I know I may be rushing the season but why is my 2004 AWD X-type like a sled in the snow? It will pull itself great in the snow but the slightest little tap to the brake and Im off like a sled-meaning I have no control of where the car goes. Its like this in snow thats a 1/2" to 5" of snow and it happens at just 5mph or 50mph. I need to know how to fix it? I feel the anti-lock working cause I feel the pulsating in the brake pedal that the anti-lock system should be doing. Thx again in advance for any help.

 

Winter tires

 

Spoken like a true Canadian!

 

I had the same in slush with summer tires. Never again.

Using anything but winter tires in winter conditions is an invitation to the grim reaper.

 

AWD helpsyou go, it does not help you stop. Li others have said, you probably either need dedicated snow tire. Are you running high performance summer tires? Or are you tires really worn? Out of curiosity, what tires do you have right now?

 

Also, as someone who has lived in upstate NY my entire life, I can tell you that winter driving requires a certain finesse that some people disregard. There are many who think that having AWD means they can drive like they do in the summer time. I'm not sure if you're unfamiliar with driving in the snow, but even with a brand new set of tires coupled with AWD you need to accelerate/brake much more gradually than you would in summer weather.

 

Rainbow, the others have pretty much hit the nail on the head. Winter/snow driving is a learned trait and it takes a little bit of playing around to figure out what the car can and can not do. AWD is great for getting you going, but all vehicles are AWD when it comes to braking. Living in Seattle (WA State in general), one of the most flipped over vehicles were the smaller AWD SUVs during the winter weather.

Having snow tires or aggressive all season tires will help with stopping ability, but it comes at a cost of having to replace tires more often as the tires are made of a softer compound and tend to wear faster. The other option is to have dedicated snow tires. Now you are dealing with keeping a spare set of tires somewhere.

I learned the hard way how to drive on snow. My dad figured it was a good idea to take me out driving on the days that they cancelled school due to snow in a big panel van. No weight in the rear, rear wheel drive, acts like a huge sail in wind. If you can drive one of those in the snow, you can drive just about anything.

 

You could do what I did and move to Florida!! No more snow driving!!