lol yeah, I hear you.
I was in upstate NY over Xmas -- 18" of snow on unplowed county roads, more falling. Wicked fun, 4H was more than enough with the the 34" Blizzak LTs I run in winter.
But when I hit the unmaintained portion, I bailed. Unknown, narrow montain roads, invisible surface, no...
Axle-back? Unlikely. You need cat-back, down pipe or manifold to see a performance difference as I understand it. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but axle-back is about acoustics.