New 2008 fishtailing problem

[scottkm]

We have a new 2008 4cyl LE with the stock Michelin "Energy" tires.
Having driven it 5 or 6 times on lightly snow covered roads, myself and the passenger experience the rear of the car fishtailing slightly. It is very obvious and happens at various speeds.

We had to travel I95 for 20 miles today. A recent snowstorm left the it hard packed with snow and ice although it was plowed/scraped very well. My wife and I were almost sea-sick from the rear end on the car "wagging" so much.

Our 2004 never did anything like this so I was wondering if better tires may help or is it just a characteristic of this vehicle?

Scott

[moky-tron]

better tires would definitely help you.
look into a set of winter tires like michelin x-ice or dunlop wintersport m3.
they maybe a bit pricey, but thats the price of safety.

i have winter tires slapped on my stock 17 SE wheels and when the snowstorm hit us here in vancouver BC canada, my car handled extremely well still at various speeds.

stock michelin "energy" tires suck.

[white07cam]

ive driven 95 from augusta to waterville going 65 when traffic was going 40 and didnt have any problems close to that. I have firestone winterforce studded tires, but other than that i have no idea what would make your car act like that.

it's definitely not a normal characteristic for the car

[moky-tron]

if you have something really heavy in the trunk, the weight and momentum might be causing your car to fishtail, other than that, there is no reason why your car would fishtail. ive made mine fishtail but intentionally (more like have the rear slide in just one direction) in a snowed out road and at a relatively high speed on a sharp corner.

no offense but for your car to continually fishtail, maybe you just have erratic driving habits.

[CamrySExxx]

^ that is a possibility. Do you have alot of experience with driving in the winter? because my camry doesnt do that at all. Sure the michellins BLOW but it doesnt fish tail. It does get stuck in like 1 inch of snow...

[thoots]

Originally Posted by scottkm

We have a new 2008 4cyl LE with the stock Michelin "Energy" tires.
Having driven it 5 or 6 times on lightly snow covered roads, myself and the passenger experience the rear of the car fishtailing slightly. It is very obvious and happens at various speeds.

We had to travel I95 for 20 miles today. A recent snowstorm left the it hard packed with snow and ice although it was plowed/scraped very well. My wife and I were almost sea-sick from the rear end on the car "wagging" so much.

Our 2004 never did anything like this so I was wondering if better tires may help or is it just a characteristic of this vehicle?

Scott

I certainly think "tires." I just can't even BELIEVE anyone would drive 20 miles on an Interstate freeway with hard-packed snow on just normal "passenger" tires. Unless, maybe, you were going 10 miles an hour, and it took you three hours to take that trip. If your car is "fishtailing," then I would call it "out of control," and I'd be glad to be on the other side of the country from you. "Slow down," "get some appropriate snow tires," or "keep the brand-new car in the garage" sound like good options to me.

Bottom line, you're talking "traction." Or, more accurately, "the lack thereof." Be thankful that "fishtailing" didn't turn into "spinning one-eighties" in the middle of the freeway.

Yikes!

[SteveG66]

Scott,

Don't mean to insult your intelligence, but, have you checked the tire pressure in the rear tires? Could they be too low or too high? You might also want to check to make sure the parking brake isnt engaged.

Hope it helps and good luck.

Steve

[white07cam]

Originally Posted by thoots

I certainly think "tires." I just can't even BELIEVE anyone would drive 20 miles on an Interstate freeway with hard-packed snow on just normal "passenger" tires. Unless, maybe, you were going 10 miles an hour, and it took you three hours to take that trip. If your car is "fishtailing," then I would call it "out of control," and I'd be glad to be on the other side of the country from you. "Slow down," "get some appropriate snow tires," or "keep the brand-new car in the garage" sound like good options to me.

if you were going 10 mph for twenty miles, simple math only makes that a TWO hour trip, btw

and, i think our highways are a little different than yours

ease up on the guy

[gadgetjunkie]

Having lived in Michigan for 13 years I have experienced all kinds of winter driving. Both FWD and RWD. If the road was icey as you stated you will fishtail as the transmission adjusts to your speed and the inertia moves the car on an unstable surface. Unless you have studded tires as others have mentioned you're going to have problems on ice.

[thoots]

Originally Posted by white07cam

if you were going 10 mph for twenty miles, simple math only makes that a TWO hour trip, btw

OK, I just pulled that out of my rear -- the math is 2 hours. Apologies.

