does one need all 4 winter tires?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Originally Posted By: Rolla07
Originally Posted By: RISUPERCREWMAN
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Yes, use dedicated winter tires at all 4 corners.
If you use them in the rear only, you will see what you're going to hit in the windshield.
If you use them in the front only, you will see what you're going to hit in the rear-view mirror.


I respectfully disagree! I have been driving Crown Vics for the last 28 years as a Police Officer. We only put snow tires on the rear wheels. Never a problem ever using this method.


FWD cars are far superior in winter. Every RWD I have driven including a crown vic with sandbags in the trunk and winters all around still were terrible in winter. Why wouldnt you put winters on the front too? Its definitely going to be better than all seasons. I remember being in a mustang, not a winter car...id put winters all around. Peace of mind is worth a couple hundred bucks.
Again I respectfully disagree! I have been driving Police Interceptor Crown Vic's for 28 years! They are just fine in the snow with snow tires mounted on the rear drive wheels and weight in the trunk! I've been in many major storms in that car & was just fine! Same on my civilian 2011 LX! No issues with snow!
 
Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
If you're running studs you don't want them on the front, PERIOD.


For some reason local road regulation dictates even amount of studs to every tyre, if you're running studded tyres. Won't pass MOT if there isn't. 85 % of cars in here run studded winters.
 
Many of you guys are taken in by the tire company talk and spin. Can one put only two Winter tires on? Yes. Do tire companies recommend it? No.

Will the car be all over the road and then in the ditch with only two? No

1st off, how does one drive when roads are snow covered and slippery? Hopefully slower and more carefully, especially around corners and turns. Yes, all 4 would be better than two, but two is much better than zero.

Many drive with 'all seasons' in the Winter. How do they corner? Why is it different with the same tires on the front then winter tires in the back(drive axel)? Is one driving faster since they have the two winter tires on? Is that assumed?

One factor us where one lives. Some areas on on the edges of the worst of winter driving conditions, not the extreme snow belt or mountainous regions. In these areas one can get by fine with two, a vast safety improvement.

I've only done so for many years. You can buy two off fleabay, or buy 4 and rotate two in at a time. Yes, nothing wrong with 4, but two is much better than none.
 
If you don't see the logic in going off road in 2WD until you get stuck, then using 4WD to get yourself unstuck, then by all means, go ahead and use two winter tires.

If you actually understand traction and vehicle dynamics, then there's no question - balanced grip all the way around.
 
Originally Posted By: hardcore302
does one need all 4 winter tires?

'Need' is a bit of an ambiguous term here. But do you WANT all 4 winter tires? Heck, yeah.
 
I won't drive in the winter without 4 winter tires. But, back in the day when everything was rear drive, you ran 2 snows in the rear or chains. Chains will always beat winter tires in deep snow. Deep snow will help you turn and stop. Ice is totally different, and challenging even with all the traction you can get. Now, they call every tire all-season. no matter how wide they are. When they came up with the term all-season, the tires where only like 5 inches wide, and worked about like winter tires do now. All-season doesn't mean much anymore.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: oldhp
If drive like you are supposed to drive in winter you can put snow tires on the rear only. I've never put snow tires on the front of a rear drive 2wd anything. This goes right along with putting the new tires on the rear instead of the front. You can explain until the moon turns green, I don't believe it.


That's ok. Physics work whether you believe it or not.
 
Quote:
you want to be able to STOP more than you want to be able to go.

Not exactly. You want to go. You need to stop or turn.

Buy 4.
 
The problem is that todays generation has grown up on FWD Unibody 4cyl [censored] with no chassis or frames. Most have never even driven a RWD car ever yet alone in the snow. I was brought up on RWD V8 cars/trucks with a frame. IE Chassis. I'll take my RWD V8 Crown Vic in the snow with TWO REAR Snow Tires any day over today's FWD unibody junk any day! Once you learn how to steer a RWD car in slippery condition much like a Sprint Car on a dirt track its quite fun actually like drifting. Another thing you cannot to with todays FWD Junk!
 
My first vehicles were a RWD Ford V6 and a RWD Ford V8.

There is absolutely no comparison between having 2 winter tires on the rear and 4 winter tires. None. Zip. Zero.

With snows on the rear I never had a problem getting moving. Stopping and steering with all-season fronts and snows on the rear...that's another story.

You can deny all you like, but the physics of having equal traction on both ends of the car versus a difference is not debatable. Saying otherwise is factually and scientifically incorrect.
 
Originally Posted By: RISUPERCREWMAN

The problem is that todays generation has grown up on FWD Unibody 4cyl [censored] with no chassis or frames. Most have never even driven a RWD car ever yet alone in the snow. I was brought up on RWD V8 cars/trucks with a frame. IE Chassis. I'll take my RWD V8 Crown Vic in the snow with TWO REAR Snow Tires any day over today's FWD unibody junk any day! Once you learn how to steer a RWD car in slippery condition much like a Sprint Car on a dirt track its quite fun actually like drifting. Another thing you cannot to with todays FWD Junk!



