As the title explains, I want to put snow tires on my car, but I am on a budget. I found two identical sized tires to the ones I have on now, except they are snow tires instead of low profile street tires. Would this set up cause damage to the tc? My thought is if they are identical except for tread it shouldn't be an issue. Thanks in advance

 

What you want to avoid is call drive line wind up. That means that on dry pavement the front wheels and rear wheels are not rotating EXACTLY the same. The transfer case can compensate a tiny bit but if it has to go too far the TC will literally grenade. I was offroading once with a guy who had exactly the same size tires (12.5 X 31 X 15) on his vehicle, but the were from 2 different manufacturers, I think BFG on the rear and Kumho or something lesser on the front. He was fine when we were rock crawling as there was enough slippage so it never wound up, but on the drive back to the camp we were on a hard packed road with some pavement and boom, pieces of transfer case all over the road and both driveshafts were toast.

 

damn... so this is probably not an option anymore then. Sounds like it would be smarter to just buy a whole set... I was really hoping to be able to do just the two tires because I am able to get 2 225/40/18 tires with 40% tread left for $60.

 

I would buy a whole set if it were me.

 

Looks like thats what I'm going to do

 

You don't want snow tires on one axle and 4 seasons on the other even if they are identical in diameter. Tires help a car turn and stop too.

 

Reminds me of my dad. Just put your weight set in the trunk or half a cord of wood and you'll be fine

I'm kidding. Buy all 4 tires. If you have to, get some 16" steelies and the 16" snow tires are cheap.

 

Mikey, I understand that there are four tires on a car for a reason, but I am also a fan of drifting my car in the snow. I know it is a bad habit and it will destroy my xc, but drifting in the snow is just something I live for.

Exexpat, I would go for the 16" steelies and have actually been looking into them, except I am on a high school budget and really can't afford another $600-900 seeing as that would tap into my saving (aka my fund to resurrect an exploded xcase .)

As always, thanks to everyone for your input. I felt that it was too good to be true that I could actually get snow tires for $60, and it looks like that's exactly how it turned out to be.

 

Drifting in the snow FTW!

 

I suggest you bought the wrong car.

 

Why would you say I bought the wrong car bruce? I do all of my own repairs and really love working on it

 

Possibly over spending on the car and not being able to afford a set of decent tires was the point. Dunno.

 

saying I can't afford it is really a way for me to just stay frugal until I am done with my education. I am able to afford a set of tires if it comes down to it, but would just rather save my funds for college. It seems a much better investment to simply not spend on something that I can live with so that in the future I will be able to afford the top of the line snow tires on all of my vehicles. I don't know if that makes sense out of context, but that's just sorta how I live my life. I work in the IT dept at a malpractice company so if I really need I could fit in a few more hours, but I just don't like spending money on things if I can get them for cheaper like those snow tires for $60.

 

What is your safety worth? And figure in the cost of repair caused be mis-matched tires....It will be cheaper in the end to do it correctly...

 

I know... I'm going to formally end this thread because I have gotten my answer, and now its just becoming opinionated. Thank you all for your contributions! You saved my x case!