Originally Posted by white07cam

and, i think our highways are a little different than yours

Huh?? Hard-packed snow is hard-packed snow, eh? Unless it's heavily sanded, it sounds like "very little traction with standard passenger tires" to me....

Originally Posted by white07cam

ease up on the guy

Well, no offense meant, but if you're fishtailing on a slick, packed-snow road, you're just short of losing it completely. That absolutely SCREAMS to me "You're going too fast!!"

All I can tell you is that in my neck of the woods, when the roads get slick, you see the ditches fill up with four-wheel-drive SUV's. And it's all because they just go too fast, thinking that they can, since they've got four-wheel drive. But they have no traction, and it just doesn't take too much to spin around and wind up in the ditch. And if you're "fishtailing," you're starting to "spin." It's that simple.

Again, no offense to the OP -- just "slow down!" if you're fishtailing. OK?

[Tarkus7]

Originally Posted by scottkm

We had to travel I95 for 20 miles today. A recent snowstorm left the it hard packed with snow and ice although it was plowed/scraped very well. My wife and I were almost sea-sick from the rear end on the car "wagging" so much.

Our 2004 never did anything like this so I was wondering if better tires may help or is it just a characteristic of this vehicle?

Scott

It has been unusually windy (but no snow) here in NY, possibly you've got those winds too. Perhaps it's to blame. I know it pushes my car around uncomfortably at times. On slippery ground, it might induce fishtailing.

[scottkm]

Parking brake was only engaged for the first 5 miles, after that I slowed it down to 70mph and the fishtailing seemed to improve. I found that I get better gas mileage if tires are inflated to 50psi. :-)

On a serious note - all traffic was down to about 25mph. If anything, it is worse at slower speeds. I went to Tirerack.com and read some reviews concerning those Energy OEM tires - all agreed that they were fairly poor on any slick surface which is to be expected with OEM tires. Up in this neck of the woods, we seem to have two choices on new Camrys - Bridgestone or Michelin.

Michelin calls them "all season" but that is probably generous at best! We had some Sam's Club Michelin "X-Radial" all season's on our last Camry and they seemed to be OK. I'll shop around a little.

As usual, thank you all for your input!

Scott

[Tobeit]

Originally Posted by scottkm

Parking brake was only engaged for the first 5 miles, after that I slowed it down to 70mph and the fishtailing seemed to improve. I found that I get better gas mileage if tires are inflated to 50psi. :-)

On a serious note - all traffic was down to about 25mph. If anything, it is worse at slower speeds. I went to Tirerack.com and read some reviews concerning those Energy OEM tires - all agreed that they were fairly poor on any slick surface which is to be expected with OEM tires. Up in this neck of the woods, we seem to have two choices on new Camrys - Bridgestone or Michelin.

Michelin calls them "all season" but that is probably generous at best! We had some Sam's Club Michelin "X-Radial" all season's on our last Camry and they seemed to be OK. I'll shop around a little.

As usual, thank you all for your input!

Scott

If you live in an area with regular winter weather (snow, ice, very cold days), please, get some good winter tires!!! All season tires are better than summer but will not really help when you need them either. The OEM Micheline are really not usable in that weather. Cheap radial from Sams ...not my recommendation. I live in NY and have the same issue - tons of snow, ice, freezing cold (also cold weather alone makes all season fail as the tires get very hard/stiff). I had excellent experience with Bridgestone Blizzaks over the years and now sport Dunlop WinterSport M3 on my Camry (FWD) and Mazda RX-8 (RWD). I am very impressed with the Dunlops (traction, noice etc) and they are reasonable in price (buy at tirerack!).

A note to speed - if you have no grip even 25Mph is too FAST!

[SteveG66]

Originally Posted by scottkm

Parking brake was only engaged for the first 5 miles, after that I slowed it down to 70mph and the fishtailing seemed to improve. I found that I get better gas mileage if tires are inflated to 50psi. :-)

Scott

You were asking for advice, don't be a *&%^ when someone gives you some advice. I wasnt trying to insult your inteligence, Just offering up advice, which you asked for.

Again, good luck with your "fishtailing".

Steve

[Tobeit]

We can also go in detail why you experience more fishtailing at lower speed with your FWD and basically no traction on the (light footed) back wheels....I am convinced it's the tires as I was in similar situations.