I have conflicting reports on the use of snow tires on rear wheel drive car. My father insist that 2 in the back are fine as long as you have decent tires up front. I was told by others that all 4 is better braking and handling. I used 4 in the past, one thing I did not like about having them up front is the way it steered. Just wanted to hear some stories from people who used only 2 and used all 4 on a Rear Wheel Drive Car.
RWD and Snow Tires.
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Don't bother with running 2 snows on any car, particularly a RWD vehicle.
Getting started is rarely a safety issue, but STOPPING commonly is. If you run snows only on the back, you'll have very little traction while stopping and the front will tend to plow. If you run snows on the front, the back end will be coming out all over the place.
Don't cheap out on snow tires.
Getting started is rarely a safety issue, but STOPPING commonly is. If you run snows only on the back, you'll have very little traction while stopping and the front will tend to plow. If you run snows on the front, the back end will be coming out all over the place.
Don't cheap out on snow tires.
cchase said:
All four tires being the same should always be the best option. Winter tires on the back and not the front means its easy to get extra grip accelerating, which can cause you to maintain an overly confident amount of speed until you need to stop, or steer, which is mostly done on the front tires.
On the other hand having winter tires on the front obviously means the back end will have less traction (in theory) which could cause catastrophic oversteer issues, especially with rear-wheel drive.
I wouldn't want anything but all four tires the same personally.
On the other hand having winter tires on the front obviously means the back end will have less traction (in theory) which could cause catastrophic oversteer issues, especially with rear-wheel drive.
I wouldn't want anything but all four tires the same personally.
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Always use all four. Go to TireRack.com and watch the videos and read the FAQ.
gathermewool
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If one can only afford two winter tires, then the rear is what I would choose, be it FWD or RWD. The only exception is AWD, where I would only run four tires of equal traction.
There's a difference between not getting stuck (in a parking space, on an uphill red light, etc) and having safe handling.
Naturally, an AWD vehicle on shabby tires won't get stuck much but will handle pretty terribly.
My RWD volvo on 4 studded snow tires is slow to get going, and could get stuck someday, but it handles like a dream under speed. Better than my FWD saturn on 4 snows: it gets typical FWD understeer.
Your 2-on-the-rear would keep you from getting stuck, everyones fear, but from having the best handling possible, underrated at times.
About every snow tire I've driven on all have good sideways grip as a serious advantage over all seasons. I hate going uphill on a crowned road and sliding into a ditch because the car would rather go sideways than steer where pointed.
Naturally, an AWD vehicle on shabby tires won't get stuck much but will handle pretty terribly.
My RWD volvo on 4 studded snow tires is slow to get going, and could get stuck someday, but it handles like a dream under speed. Better than my FWD saturn on 4 snows: it gets typical FWD understeer.
Your 2-on-the-rear would keep you from getting stuck, everyones fear, but from having the best handling possible, underrated at times.
About every snow tire I've driven on all have good sideways grip as a serious advantage over all seasons. I hate going uphill on a crowned road and sliding into a ditch because the car would rather go sideways than steer where pointed.
I have a 300 as well and I run four michelin x-ice2 . Car handles really well in snowy conditions. We recently had 16 inches of snow here and i was out in the middle of the storm with my kia spectra running, toyo observe snows. at one corner a pontiac montana was stuck , i stopped pulled around him and dug right through the snow, amazing how the snow tires will throw the snow and dig you through. the van sat on top of the snow spinning and not throwing snow at all.
I used to run Sears studded snows on the rear of my vehicles (which were usually equipped with limited slip diffs) with good tires up front and never had a problem. I never experienced poor handling and drove everywhere I needed to go.
Back in the 50's, 60's, and early 70's, the rubber used for winter tires was the same or close to the rubber used in summer tires. Winter tires had aggressive tread patterns and were often very noisy.
And the winters were often more brutal with more snow than we have been getting in recent years. If you wanted a winter tire that griped on ice you required studs. And more people carried chains compared to the number of people who carry them today.
Front wheel drive vehicles were very rare, Olds and Buick had some, but those models were very uncommon. In those years I never saw anyone run 4 snow tires. Even if you did, the front tires would still slip on ice because the rubber had no grip on ice. It seamed that the tread design for the front tires in the winter was about having parallel groves and the front were for getting water to clear the tread and for turning.
It was common to make sure the front had plenty of tread, but they were not snow tires. Spin outs were more common. Part of learning to drive in the snow was to go in a parking lot covered with snow and do some hard turns and doughnuts just to get the feel of how much power and speed the tires would handle before you would slide.
While running studded tires on all 4 with the older tire designs may have had more traction on ice back in the 50's, 60's, and early 70's, than the snow tires of today, studs were not allowed to be ran in certain months, and some areas did not allow you to run them any time. Studs would often leave the tire during the second year of use, or if you spun the tire. And chains would break if you ran them on dry ground.
