Studded snow tires or non-studded?

[Diva]

Don't know about where you live, Danny, but in the areas around
Detroit studs are illegal anyhow.

June

Thank you FNO.

Of course I'd love to feel the secure bite of studs at every icy

intersection I stumble upon (who

wouldn't?), but they wouldn't work for me in Michigan where I drive 85% of winter miles on dry
pavement and the other 15% on treacherous, rutted & ice slicked,

ungodly conditions. Not everyone

has the same blend of driving conditions to deal with, therefore

different strokes for different

folks.

I've sincerely been blown away by the overall performance of the

Dunlop Wintersports on my OBS for

the last three winters. By far the most satisying tire I've ever

purchased. IMO, the new Nokian WR

looks to have been heavily influenced by it. I will buy it again.

By contrast, my summer tire for three years running has been the

Bridgestone RE-950, and while it

has been a good tire, it just lacks personality or something, I

can't quite explain it. I won't buy

 

[Danny Russell]

Don't know about where you live, Danny, but in the areas around
Detroit studs are illegal anyhow.

June

I live in Warren. Although I've never checked the law, I 'spose that what you're saying would go a
long way towards explaining why I've never seen anyone with studded tires around here. LOL -Danny

 

[kristen]

I've never driven with studded tires, I've just never felt the need
for them. For the past 4 years I have driven a Toyota Corolla with
plain old snow tires up here in Burlington VT with no problems
whatsoever. This year I traded in the Corolla for a 2005 Outback
LLBean wagon. I am getting snow tires, but not studded ones. My friend
has a 98 Outback wagon, this is her first season with the Outback as
well. She went for the studded tires. She hates driving in the snow
anyways and having studded tires made her feel better I guess. But I
think I'll be more than fine without them. If the Corolla didnt need
them then I cant see why the Outback would, right?

 

[Diva]

I'm in Chesterfield. Did you get your Subie at Suburban? Do you like
their service?

June

I live in Warren. Although I've never checked the law, I 'spose

that what you're saying would go a

long way towards explaining why I've never seen anyone with studded

tires around here. LOL -Danny

 

[Danny Russell]

I'm in Chesterfield. Did you get your Subie at Suburban? Do you like
their service?

Yeah Suburban. The sales experience was less than satisfactory, but I've never used their service
department for any labor. I've purchased a few parts and manuals from their service department and
all was well, but I think that if I were to seek dealer service I would use Hodges. Their
parts-counter guy John is absolutely tops, plus Hodges sold Subaru exclusively way before it was
"cool", so they have the mojo. -Danny

 

[S]

Hi Rick, JP, All!

OK, I'm willing to learn, can you reference any tests that show better traction
with studs on wet surfaces?

Mmmmm, I can't site any official "tests", per se, but I comment on
this issue. I race the ice rally-cross events in the winter, (an
autocross course on a frozen lake) and I have never seen the fastest
times from the "bare tire" classes even come close to the times posted
by the studded class drivers. Why? Because studded tires offer more
bite on ice, period.
This is not to say that studded tires are gonna be optimum for most
drivers; they're noisy, and potentially (I've heard arguments both
ways) hazardous in emergency/high-speed maneuvers on dry pavement.
Where I live, we typically have snow and ice (particularly ice) on the
road during most of the winter months. I personally prefer the
security of studded tires under these conditions, and happily
sacrifice dry pavement performance in favor of being able to get up
and down the hills consistently and safely.
My $.02, YMMV.

ByeBye! S.

Steve Jernigan KG0MB
Laboratory Manager
Microelectronics Research
University of Colorado
(719) 262-3101

 

[-rick-]

Hi Rick, JP, All!




Mmmmm, I can't site any official "tests", per se, but I comment on
this issue. I race the ice rally-cross events in the winter, (an
autocross course on a frozen lake) and I have never seen the fastest
times from the "bare tire" classes even come close to the times posted
by the studded class drivers. Why? Because studded tires offer more
bite on ice, period.
This is not to say that studded tires are gonna be optimum for most
drivers; they're noisy, and potentially (I've heard arguments both
ways) hazardous in emergency/high-speed maneuvers on dry pavement.
Where I live, we typically have snow and ice (particularly ice) on the
road during most of the winter months. I personally prefer the
security of studded tires under these conditions, and happily
sacrifice dry pavement performance in favor of being able to get up
and down the hills consistently and safely.
My $.02, YMMV.

I completely accept their superiority on ice. The previous poster had claimed
they were better on *all* surfaces. I remain skeptical. Thanks for the input
though.
-rick-

 

[Chris Phillipo]

I completely accept their superiority on ice. The previous poster had claimed
they were better on *all* surfaces. I remain skeptical. Thanks for the input
though.
-rick-

They are only effective on bare ice in a limited temperature range, I
personally don't bother with them anymore because of the noise and the
fact that usually they use a hard rubber compound in them which is not
as good on snow as a softer one. If I had a 2wd vehicle I probably
would still use them but I don't and probably never will again I had
Blizzaks last year, which worked great and I have Michelin X-Ice to put
on this year, they look like they will be even better but we'll see.

 

[k. ote.]

I live in Warren. Although I've never checked the law, I 'spose that what
you're saying would go a long way towards explaining why I've never seen
anyone with studded tires around here. LOL -Danny

Studs are illegal in most of the places I've been to and through, because
they tear up the pavement in dry, non-extreme conditions.

 

[Danny Russell]

Studs are illegal in most of the places I've been to and through, because
they tear up the pavement in dry, non-extreme conditions.

My computer performed an illegal operation yesterday. You think I should turn myself in? :^)

 

[JohnC]

We ended up buying Sears Weather handler witrh studs - open agressive tread
pattern and same price as tirerack.

Not as noisey as I expected.
John

 

[Yousuf Khan]

Studs are illegal in most of the places I've been to and through, because
they tear up the pavement in dry, non-extreme conditions.

I hope they do a review on this policy soon, especially up here in
Canada. The latest studded tire technology from Europe is apparently
very pavement friendly.

Yousuf Khan