Studded and Non-Studded Winters.

[|SkidRow|]

Ok, well I have 4 Blizzak Winter Tires for my X, P235/75R15 and 3 are good, while one is very worn (They were free from the people I bought my X for $400) and my dad has 2 studded winter tires of the same size. Should I put the studded tires in the front or the back? I want traction when turning, but I also want a lot of traction when I'm accelerating. What would be the pros and cons of putting them either in the back or the front? Or would I be able to mix them, one up front and one in the back? Would that work?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Sporty94]

I would try and find just 4 studded tires(same size obviously) Have you tried Craigslist?

I ran some BFG A/Ts on my 01 jeep wrangler (235/75 R15s) last winter and I'll never do that again. They hydroplane bad. I'm running some studded firestone winterforce tires and the difference is night and day. The cost wasn't bad either.
On my explorer,I have studded(but slightly worn studs) snow tires and it does ok.

My 2c,it's up to you... My recommendation? get 4 studded tires.

 

[toypaseo]

Even though on my Paseo I run snows on the fronts, and all seasons on the rears, I'll still second the vote to run all studded tires.

I originally started this setup back around 1995. I could only afford two snow tires during college, so they went on the front of my FWD car. I knew the limits of the rear tires for winter traction. I carefully turned corners to not slide the rear out. Over the years, I have ran snow tires, studded snow tires, and siped snow tires.

With the Explorer having a higher center of gravity, I would worry more about having a rollover during a side slide situation.

If you must run just a pair, I would put them on the fronts. My Father-in-law always put new tires on the fronts in the past on any of their pickups, if they just replaced two tires. Still does that today on his 2003 F250 4WD. Won't matter how much traction you have if you can't steer in the right direction...

 

[|SkidRow|]

It's required by law that I have all 4 tires, winters up here(Terrace, BC). The snow gets pretty deep up here and then it ices over. We made the news on CBC back in '00, getting over 1M of snow, overnight. I guess I should just put all 4 of the Blizzak tires that I have and put the worn one on the rear. If I could, I would buy a new set of Winter Tires, but I just can't afford it.

Thanks for your guys input. I'm getting my tires switched tomorrow evening.

 

[Anime]

Using different tires would be ok for off-road only trail use, but is unsafe for the reasons mentioned above. It probably would be ok at lower speeds, but I still wouldn't suggest it. If anything DOES happen, and it's noted that you had two different types of tires on the vehicle, it's liable to make things worse for you, even if whatever happened was someone else's fault.

That said, winter-specific studless tires like the Blizzaks have shown to be as effective, if not more so, than studded tires, due to their tread compound. Studded tires are better on some surfaces, though nothing really gives good traction on ice.

My suggestion would be to sell the 2 studded tires and either toss/sell/give away the worn Blizzak, then buy 2 new ones and use the 2 best ones. If that's not in the budget, then perhaps just buying one new Blizzak to replace the worn one, using the worn one as the spare.

Otherwise, if the studded tires are in better shape than the Blizzaks or if you'd just rather have those, it wouldn't be too hard to sell all 4 Blizzaks and get 2 new studded tires of the same kind.

In general though, all-terrains or really good all-seasons on a SUV, especially a 4WD, do pretty well in snow, and winters-specific tires aren't always needed, but they do help. Chains and all-terrain/all-seasons are hard to beat, too.

 

[|SkidRow|]

Well, I got a set of Snowmark tires for a gift on my new X I'm just going to sell the Blizzak tires for like $150 or something. They were made in '99