New Vibe owner, questions!

[Maze]

Hi everyone
after researching cars for a few week I fell in love with the Vibe. Ended up finding someone selling 2, one is FWD 2009 base model, other one 2009 AWD. Both only around 135000km. Reading about the oil issues I decided to go with the FWD as its the 1.8 engine. Now Im a bit thinking maybe I decided wrong and should have gone for the AWD!
It snowed today and I slipped twice... going very slow. I assume AWD would be better? Or adding sand bags in the back?

Also, when going slow I hear a rattle and kind of a "rotating" sound in the engine, hard to explain in words. Had a mechanic check it and a dustcover behind the week is torn, not sure if that makes noise. And he said something near the serpentine belt (some water reservoir maybe?) oves and might cause the sound, it need a new bolt he'd need to order. He said he would do the " torn boots and the pulley".
I just hope the noise is nothing bad. The car seems in amazing condition!
Tips for snow driving? It has snow tires! I so so want this to be the right vehicle for us for many years. We're living in BC Canada moving to Alberta after Winter.

thanks all!

[zbyers]

You are on the right track by running snow tires over all seasons. What snow tires do you have? How is the tread depth? We have not had an issue on any of our...6 or so Vibes by simply running snow tires. No need to add additional weight to the rear. We either run Blizzaks or General Altimax Arctics.

Hard to say on what the noise could be.

[Maze]

and you have 2WD? I have to check the brand they are, looks like the tire size needed is very expensive!
I know the two front tires are a different brand than the two back ones.

[zbyers]

Yes, all but one of our are FWD. If you are running two different sized and/or types of tires (winter vs. all season), that would have something to do with what you are experiencing.

I would recommend winter tires on all corners. Having just 2 up front will definitely cause the understeer your experiencing.