My daughter has a 2000 Camry xle it has 205x65x15 tires. Last year she was planning on trading it on something 4 wheel drive because of the hills on which she must drive to get to work. I did meet one very honest dealership. When I called to inquire on what he had available he asked me what she is driving I told him and that it had about 31,000 miles. I was surprised to hear his comment, "if it was my daughter, I would not let her trade that car, It is good for about 100,000 miles with no problems." He then went on to say that I should just install a good set of snow tires on all 4 wheels. Now we are on the tire quest. One tire store told me that I only need snows on the front and another said all four. The one that mentioned only the front recommended half studded that is every other hole. This will help it from sliding on just wet roads. I called a third place to inquire about the stud suggestion and was told that if she uses studded tires she needs them on all four wheels and never heard about half studding the tires. He also stated that if I do not use studded tires I only will need two snow tires. I tried to contact my uncle who worked his way up through Goodyear from mechanic to service manager then regional manager and finally to tri-state manager. I value his expertise but right now he is sick. I don't want to wait too much longer. Oh, I called another dealer and was told that only two snows are needed. The logic behind the 4 snow tires for front wheel drive is that there will be great traction on the front and the rear will kick out and spin the car around. This does make some sense.
Lenny http://www.geocities.com/lenny_mchugh/ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
