Here's Why Putting Winters Tyres On Only One Axle Is Stupidly Dangerous
Buying and fitting a full set of winter tyres - or keeping a spare set of wheels with winters on - is a pricey business. It’s a hassle, too. So is it an option save money by simply fitting them to the front wheels of your front-wheel drive car? No, no it isn’t. For the love of god, don’t ever do it.
Certainly, you’ll have plenty of traction to get you going in icy conditions, but the trouble is - as explained here by Tyre Reviews - once you’re on the move you’re reliant on all four wheels, not just the driven ones.
If you’re mixing up summer and winter tyres, you’ll introduce a horrible handling imbalance that’ll see you spinning out constantly. It looks fun enough here at this Goodyear ice testing facility - where host Jonathan Benson is using a BMW X1 fitted with Goodyear Ultragrip Performance Gen-1 winters at the front and Eagle F1s at the back - but on the road, the consequences could be lethal.
It’s also a big no-no fitting them only on the back of a rear-drive car. Again, traction from a standstill or up a hill will be good, but then when you arrive at a corner, you’ll find your steering doesn’t work. You’ll also have the same problem one axle braking much more effectively than the other, threatening to spin you out.
The lesson is simple: if you’re fitting winter tyres, stick ‘em on every corner.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
the trap music was really sending me mixed messages about whether or not it was cool to do this
Guilty
i thought that the x1 was rwd or awd only
Welcome to the new BMW where FWD platforms are starting to take hold.
I think the X1 and X2 are based on the Mini platform
Why all the downvotes? The comment isn’t correct, but still.
driver : drive in the snow at 40km/h around a corner
driver : lift the throttle
car : spin out
driver :
40kph* (or about 25mph)
Why not do it across the diagonal?
You’ll get good grip turning one way, but terrible grip turning the other way, and it’ll also pull to one side under relatively heavy braking, regardless of the car.
If its FWD with an open differential, there will be lots of torque steer, and in any car with an open diff, it’ll still have no traction advantage compared to having just summers on the axle, as an open diff would send the torque to the summer tyre anyway.
You mean stupidly fun
dont mix tiers? every 2 season i put my last season’s front tiers at the back and get new front tires on my volvo 740 (rwd) mening i got braking and turning, and there is still some life left in the rear tires so i can still get up decent hills and cornering is no problems as you never really drive to the limits on public roads, however it makes for some winter drifting fun xD
That’s not mixing however. That’s 4 winter tires 2 new + 2 old opposed to the video where they talk about 2 winter + 2 summer.
Recently bought a RWD car (BMW E60). It has decent summer tyres on the front, and ultra-low quality budget summers at the rear. It makes it handle the way people think old Porsche 911’s handle.
Wouldn’t all seasons be a better comparison rather than summers at the back and winters at the front? Why not all seasons at the back and winters at the front? That’d be a lot more likely scenario
its not stupidly dangerous if you dont drive like a dumbass lol