I drove slowly and sensibly this morning, as were most people.(apart from the fiesta that went in the ditch) On my rural commute driving on 6" of snow, we never got over 25mph. Braking on bends at that speed with just winters on the front or rear would have been better than sliding around on low profile summer tyres. The biggest problem by far where I live is getting up the slippery slight inclines. When I receive my winter tyres hopefully next week, I shall try out two on the front first for comparison and let you know the results. Will be an interesting comparison. Thats if the snow hasn't gone by the time they turn up.

I'm with everyone who says 2 wheels bad 4 wheels better. It would be interesting to see how the insurance company would view it should someone damage their vehicle and they've got different types of tyres on the car which I will assume is not what the car owner manual recommends.

I've seen those videos on how the car handles with just two winter tyres and to think that someone who has seen that or has been told the potential problems might be prepared to give it a try is to my mind plain daft.

I have used winter tyres since the mid 1980's. Until last year I only ever used them on the front wheels of FWD cars. Last winter I fitted one car with them only on the front and one with them on all four wheels. The car with them on all four had, at the beginning of last winter's snow, had them on just two. So I could compare the difference before and after the change.

Yes, it's clearly better to have them on all four. Driving on two does require a different technique. When you feel the back end slipping sideways part way around a corner you have to be confident enough to accelerate a little to pull the car straight. When braking, if you feel the back end starting to slip and the car begins to turn.you have to quickly release pressure off the brakes a bit - so you need to have left enough space in front of you to allow for that.

I find it quite easy to inter change between my own cars, with two or four winter tyres. The back-end slip on the former reminds me to adapt my technique. What is rather hazardous is when I get out of one of my cars, into a work car with summer tyres fitted. I hate doing that. I then have to be very careful indeed and driving becomes a very stressful and hazardous experience. This convinces me that four summer tyres in snow and ice can be nothing short of dangerous above 10mph or so. Such cars should be left on the drive in those conditions.

I'm certain that a reasonably careful driver with a fwd is far better having two winter tyres than not changing over at all, but running on four winter tyres is definitely better and they last longer on the back of a FWD than they do on the front. I do not have the experience to comment on RWD with two winter tyres. Last winter, with four winter tyres, I felt confident enough to drive purely for pleasure on the untreated hardly used lanes in the hilly north Pennines. With just two fitted during previous winters, I had to be a little more cautious, but I still drove on quiet and not quite so remote roads in snow for just fun!

So my motto is 'two winter tyres better, four winter tyres best'!

if just using two winter tyres then placing them on the rear axle (even though its FWD or RWD car ) would surely be safer in that it should stop the car spinning or sliding sideways. Braking although improved, will still be limited by the front's ability to brake, but eliminating the scary scenario of a spinning totally out of control car would be a step forward. This is similar to the advice that the best tyres always go on the back.

If the tyre sizes/speed rating are the same as the originals then I dont see insurance companys being bothered, after all they dont care if you fit Wanly Woo / Flying Bomb tyres or top of the range Michelin / Continental / etc tyres.

Edited by brum on 29/10/2011 at 14:57

I take it thats a "no"?