Cadillac Owners Forum banner

SRX fwd in snow

40K views 62 replies 29 participants last post by  srx4m&m 
#1 ·
Live in Michigan. Bought a 2011 SRX fwd last fall. Michelin Latitudes on car now. This car is TERRIBLE in the snow! Worse fwd I had ever owned. Any suggestions? I really can't drive this another winter!
 
#38 ·
Softail said:
Took our 2012 SRX AWD to the dealer today to determine if the AWD wasn't working, or if it is just a POS in the snow and ready for a trade in w/ 11K miles.

The dealer found it hard to believe the AWD wouldn't go in the snow and never heard of such a problem w/ a SRX, but was good enough to take it for a ride to be shocked to find out we were right.

After putting it on the rack, the mechanic found the drive shaft from the front gear box to the rear axle was broken. Basically, the rear wheels were never enabled when the AWD kicked in making the AWD a FWD. The driveshaft wasn't broken in two pieces, but was slipping inside itself and not driving the rear wheels in the AWD mode. Sounds to me like it wasn't assembled properly at the factory, and the dealer's service dept. wouldn't admit to a factory recall issue.

The dealer ordered a new drive shaft from "down south" and will have it installed in a day or two.

It was refreshing to have the dealer actually diagnose the problem without a battle, and maybe there is still hope for this SRX in the snow.

I'll post back once repaired.
That's what happens when they build them in Mexico.
 
#40 ·
The happenings to one or two vehicles when 500 000 are sold is not cause enough to warrant a recall. Recalls are for issues relating to driver safety that affect more than 8-10% of vehicles sold.
Otherwise fix its are released as TSB's. (Technical Service Bulletin's) Of which again, two in half a million vehicles is not enough to warrant issuing a TSB.
 
#49 ·
THIS, LOL.

Personally, I think FWD is the absolute worst drive arrangement for snow / slippery stuff. If my tires are going to start slipping while I'm driving (especially when taking off from a stop), I'd rather it NOT be the tires I'm trying to STEER with. Yeah, the weight of the engine over the drive wheels helps with traction that provides forward thrust (compared to RWD), but how many people have lost control and wrecked their cars due to their inability to get traction to START MOVING FORWARD??

Yes, we wanted to get an AWD SRX when shopping for one last summer, but AWD was not the top priority due to the fact that where we live AWD is really needed only a handfull of days a year. We "settled" for a FWD SRX knowing full well the limitations of FWD in wet / frozen weather. What may be aggrivating to some owners who feel their FWD SRX "does poorly in snow" is that the front/rear weigh bias is probably not as high on an SRX as it is on most FWD passenger cars, resulting in less of that forward thrust traction they may be used to.

My impression of my wife's FWD SRX is that it feels typical of any FWD vehicle: Decent forward thrust traction to get going, but must use great caution when trying to accelerate on slippery stuff unless the front wheels are pointed straight ahead or else be prepared to go somewhere unintended with no hope of correcting the velocity vector by doing anything other than fully lifting the throttle (and possibly counter steering in hopes of regaining lateral traction at the front wheels so that steering control is recovered). On the slippery stuff, I feel safer in any RWD vehicle than in any FWD vehicle. I may be slower getting off the line at the stop light than other FWD vehicles, but at least I have full control of the direction my RWD vehicle is going and am less likely to collide with someone else.
 
#44 ·
Thanks to all who gave me some positive feedback. I have driven through the ice and snow in Michigan for almost 50 years, so I know the value of snow tires! My wife's cars have always been FWD and we never had problems! So, when buying my pre-owned SRX, I never gave AWD a second thought! I couldn't believe how bad this car was! I finally put on a set of Bridgestone Blizzaks - big difference! It now responds like my FWD Pontiacs and Chevys have in the past. Of course now that I have my winter tires, it means the no more snow! Thanks again!
 
#45 ·
The Gen 1 AWD SRX was a beast in the snow, had great clearance, decent all season tires. I could go right through 1 ft drifts that the plows would push up.

Haven't had any snow for my Gen 2 SRX to go up against. Since it's a bit lower I would assume it would be less capable, I think 50% of snow performance is just not getting the front end hung up and plowing up snow in front of the vehicle.
 
#46 ·
Finally got some snow to try out the '12 SRX AWD w/ the repaired/replaced front to rear drive shaft. The SRX goes like a tank in the snow, as it was made to do.

Amazing how after the dealer replaced the faulty assembled drive shaft, the AWD responses as excepted in the snow. All of a sudden, we're real happy w/ the SRX again.

Maybe the Mexicans at the factory need another lesson on the driveshaft assembly. How many SRX AWD owners have the same problem, but just think it's normal and a POS in the snow??
 
#50 ·
Oh so very true JohnnyBz!

I like how many people blame traction issues of the vehicle on the vehicle.

What touches the ground? What transfers power from the engine/ drivetrain to the road?

Tires. Yea, some tires suck in the snow, and lots of those tires are all seasons. Because all season tires are really NO season tires. Not really good in summer, not really good in the rain, not really good in the snow, not really good in the ice (and ice and snow ARE VERY DIFFERENT for traction characteristics). Issues with traction? Buy different tires.

Unless you have more money than brains, then trade the vehicle off and get something else with probably slightly better tires.
 
#53 ·
I drove a FWD 'XTS as a loaner recently. Had 4" of snow, and couldn't get up my gently sloped driveway to the garage! Those are riding Goodyear Eagle RS-A, and go look at the survey results for that on ice/snow at tirerack.com. Literally the worst I've ever seen.

The stock Michelin on the SRX seem to actually be pretty decent as all-season radials go --look at the surveys there too.

Having said that, nothing does snow/ice like tires designed for it. It's not just tread design, it's materials composition too.

Me, I have an AWD SRX with Goodyear Ultra Grip ICE w/wrt for winter. . . best combination for snow/ice it has ever been my pleasure to drive (tho no doubt Mich X-ice or Blizzaks or Nokian would do very well too).
 
#59 ·
I know, you would be surprised at the number of police vehicles flipped over or in the ditch still wearing those tires.
The good news is, the RCMP usually put winter tires on their cars in winter. (at least around here they do)
 
#61 ·
I could see how that could be on a FWD. Between the traction control and the limited-slip differential on my SRX4 with snow tires, if I take off with the wheels straight. . . I have not yet found a circumstance where it will get significantly out of true. And I mean hard starts too. As soon as she starts to go even a little off, the systems kick in and straighten her out again, and without a lot of drama either. It's pretty amazing actually.

I did get a little fishtail once, when I hard-started in a couple inches of slush with the wheel cranked over pretty far to the right to go from a stop onto a new road at an intersection. As soon as I let off the gas peddle she straightened right up again on her own --I didn't even get a chance to start reacting with the wheel.

She really does delight me how good she is in the snow/ice, and I've owned and/or driven several 4x4 in the snow/ice over the years.
 
#62 ·
Hehehe. You're not accelerating very hard then. If I have th TC off, I can get it to fishtail a bit in a straight line. More so when turning! But it never lasts long. AWD or Stabilitrack always brings it back in.
 
#63 ·
Agree 100%. Just got my 2012 srx luxury fwd with Michelin Latitude Tour HP tires and the car slides all over the place even with just a bit of snow on the ground. Traction is totally ZERO! Can't wait to replace these tires with something better!
I have since read about these tires and they're only rated 1 star (out of 5, and no wonder). The same site gives 5 stars to the Michelin Latitude Winter version tire which is made from a totally different compound.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top