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Now days the improved rubber compounds and tread design of todays snow tires that actually have some traction on ice makes running 2 a bad idea, regardless if the vehicle is front, rear, or 4WD.
However I feel much safer with 4 of todays dedicated winter tires on a vehicle, than I felt with the tires we ran on vehicles decades ago.
And the winters were often more brutal with more snow than we have been getting in recent years. If you wanted a winter tire that griped on ice you required studs. And more people carried chains compared to the number of people who carry them today.
Front wheel drive vehicles were very rare, Olds and Buick had some, but those models were very uncommon. In those years I never saw anyone run 4 snow tires. Even if you did, the front tires would still slip on ice because the rubber had no grip on ice. It seamed that the tread design for the front tires in the winter was about having parallel groves and the front were for getting water to clear the tread and for turning.
It was common to make sure the front had plenty of tread, but they were not snow tires. Spin outs were more common. Part of learning to drive in the snow was to go in a parking lot covered with snow and do some hard turns and doughnuts just to get the feel of how much power and speed the tires would handle before you would slide.
While running studded tires on all 4 with the older tire designs may have had more traction on ice back in the 50's, 60's, and early 70's, than the snow tires of today, studs were not allowed to be ran in certain months, and some areas did not allow you to run them any time. Studs would often leave the tire during the second year of use, or if you spun the tire. And chains would break if you ran them on dry ground.
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Now days the improved rubber compounds and tread design of todays snow tires that actually have some traction on ice makes running 2 a bad idea, regardless if the vehicle is front, rear, or 4WD.
However I feel much safer with 4 of todays dedicated winter tires on a vehicle, than I felt with the tires we ran on vehicles decades ago.
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BTW, I have a rear wheel drive 1985 Olds Delta 88 two door. I run Blizzaks on all 4 in the winter. This car does not have posi-traction rear end, so if one of the rear tires were to spin on snow or ice it will not move. I have had that car for 20 years now, and have driven around front wheel drive vehicles sliding out of control, or just not able to move up a hill, several times in the winters of driving it.
One winter a road that slants towards the guardreel for drainage was covered with glare ice. Cars could not steer and even though they were going very slow many of them ended up riding the side of the car against the guardreel. I had 4 Blizzaks and drove past them in complete control at a faster speed than they could go. One winter a car and a van had slid out of control on a downhill turn and blown the seal on the front passengers tire on both vehicles. One of them also bent the rim. I had 4 Blizzaks and drove around them. In fact some people were stopping all traffic and not letting vehicles go down that hill because of the vehicles that had already blown there tires. I told the men stopping traffic that I had 4 Blizzaks and I would take it easy, and they let me go down the hill. It was so slippery that one of the men stopping traffic was unable to stand still and was constantly trying to maintain his balance to stand.
Four Blizzaks or the equivalent of some of the other top end winter tires are well worth the cost. While they may not end up saving you from a crash every winter, after several years of use there will be some times that they did save you from having a crash.
One winter a road that slants towards the guardreel for drainage was covered with glare ice. Cars could not steer and even though they were going very slow many of them ended up riding the side of the car against the guardreel. I had 4 Blizzaks and drove past them in complete control at a faster speed than they could go. One winter a car and a van had slid out of control on a downhill turn and blown the seal on the front passengers tire on both vehicles. One of them also bent the rim. I had 4 Blizzaks and drove around them. In fact some people were stopping all traffic and not letting vehicles go down that hill because of the vehicles that had already blown there tires. I told the men stopping traffic that I had 4 Blizzaks and I would take it easy, and they let me go down the hill. It was so slippery that one of the men stopping traffic was unable to stand still and was constantly trying to maintain his balance to stand.
Four Blizzaks or the equivalent of some of the other top end winter tires are well worth the cost. While they may not end up saving you from a crash every winter, after several years of use there will be some times that they did save you from having a crash.
I remember one winter night my cousin was driving and the main road was practically at a stand still. So he took parallel back streets. There was more snow on those streets, and one alley way sometimes cars were parked on the left, and you had to drive on the right, and sometimes cars were parked on the right and you had to drive on the left. He had snows on the back and not on the front. There was a car in front of us on the left and he turned to the right to go by it, but his front tires slid and he hit it. It was a Chevy Corvair. After he bumped the Corvair he stopped his car and we all sat in his car and watched as the Corvair started rolling over the crest of the hill it was sitting atop of. It went about twenty feet and ran into some deeper snow and stopped. We all got out and went to the back door of the house it was initially parked by and asked if it was their Corvair. They said yes, and my cousin explained to them that he had just hit their car and it was about to roll down the hill. The wife said very loudly "not again, that is the third time that car was hit while parked."
Anywho, if my cousin had todays winter tires on all 4 he might of been able to turn in the snow instead of slide and hit something.
Anywho, if my cousin had todays winter tires on all 4 he might of been able to turn in the snow instead of slide and hit something.
