Do you really have to replace all four tires with AWD?

Pic for attention.

Helping a co-worker with new tires. I’ve never owned an AWD car before, so I’ve never heard this personally. But she was told at the tire shop that they had to do all four at the same time with any AWD car. Is this true? I mean, I guess it makes sense in my head, that if two wheels are constantly rotating at a different speed than the other two, that’s going to strain the drivetrain since they’re not all spinning equally. Anyone ever had experience replacing just two tires for an AWD car? Or is it better to just suck it up and do all four?

Advertisement
Illustration for article titled Do you really have to replace all four tires with AWD?