I have a all wheel drive V70XC. I put new all season tires on in nov, had a alignment done at that time. When the roads are a mix of cleared pavement and snow the car feels as if it is fishtailing and I am trying to drive on sheer ice. I had the repair shop look at it and they replaced a ball joint but that did not fix the problem. I had all season tires (a different brand) on last year and did not have this problem.Any ideas on what I should check next? The car will go up steep snow covered driveway with no problem and does fine on cleared pavement.

 

funny you say that, I had one and drove to ann arbor on i94 during snow, and scared the crap out of me.

 

I was pleased last year the first time I drove the car in snow, it handled better than the subaru I had before. This year with different tires, it is scary to drive. I am taking it to the tire place next week and will see what they have to say.I had the front end checked and the only repair was a ball joint ,still doing bad. I expected an AWD to do good in the sloppy road conditions.

 

its probably due to the snow tires "nibbling". if you are running the same size as your summer tires, the agressive outer tread will tend to follow cracks in the road. You can try having the wheels realigned with the tech putting the toe in to the inside of the spec (ie pointing slightly more inward) to improve the on-center feel. When its time to replace the snows you can shop for brands that have slightly less agressive side lugs (check the tread patterns of Michelins etc) or go to a narrower tread (ie replace 235/45s with 215/50s - using conversion tables to match rolling diameter).