Wheels Grabbing and Jerking Me To The Side on Snow Patches Topic is solved

[rustylowe]

My tires on there at the moment are garbage @oragex. That's gotta have something to do with it. It's got 160k miles.. but it's in really good shape. The AWD works like a champ in every other condition I've tested it in - incredible traction and control even with crappy tires. I'm now thinking that maybe because my tread is so thin and they're not winter rubber, when I'm hitting those patches at speed it's causing them to totally slip, and then when it hits pavement again it grabs and jolts back into place. Makes sense. Thanks everyone for your help!

[moldybanana]

So I have noticed this same problem in my Volvo.

Have good snow tires, has recently had the angle gear module replaced because the AWD wasn't getting power to the rear wheels. Very similar to what the OP is posting about with jerking in snow. Happens constantly when driving down the roads and very unnerving. Was this ever solved?

[- Pete -]

What you’re describing sounds very much like your toe is set wrong. I’d do a front end alignment.

Think about it like this: if your front tires are “toe’d in” and your right front tire hits ice/slush, the left front still has traction and will “push” the front end of the vehicle towards the right immediately when the RF tire loses traction.
Alternatively, you could be toe’d out. In this case when one of the front tires loses traction, the front end will “pull” towards the side that still has traction.

With either of these conditions (too much toe-in OR out) on ice, will be a markedly noticeable experience, hard to ignore despite having even brand new tires on. And the weird thing is that on dry tarmac the car can still drive straight down the road with no pulling (if both sides are toe’d approx. the same), making you doubt the need for an alignment.

Edit: it could also be due to worn out/torn front control arm bushings. Could also be a combination of badly set toe and worn/torn bushings. These are the fronts at which I would start my investigation.

[Herb Goltz]

I have had similar symptoms with worn tie rod ends-- was very disconcerting when changing lanes through slush. I agree with Pete-- jack it up and check out the front end!