered for a friend with a 99 Sentra that is virtually undrivable
in the snow. A few weeks ago she let me drive it and once up to 
around 30 mph in ~4" of snow the car became real twitchy and
felt like it wanted to swap ends - accelerating it would want to turn one way, decelerate and it wanted to go the other way. After a few
blocks I was looking to end the drive before I planted the car in someones fender. I've never had a car act like that. She says in dry or wet weather the car tracks fine - just becomes undriveable in the snow. She went and had all season tires put on it - she had some Chinese made performance tires on when I drove - but the new tires didn't help the problem.

Anyone out there with a similar experience with the Sentra??

Since it tracks true in dry and wet conditions, I have doubts if alignment is involved, but the car is undrivable in the snow in it's current state, and suggestions you might have to resolve the issue are greatly appreciated.


----------



## wildmanee (Nov 21, 2004)

Maybe because the tires she had on when you drove were Chinese "performance" tires? Tell her to get some decent snow tires or even some decent all-season ones, I have BF Goodrich Traction T/A's and they do great in the snow. I'm pretty sure it will make a difference..


----------



## bronze72V (Mar 4, 2005)

*re: clarification*

Sorry if the post was confusing on this point, but she did replace
the chinese tires with all season tires with the problem still present.

I'm trying to advise her on what, besides tires, might be contributing
to the problem - especially if someone else had similar problems and
was able to correct them.


----------



## wildmanee (Nov 21, 2004)

How much snow was it?


----------



## matcapir (Feb 20, 2005)

wildmane said:


> How much snow was it?


30 mph in ~4" of snow


----------



## Tavel (Aug 21, 2004)

wildmane said:


> How much snow was it?


4 inches!

anyway: im guessing she has an SE with the 2.0L engine and alloy wheels?? the alloy wheels are rather wide compared to the steelies on the other sentras (or other cars for that fact). this offers fantastic traction for dry or wet conditions but terrible traction in snow. wide tires ride on top of the snow, snow has no traction capabilities for normal tires.

so she has three options that are all reasonable. 
-get snow tires for winter
-get stock steelies for winter (thinner tire cuts through snow) 
-get steelies w/ snow tires for winter (good for quick swaps in fall)

i reccomend the third one, you combine the traction of snow tires and thin steelies, and put them on a platform that is seperate from the normal tires. this will let you/her swap the wheels out in the garage before it snows rather than taking the car to a shop to get the tires swapped out.


----------



## wildmanee (Nov 21, 2004)

Lol.. correct me if I'm wrong, but most cars don't have that much traction in 4" of snow.. 

What brand of tires is she running currently? 

What car do you usually drive, bronze? If you drive a AWD car, and then you switch to a FWD car, you'll most likely notice a difference in handling in snow/ice/rain conditions. With my dunlops in the snow, before I got my Goodriches, I would be sliding through stop signs sideways on snow-covered. Traction was horrible.. then again, I needed new tires. I mean, with snowy roads, you can't really expect a car to retain it's dry-surface handling properties, can you?


----------



## matcapir (Feb 20, 2005)

Have I mentioned how much I love South Florida, hee hee..... But, in all reality, it was cold here today, 50's. Ha Ha.


----------



## wildmanee (Nov 21, 2004)

50's.. cold.. HA! What a joke! :thumbup: 

Not that I live in the Arctic Circle or anything, it's just that up here in Philly 50 degrees is awesome news.. we've been getting low 30's and low 20's..


----------



## 98Midnight (Apr 23, 2004)

Put a plow on the front. That'll give you some bad ass traction!! Unless you have 4WD, every vehicle is going to struggle in 4 freaking inches of snow. To get a better idea of this Sentra's snow handling characteristics, try it in a reasonable amount like 1-2 inches. And to repeat previous posts, all-season tires and dedicated snow tires are worlds apart in snow. If she plans on keeping this car and living in snowy climates, buying a set of snow tires is a wise investment.


----------



## pete? (Jul 6, 2004)

matcapir said:


> 30 mph in ~4" of snow


ummmmm, i think you found your problem. we had that much snow a few weeks ago and i wasnt doing 30 mph! 25 tops. i have the 14in alloys and my car does quite well in the snow. i also have the 15 inch SE-r wheels and if i used them with my summer tires i would have gotten no where! also, does it do this while you are coasting? like no foot on the gas? im gona bet your just flooring it, or using to much TQ and its just sliding around. you have to be real gentle in snow. you say its the back end sliding? make sure the rear brakes are adjusted corectly. if they are grabing, then the rear is slidng around on top of the snow. and get snow tires!


