Understeer?

[mike_dmt]

Had a chance to drive my new to me '01 X5 in the snow over the weekend, and noticed a considerable amount of understeer in off throttle turns.

Have 18" Goodyear snow tires, non-studded, probably 60-70%,tread left with even wear.

Tons of traction under power, even with traction control off, but like I said as soon as I was off throttle(with TCS), it was on the edge of being complete crap.

I've had AWD and 4X4 vehicles before, dozens actually, and I've grown up driving in snow.

I'm wondering if I can blame the tires? Or the fact that it's got a heavy V8 in the front of it... Anyone else notice this?

Is it possible the transfer case and TCS system have a software upgrade?