Unless you have a 4x4 or AWD, you should only have to put snow tires on the drive wheels
Two things will cause the need for winter tyres.
1: You don’t want to get stuck so you need traction to get going.
You don’t want to slide off the road or slide into another car or truck.
Drive wheels are fine for #1, but #2 is far more important! You want winter tires on all four corners. I wish I had them on the car I was driving 45 years ago when I lost two teeth on black ice, 14 cars ahead a couple died when their car went under a semi truck in the 15 vehicle accident.
Tires make a MAJOR difference and you must analize your need carefully.
I’ve proven this to myself while owning two identical trucks, 91 & 92 Ford explorers. The 91 had Michelin cross terrain suv and the 92 had BFG all-terrain t/a ko. MAJOR difference in driving between them. The Mich were no more that highway tread with a minor zigzag channel and a nice ride. The BFG were aggressive grip but a stiff ride.
If you’d ever tried to drive a RWD car with bias ply tires in the snow, the question would not have needed asking. Summer tread bias ply tires were absolutely useless for getting forward traction in the snow. We all had snow tires.
Agree with mountainbike; we all had snows on the rear drive wheels, and most of us had STUDDED snow tires for use on ice or hard packed snow. Studs are now illegal in may areas, and we now have Michelin X-ICE winter tires on all 4 wheels, and the difference in incredible. We ski and snowhoe a lot in the mountains, and so far have never gottern stuck! We always wonder why people buy expensive AWD vehicles and then don’t put good tires on them.
I fondly remember studded snow tires on my dad’s '65 Corvair. That had bite that was unprecedented in those days. Of course, the front end weighed about 12 pounds, so when you turned the wheel it wanted to keep going straight!
Interestingly enough the mountain peak is not insurance either of winter traction. Some recent Canadian tire test with Bridgestone showed some light truck tires showing the mountain peak label stopped only 10% better than a control all-season tire. It sadly still is a gentleman’s agreement. However sticking to the better branded (Bridgestone, Michelin, Nokian) winter tires assures good traction.
I know that some will disagree with me (let the insults begin!), but after two bad experiences with Bridgestone tires, I would not buy them again. Thus, I am prone to believe that Bridgestone may have been “less than honest” with their winter tires and their ability to get traction on ice and snow.
On the other hand, I have had nothing but positive experience with Michelin (both regular and winter tires), and with B.F. Goodrich, Yokohama, and Goodyear. Yes, I know that my experience is purely anecdotal, but we all react to personal experiences, and my experiences with Bridgestone have not been good ones.
Yea. The really dangerous part of driving on snow is sliding into something or someone. If you have FWD and put winter tyres on only the front, if someone’s driving would suddenly change a easy drive into a dangerous situation you are likely to end up looking where you had been and have no control over where you were going. It should always be all for with winter tyres and during the summer, the best tyres on the drive wheels front or back.
Please remember it is more important to be able to stop than to be able to drive forward.
Oh, yea, MB. We should not forget what a great deal radial tires did for winter driving, providing more traction and less noise. Does anyone remember cinder barrels? They went out at about the same time radial tires came in. I can remember a long, lone hold out. The last living roadside cinder barrel that I saw was probably in the late 80s in West Chenango near the Binghamton Regional Airport.
In severe winter conditions (note I'm in Iowa so we'll get 12" snow falls, sleet, ice storms, etc., but not like 2 foot + snow falls) I would not rely on an all-season. I don't have snow tires either, but I got M+S (Mud and Snow) rated all-seasons. Some all-season tires are just like a slick as soon as they get beyond wet pavement, you don't want those. M+S tires have some minimum (mud and snow) traction standard they meet, and generally have a more appropriate tread to help sling snow and slush out from under them. But they do not sacrifice everything else like some snow tires -- with 4 Blizzaks, you could probably stop on glare ice, chain your car to a tree stump and pull out the stump, but they'll wear out within a few weeks if you drive them on dry pavement. With M+S tires, you'll be able to stop and go reasonably, and not worry about having to take them off in the summer.
“with 4 Blizzaks, you could probably stop on glare ice, chain your car to a tree stump and pull out the stump, but they’ll wear out within a few weeks if you drive them on dry pavement”
That was true of the earlier Blizzaks, but the newer ones are much better on wear.
However, if you want the ultimate in both winter traction AND long tread wear, then you should buy a set of Michelin winter tires. My first set (Arctic Alpin) lasted me through 6 winters. My current ones (X-Ice) have even better traction than the Arctic Alpins, and are showing no signs of significant wear in their 4th winter. In addition, they handle better on dry roads than a lot of all-season tires, and have excellent ride quality. Their only drawback is that they are slightly noisy at high speed.
And, in view of the fact that winter tires do wear more quickly on dry roads and in elevated temperatures, I don’t mount the winter tires until December and I put the all-season tires back on the car in late March or early April.
M+S is meaningless unfortunately. I have owned Bridgestone RE92’s which have M+S affixed to the tire and are useless in winter conditions. I have also owned Pirelli P-Zero Nero M+S(the end part means usable really in cold conditions) which are incredible tires except on winter conditions. The M+S only really differentiates them from the summer tire with an all-season rubber compound.
As a one-time owner of Blizzack’s they wear fine on dry pavement in the cold(winter months). They are incredible winter tires. They do wear rapidly as ANY winter tire does due to tread compound in warm weather (70F+) and are noticeably squishy.
All weather or even standard tires are OK where I live in in a relatively flat area of the upper midwest US. The roads are reliably salted and kept clear except while a snowstorm is in progress. If your area has hills, then snow tires might be better.
I live in the Sierra Nevada and I have 4wd and snow tires. In 2wd, the pickup is all over the place. 4wd is a neccessity up here. If you lived in the valley, and only came up to the mountain a couple times a year, I would buy a set of chains. They are the safest way to go any how. Every winter, I can drive up the hwy during or after a storm and 4wd vehicles are all over the side of the road. The first time I saw this, I thought I didn’t see a fire truck behind me. No truck, just slick roads.