interesting situation happened today while tire shopping in usa.
ilive a few minutes from port huron,mi and have a chance to buy 2 snow tires for
my hhr and sve $110 per tire over cdn price for exactly the same tire here in canada. made an appointment with belle tire in fort gratiot,mi and the manager phoned me back saying he could not install just 2 /it had to be 4 due to state law &liability.so i cancelled the deal. ithen checked with my provinces law regarding this issue &there is non other than it is good practice to do so.i am an elderly chap and have had more cars than toes &fingers and never had a problem in driving in some of the harshest weather conditions in this hemisphere. what gives someone trying to scam folks for an extra set of tires etc..so i think
what i will do is pick up the tires &have them mounted in my home town. he went on to state that if it were legal i people would experience a lot of over or under steer. what say you forum members, i would be interested in your comments &recomendations. regards&later kewatin

 

I can't speak for Belle Tire, but Discount Tire is good to deal with, and only requires you get pairs, no less than pairs.

 

There is a rule of thought that on a front wheel drive car with only winter tires on the front would give the front more traction and the back end would tend to want to spin out on a turn.

I have always put 4 winter tires on my front wheel drive cars.

 

I've had first hand experience as a passenger in a Fiat 128 (fwd) years ago with snows on the front only and it wasn't fun. We had a fresh snowfall, and my buddy picked me up in his Fiat and we went for a drive on the city streets - the road was level and flat but probably about 4" of snow, most of which was packed down - and the front tires were brand new snow tires, and the rears were about 6 months old so had lots of summer tread.

He was accelerating not that quick then backed off of the gas at maybe 30-40mph, and the car did a snap 360 before he could blink - the rear lost total traction causing the spin. Luckily we didn't hit anything - pure luck.

It scared him so bad, he went back to the tire shop and had snows mounted on the rear. He said he would never drive a fwd with snows just on the front again.

When I went with snows for the HHR, I went with all 4 snows. Wouldn't do it any other way. Driving a rwd with snows on the (xfrontx - major typo!) REAR was my norm for years, and never had a problem. But fwd handles totally different.

IMO.

 

Never had a problem with just the two up front. Only one time i had the back start sliding out, the ESC kicked in and straightened it out!

 

Hummm, I just run the same tires all year long. They are rated as all season though.

Back when I had rear wheel drive cars I almost always had a set of dedicated snow tires. When I lived in northwest Wisconsin I even had studded tires until they outlawed them.

Even worn studded tires seemed to have better grip than non studded tires.

 

I have experience of 2 tires in the front, 2 other tires - rear. Different manufacturers, different tread patterns. This does not affect the quality of movement on snow and ice. Even if there are spikes in the front and rear do not have it - nothing tragic. But only on the strict condition: all 4 tires must be "winter tires". If the winter front and the summer back - your ass will fly apart at every turn. Effect handbrake, will stop at the traffic lights "backwards on front".
And of course - if the law prohibits the use of different tires, the law must be observed.
Thank God, we have no such law in RF.

 

well i thank all those whom answered,interesting comments. i will say that this is my 4 th fwd car and i have never experienced some of the problems stated.mybe i have been awfully lucky or had a guardian angel looking over me.i will notch up the same question a bit by stating were do all season radials that come with the cars mfg. surely putting 2 winter tires on is going to give you additional safety,no/ if it were such a safety issue why would the most populus province in canada not have the long arm of big government watching over me stating you must have 4 winter tires? that is not the case at present. also on the news last night the province of quebec is passing legislation to state you must have winter tires on your vehicle for the season ,no mention of 4 tires.i do thank all those that responded and appreciate your remarks, but will continue to use the practice of 2 only as life's experience has served me well to this point in my old life.perhaps i am bieng old foolish&entrenched in my school of thought but the way this winter is shaping up it will be a good learning situation for all.
regards&later KEWATIN

 

It is not so much you are lucky as the law is there because some folks are unaware of how bad it can be with none matching tires. If you have worn rear summer tires and put 2 brand new snows on the front, the first time you go into a corner in the snow, the back end will slide out and want to come around.

Where this is most noticeable, will be in wet snow conditions.

We exploit this condition with FWD race cars, because they tend to push or under steer, we use rear tires with less grip. If the rear begins to slide out, you can accelerate harder to straighten the car and maintain control. It becomes a win, win on the track, but it doesn't always work on the street, because it's not a controlled environment.

 

My local Costco has a poster at the tire sales desk showing the reason why. It shows tire tracks with and without in skids.
Nobody in Virginia cares, we don't live with months of below freezing. The liability laws seem to make some retailers worry.