As others have said, it is absoluteky CRITICAL to have all 4 tires winters on a fwd car. If you were to mix and match all seasons and winters on a fwd car, you would want to put the winters on the back. The traction at the back has to be equvalent/better than the front to prevent the back end from sliding out.

I'll tell you a story - I bought a rabbit convertible a few tears back. It still had the original Eagle GT's on the back (14 years and 89000 kms on them), and some fairly well worn winter tires on the front. How they got that combination I don't know. I decided to 'see how it would go' at the start of winter because I was being cheap. This would be an equivalent situation to what you propose. Well after driving down a moderately icy road that was level and flat and the back end swinging out when I had gas applied, I bought 4 winter tires the next day. I had been driving in winters, mostly on all season tires, for over 10 years at that point and had never been frightened by vehicle dynamics before.

This spring, we had some really nasty rain then ice then snow conditions, and with the same car on the winter tires, there were some spots that I would let off the gas and the front tires would lock (no brakes applied), but the back end didn't swing out and I could maintain control. If I had the winters on front, summers on back deal like I had when I bought the car, I would have most likely done a 360 into the cars ahead of me.

Sorry for the long post, I felt obliged to relate some experience, as it is very much a safety issue. If you are contemplating 2 winters only, I would suggest leave all 4 Dunlops on instead.

Dale.

 

The WR are true winter tires that have received the official winter logo from Transport Canada (check http://www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/topic...isf.htm#Nokian). Of course, since Nokian are trying to make these tires also usable in summer (with harder silica), they probably won't be as good as the Hakka 1 in winter times. BTW, I have a set of Hakka 1 as winter tires, and I love them, but should the WR prove to be enough secure for me in harsh winter conditions, I will keep the WR on my car as they are a lot more fun to drive than the Hakka 1. Of course, security is always the main concern in winter, and I will put the Hakka 1 on my car if the WR don't give me satisfaction; but I will give them a chance ...

Pierre

 

just a note on the sizing of the winter tires.....you can use 195/50-16 205/45-16 or 205/50-16 tires and still get a accurate speed reading. the 205/45 will give you slightly high readings (when you are going 100 it will read 102) and the 205/50 will give you slightly low readings (100mph will show 98) tirerack has the pirelli's in 205/45 for 120 a piece