Winter/Wet Stability

[thom1301]

I have an open-ended question to pose to all who'll listen. My '96 AWD Talon feels like it shimmys/swims/darts down the road when it slippery out (rain or snow). In fact, it feels much less stable at speed going straight or around corners than the FWD vehicles that I have owned. Is this normal? Would you guess there's something fishy about my alignment or front end parts? Maybe struts shot? My tires (BFG Traction TAs) are less than half worn.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

[Kracka]

Check your alignment and for proper tire preasure.

[HiImBrian]

Is this your first awd vehicle? My gsx feels like it slides around a little, but that's only cus my other fwd cars just spin when i accelerate. My gsx actually grabs a little.

[Shane@DBPerformance]

Are the tires too wide?

[Goat Blower]

I'm guessing alignment. AWD doesn't matter for straight line tracking.

[thom1301]

Tires are the stock size and I just checked the pressure this morning.

[92EvilTalon]

get an AWD alignment done. Or you just not use to the rear end pushing the car because of stated above. haha Just joy the AWD in the snow. Take her to a empty parking lot and get a feal of how she acts in the wetness

[HiImBrian]

Yea I really think you just need to get used to it. First time I drove I was slidin around, but now that I know how to drive an awd car its great! btw, what is the slip differencial from front to back on an awd dsm?

[kennydawgg]

I had the same type of problem with my fwd, it was kinda like I had no control when there was water on the road. It felt like I was on a raft on a waterslide. My problem was camber angle, It had a bad toe in I believe, the tires basically looked like this \---/ because the previous owner had a different suspension with a camber kit to compensate for the lowered ride. Then he put it back to stock and did not set it back. ate through a new set of tires in less than 5k but only on the outside. Regardless though, I got the angles set back to normal and now it rides fine in the rain.

[thom1301]

Just in case anyone has the same problem, my rear had way too much toe in. Both sides were out of spec, and the side that was more out of spec, was the side where the tire was more worn out. FYI

[2003eclipse]

My buddies 2g FWD did the same, in the rain. There was a bushing in the upper rear suspension that was shot. Burned it out, pressed in a new one and the whole feeling of the ass end swaying side to side going straight down the road went away. So it happens to FWD also.
Just jack the car up one side at a time and do a shake down test on the tires. Check for loose ball joints/ bushings. Good Luck

[gofastman]

Originally Posted by 2003eclipse

jack the car up one side at a time and do a shake down test on the tires. Check for loose ball joints/ bushings. Good Luck

X2, your tie rods should have no precevable freeplay at all. could also be an issue with caster/toe. oh and those tires suck BALLS!
can you be more specific? are you having to make constant corection to keep the car straight? if you let go of the wheel does it dart off to one side?

[1ViciousGSX]

Moved to Tech forum

[CVD]

I'm going with alignment. When you have that checked they will be able to tell you if the car has any other related issues. AWD vs FWD makes no difference in feel when cruising. If you can feel a difference when you are going 70 down the freeway then either you are imagining it, your alignment is off, or your attributing some other factor to the AWD.

[thom1301]

Thanks for the comments guys. Just to clarify, I had the problem, I've since had the alignment done, and the rear toe was way out of spec. I'm hoping that cures the stability problem as well as the tire wear problem.