It has been a year since I bought my 2001 Explorer Sport SUV, I like
it. Yet,... winter has arrived again and my fear of driving it on snow
is back! I am supposed to feel safe in this vehicle but I don't, It
slides side-ways so easily when barely touching the gas pedal on wet
snowy roads. Swiching it on 4X4 helps but does not make me feel safe as
I am told how SUV's should be.
"It is the tires" as a friend of mine suggested. The tyres on it are
Good Year Wrangler RT/S P255/70 R16. Has 100,000km (59,000MI) the
treads are not in bad shape.
I started experiencing terrifying moments when on 2 wheel drive, it
would not hesitate to spin both rear tyres when I start accelerating,
sliding the rear end to one side or the other. Thank God for his mercy
that I escaped accidents on occations when this happen, but that sure
made me lose all trust in Ford Explorers. These incidents started
happening when I had just bought it (second hand) it had 70,000km ==>
41,000 miles on it.
Any one can tell me if all Explorers are like that or something has to
be looked after in my car?
I live in Toronto, travel alot for buisness across Ontario, been in
many winter snow storms. I am a safe driver with a clean record, had a
Chevy Lumina (Front Wheel drive) before this Explorer, It was very
stable. I used to laugh at other drivers getting in trouble during
storms while I was smooth sailing on Icey roads.
If the stability issues I am having are related to tires, any
recommendations on type of Tyres? I was told to seek narrower tyres,
would that be a good advise?
I had this posted on Ford Explorer group, got some good feed back but
no one with similar problem, and reposting it here trying to see if I
find someone with similar model/experience and suggestions from people
with experience.
Thanks in Advance

Pete