Having driven my Purple Hungry, Hungry Hippo is the back end likes to come around real quick, having the proper tread so it grips rather than glides over the snow is more important.

Buy or get 4.

In CT re run into the same issue with load rating on tires and the vehicle, if its on the car the shop is liable but if you bring the rim in, its a way of working around the law. See if you can remove the rim and just bring in.

 

Just to clarify that the Quebec law has been in place for 3-4 years by now, and that 4 winter tires are indeed mandated; they also have to have a minimum thread depth (Otherwise, why bother?).

It's all a matter of front to back traction balance and emergency maneuver predictability: I have experienced panic stops on black ice where the back end would have spin around if I had had less grip in the back. Different cars behave differently, and the HHR is actually pretty good in that regards (being somewhat back-end heavy), but our Saturn ION gets totally unstable with even the slightest amount of packed snow on the road (I can't even imagine how it would fare without good grip in the back).

Yves