RWD Cars Are A Little Different Than What Many Folks Are Used To Driving. Heavy Cars Have Their Own Characteristics. Also, Snow / Ice Covered Roads Are A Little Different.
You’ve got a relatively heavy RWD car that you operate in poor traction conditions.
The RWD is not as desirable as FWD in these conditions. So, that’s a negative.
The heavier the car, the less need for FWD. So the weight is a positive.
I have lots and lots of miles of experience driving in poor traction conditions with FWD and RWD cars. From my point of view (others will argue this) the oldschool heavy RWD did alright in the traction department in poor traction conditions. With the advent of smaller lighter cars, RWD did not work as well. Therefore, the smaller lighter cars began being designed as FWD to make up for the light-weight induced poor traction.
To make a long story even longer, I think you’d be helped with studded snow tires on the rear-end. I’ve run studded tires before and found they didn’t help much except for very icy conditions which I’m sure you experience. Then they are not the ultimate solution, but they do help a bit, sometimes just enough from keeping you from losing it or being in an accident.
FWD cars can sometimes be accelerated gently to straighten out a skidding car, whereas RWD cars can accomplish this with gentle braking. Therefore studded snow tires go on the front of a FWD and the rear of a RWD vehicle.
That’s how it has traditionally worked well. These tires should be removed as soon as snow / ice threats are gone.
CSA