I've been checking tirerack.com and all the snow tire say to only install in sets of 4. i called the local tire place and they said just to purchase the rears. anyone have any opinions on just replacing the rears for 4 months or is it a bad idea?

Personaly I change all 4 tires, Granted I live in Winterpeg and see snow for 6-7 months straight so it helps.

Also having 4 tires wearing at the same rate makes alot more sense to me.

What kind of tires you using right now, and where abouts are you? You get bad winters or is it pretty mild?

I change all 4 on my wife's car as well. I would think you would notice a difference with non snows with your steering.
In fact her lease is coming up, gotta figure what to do with her 2nd set.
Good luck.

I've seen first-hand the effects of only putting snow tires on only the front or rear.

Several years ago, as I was leaving work on a snowy day, I noticed a young lady stepping into a Acura that had Blizzack's on the front (drive) wheels, and summer/all season tires on the rear. We both left the parking lot at the same time, and got onto the snow-covered freeway with me a few car-lengths behind her.

Several miles down the road, another car came up the on-ramp too slowly to cleanly merge into traffic. The young lady lightly touched her brakes to allow the slower car to merge ahead of her. As soon as her brake lights came on, the rear tires locked and she bounced and spun from guard-rail to guard-rail for a hundred yards. That the front tires had all that extra traction probably made the spin worse, as the difference in grip between front and rear contributed to the rear stepping out as fast as it did. If she'd had 4 matched all-seasons, she would have just plowed straight ahead. No one was hurt, but every panel on her car was damaged.

IMO, it's not acceleration that you worry about in really bad weather. It's stopping, and for that I'd rather have 4 tires with the same level of grip.

I've seen first-hand the effects of only putting snow tires on only the front or rear.

Several years ago, as I was leaving work on a snowy day, I noticed a young lady stepping into a Acura that had Blizzack's on the front (drive) wheels, and summer/all season tires on the rear. We both left the parking lot at the same time, and got onto the snow-covered freeway with me a few car-lengths behind her.

Several miles down the road, another car came up the on-ramp too slowly to cleanly merge into traffic. The young lady lightly touched her brakes to allow the slower car to merge ahead of her. As soon as her brake lights came on, the rear tires locked and she bounced and spun from guard-rail to guard-rail for a hundred yards. That the front tires had all that extra traction probably made the spin worse, as the difference in grip between front and rear contributed to the rear stepping out as fast as it did. If she'd had 4 matched all-seasons, she would have just plowed straight ahead. No one was hurt, but every panel on her car was damaged.

IMO, it's not acceleration that you worry about in really bad weather. It's stopping, and for that I'd rather have 4 tires with the same level of grip.

Very well stated!

Get a spare set of rims for winter and put winter tires on them. I meant to do that with my car but since it's front wheel drive it works fine in the winter. So I am giving my spare set of cadillac rims to my brother Nick for his car in the winter because it is a dog on the snow !

Get a spare set of rims for winter and put winter tires on them. I meant to do that with my car but since it's front wheel drive it works fine in the winter. So I am giving my spare set of cadillac rims to my brother Nick for his car in the winter because it is a dog on the snow !

Boy you sure treat ol Nickyboy good. He doesn't deserve a brother like you (or maybe it's the other way around) lol.

So how bad are the Badgers gonna whip up on Iowa on sat. night? Go Badgers!! :badger:

I sense the Hawks will be hunting Badgers unless they are still pretty torn up about losing to Iowa State.
And I am going to be doing brakes on his car too damn I am a pretty nice brother. And to think all those times he called me an ass hole lol.

Last winter I finally sprung for snow tires. Being an "old school" guy, I used my experience as a youth with a rear wheel drive car and thought it only neccessary to go with the rears. Not a great idea. Maybe in the pre-radial days it didn't matter with biasply's but in todays age it definately makes sense to go with all four. (I will be running all four winter tires this year.)
One last comment. Snow tires are a big improvement over the all-seasons...

If you're gonna do it, do it right.