"Chris D'Agnolo" > wrote

> But then, I'm an old 'yankee' who has never been convinced that fwd is an
> advantage over rwd in the snow or especially in icy conditions. This tends
> to generate what I'd have to call (coining a phrase) 'nosteer'.
>

Chris,

Same here. Although, 'nosteer' can be corrected with appropriate
application of the parking brake (or should I call if the 'attitude
correction handle'). Once you get the nose pointed in the right direction,
a little gas and off you go. This technique worked great on the
ice-covered roads in West Lafayette Indiana (the city kept the snowplow
blades 1" off the road since they couldn't afford to buy new blades each
year). The real fun was watching the garbage truck/snowplow drivers turn
the steering wheel full lock about 1/2 block before a turn, grit their teeth
until the extreme understeer turned into oversteer snapping the truck around
the corner.



Back to the original topic, I think the advice of best tires on the rear
truly does apply to the typical driver (e.g., picture the snowbird loosing
control of his motorhome as the backend slings around a corner in a winding
mountain highway), but maybe not so much to the typical Miata driver who is
very comfortable with their backend hanging out there.



Gus 91 BRG