98Midnight said:


> Put a plow on the front. That'll give you some bad ass traction!!


umm, no it wont, your pushing heavy stuf around. chains will give you traction


----------



## sethwas (Apr 30, 2002)

My B14 handeled fine in snow. We're talking Canadian snow. You need to do cost no object when it comes to snow tires. (like $60-90 each). I used dunlop graspic DS-1.

Seth


----------



## jer28 (Jan 20, 2003)

I will gladly say that the B14 is a great little car in the snow. I have the stock rims for the GXE though. I have bald tires in the rear and I recently bought 2 snowtires for the front. I am able to do 65 mph no problem on the highway, passing all the trucks and suv's. A MB with the fourmatic and I were cruising about 50-55 on the highway and we had to stop 3 times because people were off the road (airbags went off too). Those people were taken away in ambulances. 

I am not going to say this to insult you too but alot of it has to do with the driver. I know alot of people who have snowtires and still can't drive for %$#@ in the snow. If she has good tires as you stated the best advice for her is to go very slow, and have her use her 4 ways if it is snowing out so that people who are going around the speed limit don't rear end her hard. Winter driving is very dangerous. If she does not absolutley have to go out when it is snowing she should not. I don't care for my wife driving in the snow, even with 4WD, although she is a very good driver (even on a stick). My 2 cents is that there is no problem with the car. Again I'm not saying that you guys are bad drivers, but this is a good winter handeling car, know what I mean.


----------



## wes (Apr 30, 2002)

I would have to agree that much of this is probably the driver. Is throttle and brake input being adjusted according to the road conditions? 

The other thing to consider is that air pressure in the tires has a lot to do with how well a car handles in the snow. Lower her pressures a bit (if they are set near max) and see how it feels...


----------



## huskya83 (Apr 20, 2004)

2ins of snow, sentra gxe 99' stock tires, rims

i drove fine, and was able to pass by 4x4s whom were going really slow. drove pass a hummer and had a hummer follow me,...

it was funny that you have ppl with 4x4 following you., was leading everyone in the snow.. but then again it was only 2in. not 4ins of snow.. maybe that's the problem..

in my opinion are cars are very reliable


----------



## HLBulldog (Mar 12, 2003)

4 inches is a lot of snow, so it will be difficult w/ out 4WD, but some people like to put sand bags in their trunk, i don't actually know if it works though...


----------



## B14 Bomber (Jan 8, 2005)

Wouldn't do us much good... drive tires are in the front


----------



## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

I don't know much about snow or driving in it. A harsh winter here is when it goes down to 28* and I have to go out and cover the orange trees . BTW, WTF is with the weather?? It's been like 50s all day here in FL, it's the middle of f*ing march. Bring on the 80*s!!! Oh well, my car's not complaining .

Now that I've taken away all my credibility in this topic, I would suggest anyone up there has 2 sets of tires, that's why they make summer tires and winter tires. All seasons are crap IMO, they suck in the summer and they suck in the winter. 

I don't expect everyone to work on their cars like I do, heck, I don't expect people to change their wiper fluid and fix burnt out tail lights, but seriously, 2 sets of tires, invest $30 into a breaker bar and a hydraulic jack. When November rolls around, it'll take you 20minutes tops to change all 4 wheels.


----------



## HLBulldog (Mar 12, 2003)

More weight in the back could help the "swap[ing] ends" problem, i dunno.


----------



## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

um, I think weight in the back only helps RWD vehicles, helps with traction problems to the rear wheels.


----------



## Tavel (Aug 21, 2004)

florida guy's right! sandbags are to put weight on the drive wheels...we happen to have a 400 lb engine putting weight ont he drive wheels, so we're good to go. if anything, sandbags on FWD cars will only make them more unstable...causing the rear to want to swing in front of the front wheels during turns/braking. 

one thing though, you dont need four winter tires, just two for the drive/turn wheels. the rear wheels dont do anything but hold the back end up, so there's no point to putting mad traction on them.

plus, being in florida, you dont know about RUST! lug nuts do not like to come off of our northern cars, so changing the wheels is a bigger chore than you think.


