I have a 97’ lumina and i was wanting to know if the back struts need changed or are they just lose. The reason that i am asking this question is because when it is ice and snow on the ground it seems to drift form left to right and then when i hits ice it kick the rear end sideways. It does not do it on dry pavement though and but when u turn a corner it does it a little bit.
Any information will be helpful
What kind of tires do you have and how much tread is on them? Is the tread depth the same on the front and back? If you have poor traction on a road that’s crowned, that could easily explain what you’re seeing here.
It could also be a different suspension issue. If you can lift the car and put it on a jack stand, then you could check the rear wheels. Grab the top and bottom of the wheels and push/pull. How much movement is there? Don’t do this on a jack alone! You need a jack stand to back it up. You can get a 3-ton pair for about $30 if you don’t have them.
Hey theoneguy - quit stealing my name 
Here is a tid bit of info that I hope helps you. The struts in a vehicle today take the place of shock absorbers used in many trucks and SUV’s built currently and years ago. What that means is they control the extension and compression of your coil springs in your suspension. allowing the vehicle to stay more level while traveling on imperfect roads. That being said when your struts start to wear out they loose the absorbtion aspect of the shocks soooo your springs no longer have the limitation on their movement, in other words they can loose contact with the road surface when you hit a bump. This jostles the tires quite badly leading to a harsher more “springy” ride, the wear on the tires become readily visible in short order as well cupping and un even wear are almost always present. Inspect your tires for irregular wear patterns, if the wear is present then yes it MAY be time to replace them, if you have never replaced the front struts you may want to replace them at the same time. save yourself the trouble of having to replace them probably in the near future. BUT be sure that it is the struts that are the problem before you spend the $200+ to replace them. there could be other issues that can cause the problem you are having.
Hope this helps your car, if not, you can invest in a set of skies in place of the rear tires :P.
best wishes
You need a real live mechanic to look at this, it could be dangerous. If you go to a chain operation of any kind you will be told you will need new struts.
Go to a good local shop and have someone examine the car to see what is wrong, Tell them what it is doing and they will tell (and probably show) you what is wrong.