I had a Mustang for 11 years and I used standard snows with steel wheels and hubcaps on the rear during winter. I went through 2 sets of snows in the 11 years. I simply took it easy because of the conditions. I also kept in mind that in rain, the snows don't grip like regular all weather tires. The car and I made it just fine till I got rid of it in 2009. I also put 2, 25 lb weight plates in the spare tire well...
regardless of what you are driving, always consider loading all 4 wheels with proper snow/winter tires for the winter driving conditions.
For RWD: front is the steering wheel part. So what good is it when you got rear traction (winter tires on rear on a RWD) when your front wheels cannot "steer"?
For FWD: even though you may think that having 2 snows on front of FWD will give you both traction (accelerating from a standstill) and steering (somewhat), but what good is it when your car cannot track straight (because your rear trailing wheels do not have proper traction?), causing your vehicle to slip and slide (or fishtail)?
AWD, 4WD, doesn't even matter if they insist that running all-season/summer tire suffice. I saw 2 AWDs spinning their all seasons up the ski mountains this morning (yeah, just came home from tobaganning with kids, on a properly equipped FWD camry with all 4 snows).
My BIL's MPV with all season michelin pilot exaltos was fishtailing and spinning in front of us all along the way, even though in our case my wifey's snows are 6 yrs old and got approx.40% thread left, not a single issue up and down the icy mountain slope.
Q.
p.s. a lot of naysayers will tell you they can get by with all seasons or 2 snow tires, but then again: it's your own safety and your own dear life. If you value your(s) life as much as I do, get 4 snows and that's it.
For RWD: front is the steering wheel part. So what good is it when you got rear traction (winter tires on rear on a RWD) when your front wheels cannot "steer"?
For FWD: even though you may think that having 2 snows on front of FWD will give you both traction (accelerating from a standstill) and steering (somewhat), but what good is it when your car cannot track straight (because your rear trailing wheels do not have proper traction?), causing your vehicle to slip and slide (or fishtail)?
AWD, 4WD, doesn't even matter if they insist that running all-season/summer tire suffice. I saw 2 AWDs spinning their all seasons up the ski mountains this morning (yeah, just came home from tobaganning with kids, on a properly equipped FWD camry with all 4 snows).
My BIL's MPV with all season michelin pilot exaltos was fishtailing and spinning in front of us all along the way, even though in our case my wifey's snows are 6 yrs old and got approx.40% thread left, not a single issue up and down the icy mountain slope.
Q.
p.s. a lot of naysayers will tell you they can get by with all seasons or 2 snow tires, but then again: it's your own safety and your own dear life. If you value your(s) life as much as I do, get 4 snows and that's it.
Well, RWD will get really tail happy if you have snows on the front only. I agree that all four is the best option, but on RWD, two on the rear is better than none.
I have 4 Hankook I*Cept Evo's on my 2011 Mazda RX-8 sports car.
The car has a limited slip rear differential, so I have an amazing amount of rear tire traction when I take of from a standstill in slippery conditions, like at iced over intersections, as opposed to most typical front wheel drive cars that just wind up spinning one tire, and not really going anywhere.
I feel more secure in my ability to stop or turn if an unplanned situation occurs, and then I can watch the danger simply slide away from me.
Since the car has a nearly perfect 50/50 weight distribution front to rear, and the car is fairly light weight, I can rink and dink easier than nose heavy/tail light front wheel drive cars can.
The biggest advantage I have is the driver mod.
When it snows, I take the back roads through local neighborhoods to get the 7 miles up the road to work, instead of taking the heavily, and extremely slowly traveled main roads, where you would be mixed in with good and bad drivers, drivers with bald tires, drivers with summer tires, and drivers with just plain bad tires on their cars, sliding all over the place.
BC.
The car has a limited slip rear differential, so I have an amazing amount of rear tire traction when I take of from a standstill in slippery conditions, like at iced over intersections, as opposed to most typical front wheel drive cars that just wind up spinning one tire, and not really going anywhere.
I feel more secure in my ability to stop or turn if an unplanned situation occurs, and then I can watch the danger simply slide away from me.
Since the car has a nearly perfect 50/50 weight distribution front to rear, and the car is fairly light weight, I can rink and dink easier than nose heavy/tail light front wheel drive cars can.
The biggest advantage I have is the driver mod.
When it snows, I take the back roads through local neighborhoods to get the 7 miles up the road to work, instead of taking the heavily, and extremely slowly traveled main roads, where you would be mixed in with good and bad drivers, drivers with bald tires, drivers with summer tires, and drivers with just plain bad tires on their cars, sliding all over the place.
BC.
Many years ago probably before a lot of Bitog members were even born, anyone I knew with RWD drive cars put two snow tires in the back, some sand in the trunk [not for weight but to toss under the tires on ice], carried a shovel, and maybe a set of chains. That was considered winter ready. Tires have evolved, and so have the way people think about tires. I manage to get by with a good set of all season tires, but I don't live in the snow belt either.
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