Vibration in Snow mode

[cynsun2001]

I love my EX but with all the snow we've had over the past week, I've been using the snow mode for driving. It's great in town, but if I jump on the highway, I'm noticing a vibration at 60 km/h. I checked the manual and it doesn't say anything about speed limitations when using the snow feature. If I turn the feature off, it doesn't seem to make a difference. I'm going to take my car on the highway tomorrow without using SNOW at all to see if it's riding better. It almost feels like I'm driving on the shoulder ridges on the side of the road.

Anyone else experiencing this issue?

[AWGD8]

I think snow mode is only from accellerating from stop in a heavy snow or

driving in a very severe snow that keeps you cruising less than 20 MPH.

[dividedhighw]

Welcome to NICO, cynsun2001!

I'm sure "Snow Mode" isn't causing your vibration because it goes dormant once the car is moving faster than about 20 km/h.

The most likely reason is that you've got some snow/ice on one or more of your wheels, causing an imbalance. The second most likely reason is that you've lost a balancing weight.

HTH,David

[Ron871]

I seem to have the same problem. I took the car to the dealer, but they could not reproduce it. At speeds over 40mph in automatic, and especially uphill, you feel a vibration and buzzing sensation in the steering. It is as if you are driving on needles. It is not there initially, but only after the car has been driven for awhile, may be 25-30 minutes or so. Try switching to manual shifting instead of automatic and see if the vibration goes away. In mine it does! I am taking it again to another dealer next week see if they can sense it. This is getting very upsetting, I miss my VW that I traded for this. Not happy at all for a car they brand as luxuary. And by the way, it is not a snow/ice in the wheels as suggested and can't be balancing issue since it is ok when you shift manually.

[dividedhighw]

Welcome to NICO, Ron871, and thanks for your input.

My comments were based on the poster saying that the symptom occurred after driving a lot in snow (and Snow Mode). I had a similar wheel vibration myself last week after driving in deep snow, then coincidentally the next day, my wife called me while out shopping worried that something was drastically wrong with her Subaru ... turned out, she had an even more dramatic vibration. But, when the snow was cleared out from her wheel spokes, everything went back to normal.

Please keep us posted in your particular situation.

Cheers,David

[cynsun2001]

Hey you were right dividedhighw!!!

Once it started raining - the ice cleared from my rims and the problem ceased. I called the dealer and they told me to pressure wash my rims...

On a side note - I have never had this problem with any of my other vehicles - Saturn, Volvo, my husband's FX35... is there something different with these specific rims???

Anyway, problem has been solved - thanks everyone.

[dividedhighw]

Glad that everything's been resolved, cynsun2001!!

On a side note - I have never had this problem with any of my other vehicles - Saturn, Volvo, my husband's FX35... is there something different with these specific rims???

Based on my own experiences, this type of problem depends solely on the style of alloys you have. Any design that has enough openness in its spokes allowing snow/ice to lodge can give rise to it.

Cheers,David

[specialist23]

we're experiencing kinda the same problem, but the vibration is in the middle console and only during idling. i.e. at a stoplight. doesn't matter if it's in snow mode or not, but only started as of the past 2 months where there has been some snow. wonder if it's all related?