does it make a difference in the northeast putting snow tires on a FWD car? 2 in front or 4? Thank you!!
YES, very much and ALWAYS 4 winter tires on a FWD car. Buy a set on 4 steel wheels and swap them off in the spring.
You will be truly amazed at when real winter tires - not all season, real winter tires - will do for you in ice and snow.
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Put on four winter tires. If you put two winter tires on the front, you’re setting yourself up to spin easily and crash.
Tire Rack’s demonstration with 2 Toyota sedans on a ice rink.
I have put Michelin X ice and Bridgestone Blizzak’s on my various mini vans and Corollas over the years. Huge improvement in braking and handling and traction. Most folks are only concerned about making sure they can go in the snow/ice, but if you can’t go you sure are not going to stop if you eventually do get moving. Both of these tires, on all 4 wheels, are amazing.
As others have said, put winter tires on all 4 wheels. If they are just on the front, your front tires will make a turn and the rear (non snow) tires will merrily go what ever direction they want, putting you into an uncontrolled spin. Same thing will happen when braking on a slick surface, the fronts will hold and the back end will break and slide much more easily. Not likely to happen if all 4 are good snow tires.
Two on the front will gwt you moving, 4 will stop the rear from sliding into a ditch unless you corner too fast or abruptly, then nothing will help.
its not hard to find used sets of wheels/tires but now you run into ride quality issues. new winter tires may not ride as smooth as you expect vs your all season tires. and buying a set of used winter tires almost ensures a less than smooth ride. though lots of folks think different means new. you dont say how nice your current tires are. are they new?
Additionally, winter tires tend to wear faster than other types of tires, and once there is a significant amount of tread wear on a winter tire, it will no longer provide the excellent traction that it did when it was new, or even fairly new.
been there. 1/2 worn blizzaks are no better than almost new a/s tires.