i have only 2 winter tires for my corolla!

[ever_green]

hi guys i have a problem and i need your suggestions to deal with it. I drive my dad's 2000 corolla which he no longer needs as he bought a new car and i love it. its a quiet ride, reliable and good on fuel and all. but winter is fast approaching and i live in canada with horrible winter conditions. so i went to my basement the other day looking for the old snow tires i remember him putting on the car and i noticed he only has 2 Being a college student and having to pay thousands of dollars for tuition i have no money to spend on winter tires. So im wondering how i should deal with this. Should i install the two winter tires? if so should i place them on the front or the rear? also my car has 4 new all season michelin harmoney tires and im not sure about their performance in -30'c weather on hardpacked snow and slush. The winter tires are nordic icetracs with a bit more than 6/32" tread remaining.

[Crowbar911]

If you only have 2, and they have decent tread, put them on the front.

The corolla is a FWD car. All the power is in the front. The back wheels are only along for the ride.
So If you put them in the back, they wont be of any help if you get stuck.

[PhatRoyale]

Start saving up for winter tires. Adjust your budget accordingly so you can swing the cash.

Mixing and matching different tire types is a big when it comes to handling safety.

[Crowbar911]

Phat, Is that because he would be mixing snow tires with all seasons, or does that go with all tires in general?

If I have 2 sets of all seasons, 1 in front, and 1 in back, would that be ok? or should you just never mix tires?

[DjiNN]

IMO .. i don't think you should mix and match at all. reason being that you wont have the same performance all around, wouldn't grip the same all around, and the tread life would be different all around.

[PhatRoyale]

Tire mixing in general is never a good idea especially if the tires are at different wear stages in their life cycles. It can lead to unpredictable handling characteristics that can catch you off guard for example, if you were to hit a patch of black ice and get caught in a spin. Normally, you would be able to look a steer where you are going and straighten your car with some countersteer input, but with the different levels of grip available, the rate of spin might be too great to counter and on public roads it can lead to an accident or taking out the nearest cars with you.

[ever_green]

thanks for all the answers and i cant really afford winter tires i am paying the last cent of my bank account for tuition and the government isnt giving me any loan. so much for canadian government! so buying a tire is no option. so im taking that you guys want me to stick to my michelin harmonys then?

[dizwiz24]

Do not mix all-season and winter tires.

Whatever position (front, rear) you put the winter tires on will grip in the snow/slush, and whatever position you put the all-season tires on will slide.

So, putting winter tires on the front (since the car is FWD) and all-season on in the rear, will cause you to spin out in the snow.

Putting winter tires on the rear and all-season on the front will cause you to not be able to make the turn (ie. severe understeer).

Get 4 winter tires!!!

Bridgestone Blizzak is my recommendation.

[Super Blue]

As others have already said in this thread do not mix 2 sets of tires. By mixing 2 types of tires you're putting yourself and others on the road around you at risk because you car will handle in a unpredictable manner when you need to make any sort of emergency maneuver.

The Goodyear Nordic are the exclusive tires that Goodyear makes for Cdn tire, or at least that's what the guy told me last year when I had winter tires put on my dad's car. They were Goodyear Nordic, but there was no icetracs in the title. You may want to go down to Cdn tire and look at the tread design and see if it matches the ones you have. If it does you can buy 2.

If you cannot find tires I would suggest you look for used winter tires on crigslist or kijiji, I'm sure you will find something.

[fishexpo101]

As mentioned above, pretty much summed it up - do NOT mix tires, regardless of type (winter, all-season, summer, etc.) - that is just asking for problems.

There has been extensive testing in this regard by many tire test facilities, testing aspects like mixing tread design, tire carcass compliance, temperature profile, wear levels, etc. Even two different sets of all-seasons can compromise vehicle dynamics and reaction to on road situations.

Only thing worse that running winter tires on one axle and all-seasons on another is running summer tires on one of the axles and winter on the other. The difference in the levels of traction is too much to compensate in an emergency. As mentioned, the car will tend to swap ends (assuming you put the higher traction tire up front).

I've already experienced this first hand - swapping summers to the rear, winter's up front (pot hole took out two winter tires on one side - so I was in a bind until I received replacement winter tires). Couldn't tell you how many times I spun that Corolla around - fortunately, this was middle of the night, almost no traffic (winter storm advisory). Got home, swapped them the other way around - almost no traction, no direction control.

Worse comes to worse - just stick with the all-seasons. Assuming that their have plenty of tread on them. Might not have the grip levels of winter only tires, especially on ice - but they will respond in a predicable manner - might be able to catch the car in a slide, or lock them up and skid straight when needed. Mixing even a good all-season with a winter tire on ice - the car will hunt to the left and right like a bloodhound after a scent trail.

[Bhavesh]

are you having trouble driving in a straight line, getting started from a dead stop, or fishtailing when turning?

[PhatRoyale]

I don't really recommend that you use all-seasons during the winter, but considering that it's Toronto, the snow storms don't really get all that bad during the winter. You might be able to get by.