We had an '83 T-Bird with the V8 and Traction-Lok. I can remember sitting at an icy redlight with my foot on the brake and the rear tires were spinning as it idled, and the rear was going sideways ! I had to really clamp down on the brake to get it to stop, rather embarrasing. I definately had the wrong tires on it.
Im sad to say i drive mine all year round. I get it rust proofed at Krown right before winter every year and that pretty much saved my car from rotting out due to all the salt they use here. I have 215 Blizzaks i use on an old set of early 90's 5 star rims. and sand bags in the trunk.
oh i know it. I almost went to the Dubois PSU campus just to be closer to happy valley before going to main. I just trying to think of Junkyards out there and I cant think of any.
I drove a 65 chevy 2 wheel drive pick up around northern Illinois for 3 winters back in the day and it sucked until i added the sand bags and skinny lugged tires. a tip for the frozen locks, if its actual ice that is in the lock (from blowing snow) you can get a round magnet (like one from a chain lock for a house door) and put it over your lock every night. it worked for me.
BTW, and it's also relevant to this post , it's the overall diameter of the tire on the exact rim that is important for keeping all 4 tires "the same size" for ABS/TC to work and not throw an rate/tire error.
I have the M2300K Cobra brake kit. For the winter, I run sn95 15" rims and tires on the back that end up having an overall tire mounted diameter of ~1% of my require 17" tires and rims up front. The 15" Blizzaks are much cheaper than the 17" tires. Note that I use the same tire style/model on the front and back. When I drive my Stang in the winter, I'm driving easy, and keeping a good distance from all of the Mass-hole drivers that can't drive even in ideal weather. Also, the tread-width/contact area on my 17" Blizzaks and 15" Blizzaks are also pretty close.
"In general", for ABS, you want to keep within 3% diameter within all wheels. But, especially with traction control, there are issues, unless all four tires are exactly the same and have exactly the same wear (not counting cars like Vets where they are designed for different back/front tires, of course ).
That's why, for legal reasons, many tire places will only sell and mount and install all four tires at the same time. Some places will sell and mount 2 tires, but will not install them for fear of legal reasons (violates the requirements set for for the vehicle by the vehicle manufacture).
Heck, now, even with Tire Rack, I have to spec all of my tires to be for an off-road/custom vehicle. Still, even though I do that, when I ordered my summer-only tires via their web page, Tire Rack called me up the next day, and I had to call back to confirm that I knew that I could not use the summer-only tires when it got cold (I live in New England), or a worm hole could open up and destroy the universe and it would be all my fault!