Winter Tires

[xylhim]

So I'm heading up to Canada to go to graduate school, from sunny Southern California. Going to Canada in the dead of winter means I'll probably need some snow chains, but also winter tires. I wanted to avoid using the tires altogether, but I know some roads in British Colombia require you to have them. Of course my primary concern is with efficiency, so I found some low rolling resistance winter tires: http://www.michelinman.com/tire-selector/category/winter/x-ice-xi3/tire-details

Knowing that in BC the law states you must have at least a pair, I was thinking of just replacing my front tires only and keeping the rears stock. Now this may not be ideal in extreme conditions, but I really don't plan on driving in the middle of extreme weather; I only want a bit of extra traction on icy/slushy roads. So I'm wondering, should I go with just the pair, or just get all four, knowing that the summer tires in the rear may harden too much and cause me to slide like mad all over the place?

 

[emv]

[color=#FF0000[b]]Don't even think about using tire chains, there isn't enough clearance and damage will be done.[/b][/color]

Wow! Those Michelins come in the right sizes for both front and rear. I know tire dealers don't want to sell just two snows but in the old days we used to run that way without problems. (We also smoked, deep fried everything, and as kids rode loose in the back of station wagons so ymmv)

 

[Nashco]

I would only run the fronts, since you said the law requires at least two. I've driven my Spark EV with (nearly new) stock tires in a few inches of snow and the car got around impressively well. The stability and traction control were tuned to work with that scenario, and compared to older cars without that stuff it's a dream.

Bryce

 

[xylhim]

I wound up getting all four. I'm glad I did, last night I was driving around on streets that had built up in some cases, a half a foot of snow. At one intersection, the snow had turned to ice, and even after fully slamming on the brakes, I slid a good ten feet. Fortunately I wasn't driving fast enough, and was able to come to complete stop before the intersection. If I didn't have the winter tires on all four, I might not have been able to stop before the intersection.