Snow Tires on the FRONT not the Back

Ok, this bugs me.

It's about to dump a hoarder's attic full of snow on Boston, and it's probably going to be wet and sticky, so everyone is out giving winter driving advice.

Including of course, this classic gem: show tires if you only have two should be mounted on the rear tires, even for front wheel drive cars. In general, your best tires should be on the back.

Bullshit.

In a FWD car the front tires do 70% of the braking and... let me see if I can calculate this... hmmm... so tricky maths is... got it: 100% of the driving. So what the hell do the rear tires do?

Not a lot.

Except...

What everyone is worried about is drivers experiencing oversteer in a turn and then being good little Americans and hitting the brakes instead of the accelerator.

For those who understand that, awesome, thank you. Skip the next paragraph.

But to explain more: imagine I'm turning right at a snowy intersection, but the car overturns because the rear end loses grip and swings out. Bad drivers turn right and hit the brakes. Good drivers turn left and hit the accelerator.

I could drive a FWD car safely in a blizzard with studded tires on the front and summer slicks on the back. Point where you need to go and pull the back end in line with the accelerator pedal.

In other words, if you have any clue how to drive a FWD car with less than perfect traction, your best tires should ALWAYS be on the FRONT.

If you, like most Americans, think snow is terrifying and plan on spending tomorrow doing 25 mph in the left lane on the highway in your prius then yes, follow AAA's and everyone else's advice and put snow tires on the back, where they do jack shit except stop you from sliding into an intersection due to incompetence.

Better yet, just stay off the road. I hear June is a lovely month to drive. Trains too, trains are nice. Why don't you use a nice train, hmm?

Please don't hit me tomorrow.