----------



## 98Midnight (Apr 23, 2004)

umm, no it wont, your pushing heavy stuf around. chains will give you traction[/QUOTE]


1.6pete I wasn't being serious


----------



## wes (Apr 30, 2002)

Tavel said:


> florida guy's right! sandbags are to put weight on the drive wheels...we happen to have a 400 lb engine putting weight ont he drive wheels, so we're good to go. if anything, sandbags on FWD cars will only make them more unstable...causing the rear to want to swing in front of the front wheels during turns/braking.
> 
> one thing though, you dont need four winter tires, just two for the drive/turn wheels. the rear wheels dont do anything but hold the back end up, so there's no point to putting mad traction on them.
> 
> plus, being in florida, you dont know about RUST! lug nuts do not like to come off of our northern cars, so changing the wheels is a bigger chore than you think.


If they live close to the ocean they do.... salt in the air.


----------



## himbo (Sep 20, 2003)

my 200sx is an unfaltering mountain goat in the snow. and, its a drift car in the snow when i want it to be. 4 inches...ha, i've driven through 20+ inches no problem


----------



## RBI*04 (Sep 10, 2004)

my b13 was a monster in the snow i had stock spec tires up front (165's maybe?? steelies tho, so theyre THIN) i was doing 30mph in ~~6" of snow without the slightest problem. but i switched my tires to 185s because i thought the snow was gone (bad choice HAHA) the car was barely driveable. i had to start in 2nd gear on flat roads just to get it going and even that was hard, turning and stopping???? forget about it, anything in front of me was getting plowed into...at 10mph.


so my take on the whole situation is: it doesnt matter what kind of car you drive in the snow, it ALL depends on the tires you pick.


edit: im running two 185 tires and two 165 tires. at first i had the two 165s up front, and later rotated the wheels so the two 185's were up front.


----------



## pete2.0 (Sep 17, 2004)

Yah I gotta say a sentra isnt exactly the most nimble car in the snow... I have pushed mine in about 6 inches on the roads , its not even close to funny how many times I felt myself losing traction ... I lost count ... u should never push any car harder than u think it should be in the snow ... in snow any kind of braking turned my car to the left while accelerating (besides the fact acceleration was non-existant cause I would just spin) turned me to the right ... good luck with it tho ... I would really agree with the snow tires on steelies idea
-Pete-


----------



## bronze72V (Mar 4, 2005)

*re: thanks for info*

Alrighty, once we sift thru the 'chaff', it looks the consensus of the
enlightened responders is steel wheels with real snow tires.

Makes sense, last truly abysmal car I drove in the winter was my then new
82 Capri RS - V8 RWD posi. Only drove it one winter in the snow - Even
narrow steel wheels with nobby snows couldn't help that one. Solution was
to store that one with the 442 and buy a $500 FWD tercel.


----------



## anush_avan (Feb 16, 2005)

bronze72V said:


> Message is entered for a friend with a 99 Sentra that is virtually undrivable
> in the snow. A few weeks ago she let me drive it and once up to
> around 30 mph in ~4" of snow the car became real twitchy and
> felt like it wanted to swap ends - accelerating it would want to turn one way, decelerate and it wanted to go the other way.


maybe it not be the fault of the car, maybe it be the fault of the driver

just to compare her car in 4" of snow...

supperior front wheel drive
most of the weight of the vehicle is on the drive wheels
lower center of gravity
anything other than bald tires

... to my old ride

1984 ford f150 (truck)
3 speed
rear wheel drive with no sandbags in the back
damn near bald tires
average amount of snow 4"-7" with an occasional snow storm of 87"
black ice

and i did not fishtail once


----------



## Zac (Mar 10, 2004)

One word...NOKIAN.


----------



## himbo (Sep 20, 2003)

i would have to agree, i'm gonna say that the driver doesn't know how to handle the car in the snow, 

of course i feel my car losing traction in the snow... it is after all snow. but, i'm very observant, i can tell you which wheel is trying to grip, whether the rear is starting to slip, or if the front is trying to plow through. you just have to react to the car's every single motion. 

but i do have to say that our cars are very well balanced in the snow. drove cautiously enough, and you will never have a problem, and even if you do spinout or fishtail (which has happened to me before) then learn to get yourself out of that and prevent it from being a situation.

all in all, if you cant be a reactive driver (react to fishtailing, spinning out, etc) then be a proactive driver by taking extra care in your driving, by driving predictably, slowly, and cautiously. and you should be just fine.


----------