Quoted. So we can see it forever.


And laugh
 
I learned all about vehicle dynamics one slushy morning in my 1970 Plymouth Duster on bald tires. So it wasn't body on frame... it was still a leaf sprung, solid rear axle, high torque car with next to no traction. All I can say is thank heaven I didn't have winter tires on the rear, because then I would have gotten myself into a situation that was WAY beyond the ability of the front tires.

If you're even questioning whether you need four winter tires, then you definitely need four winter tires.
 
Originally Posted By: Clevy
Originally Posted By: RISUPERCREWMAN

The problem is that todays generation has grown up on FWD Unibody 4cyl [censored] with no chassis or frames. Most have never even driven a RWD car ever yet alone in the snow. I was brought up on RWD V8 cars/trucks with a frame. IE Chassis. I'll take my RWD V8 Crown Vic in the snow with TWO REAR Snow Tires any day over today's FWD unibody junk any day! Once you learn how to steer a RWD car in slippery condition much like a Sprint Car on a dirt track its quite fun actually like drifting. Another thing you cannot to with todays FWD Junk!



Quoted. So we can see it forever.


And laugh

+1 and lol
 
And I thought my comment about compromising and using just three was funny.
 
I followed a FWD Jetta that was on on new, name brand all seasons through a set of twisties in my RWD volvo on Hankook I-pikes.

sno67623_zps5d528eea.jpg


I know what he ran, because he spun out into a ditch and I stopped to help, and rubberneck at his tires.

Now I roll with a dash-cam.
laugh.gif


Volvo had a locking diff which means I didn't get stuck in snow, though it kicked the rear out unexpectedly on "frost ice" on all-seasons before the road was preemptively coated with a thin layer of salt.
 
Back in the day, snows were commonly mounted on the rear of RWD vehicles. These tires had very agressive tread patterns and were intended only to improve traction in snow, not to provide more cornering or braking grip on ice. For that, you added a set of noisy, pavement destroying studs.
Modern winter tires typically have soft compounds and often soft sidewalls and work well in snow but also offer better grip on ice than all seasons.
A set of winters on the rear only of a RWD car wouldn't be optimal, but as long as the car were driven carefully until the driver learned how it braked and cornered in icy conditions there shouldn't be any problem.
 
Originally Posted By: Clevy
Originally Posted By: RISUPERCREWMAN

The problem is that todays generation has grown up on FWD Unibody 4cyl [censored] with no chassis or frames. Most have never even driven a RWD car ever yet alone in the snow. I was brought up on RWD V8 cars/trucks with a frame. IE Chassis. I'll take my RWD V8 Crown Vic in the snow with TWO REAR Snow Tires any day over today's FWD unibody junk any day! Once you learn how to steer a RWD car in slippery condition much like a Sprint Car on a dirt track its quite fun actually like drifting. Another thing you cannot to with todays FWD Junk!



Quoted. So we can see it forever.


And laugh


I don't see what is so funny? There is nothing in that statement that is not true?
 
Last edited:
You can drift a RWD a lot better when you have some front grip. The best handling car I have ever drove in the snow was my 96 Impala SS. The day I bought the car, 1/2 in of snow, only had to
go a mile and it was scary. 255/50-17 wide tires do not work. So I bought steel wheels, and 215/70-15 WS-15 Blizzaks. The next day, drove in 6 in of fresh snow, and the tires turned that helpless car into a drifting, snow flying monster in the snow.
Every time it snowed I would go drive it because it was such a blast to drive in the snow.
 
Yes. One benefits much from running 4 snow tires.

BTW, a FWD car with a 70/30 F/R weight distribution will drift very well around corners under the right conditions. Even the more typical 60/40 weight distribution can make the rear end get light. Having balanced traction on all 4 corners makes the rear come back in line much more predictably. Much more fun being able to drive in the snow with the knowledge that the rear end on a FWD car isn't going to over-steer one into a ditch.
 
On some RWD cars (like mine for example), one CANNOT even get winter/snow/ice tires in the same size as the standard tires (they just are NOT made, and maybe never were).

So the imbalance becomes even greater yet with a 245/50-16 all season on the front, and a 225/55-16 winter on the back.

All the more reason for me to go with the 225/55-16, or a taller/higher profile 225/60-16 ALL AROUND, if I am going to use winter tires at all.

(The BEST scenario would be for me to buy new wheels at 16x7, and put some 215/60-16, Q or R rated winters on those, all around, which is exactly what I would do IF I were in a severe 'snow belt' area like the upper Midwest, the mountain states, or northern New England.
wink.gif
)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top