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Rear End swaying/sliding back and forth on wet roads

25K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  01slo-cus 
#1 ·
i have a 2001 ford focus . for the past year i have been dealing with a swaying/sliding motion in the rear end of my car on wet roads, even worse on snowy roads. i tell people it "dances" down the road. it doesnt do it on dry roads, well other than when i hit a bump on dry roads the whole rear jumps from on side to the other i guess depending on what tire hit the bump. whatever is causing that i think is tied in with the swaying problem on wet roads. this car is very scary to drive when its wet out. i have looked under it to see if anything is visually wrong, and dont see anything. i dont really want to pay a garage 500 bucks to diagnose it. someone please help me, hopefull someone that had the same problem!
 
#2 ·
Welcome to FocalJet.

This post may give you some insight. It may well be that you have some worn suspension components, and/or your alignment is at the incorrect setting. Tires may also play a part in it.

What is your car's mileage? Have you done any modifications to your vehicle?

A garage shouldn't be $500. At most, you have to pay $150 or what's usually called a Diagnostic Fee before you grant your permission to do the work.
 
#5 ·
In my case it was toe issues from having my car lowered a significant amount. Even thought you don't have any suspension mods it's probably in need of an alignment. Gapboy summed it up pretty good. New tires and alignment will probably set you straight (no pun intended!)
 
#6 ·
shocks are probably bad. That is what keeps your wheels on the ground. From the sounds of it your tires have trouble staying connected to the road. On the dry surface they still have some grip, but on wet they just aren't in contact with the ground enough.
So when your wheel hits a bump, shocks suppose to absorb it and not let your springs take over and bounce your wheel back. Since your shocks probably are no good now, your tires bounce too much, thus no traction
 
#8 ·
Bad tires and alignment out of whack will cause exactly the problem you describe. Get some decent rubber under there and take it to a shop that does 4 wheel alignments. There are some shops that only do a "toe and go" on the front. Make sure you take it somewhere that'll align all 4.
 
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