Winter Tires

[PackardV8]

Does anybody run studs? Don't you think you get better traction with studs, vs the non studded winter tires?

Does anybody run studs? Don't you think you get better traction with studs, vs the non studded winter tires?

Having been in the tire business in the frozen ass-end of nowhere and driven in ice and snow for forty-five years, the answer is:

Yes, No, Maybe,

No, studs are not necessary. In 99.9% of winter driving conditions, they offer less traction than a good winter tire. FWIW, most states with any guts in government banned studs years ago. Studs destroy the road surface and cause billions of dollars in damage. (A pox on those who demand to run studded tires; I live in Washington, a state without enough guts to ban those carbide-tipped highway destroyers. At present, there is a $5 wink-and-a-nod fee. — We can only hope to pass a bill with a stiff penalty — New studded tires would carry a $100 fee if purchased after July 1 of this year and be banned after mid-2025 if House Bill 1309, sponsored by state Reps. Cindy Ryu and Steve Tharinger passes, the $100 fee would replace the current $5 fee and eventually phase out studded tires.)

Yes, if driving on glare ice, studs have better traction. How often should one be on glare ice?

Maybe, buy the best winter tires, mounted on wheels with TPMS sensors. Scandahoovians know winter, so Nokian and Gislaved are among the best, Don't run them much past half tread depth if you want them to really work for you.

jack vines

[bobo]

"How often should one be on glare ice"
Very often for me.
May not be "glare ice", but close to it. Packed snow, thaw in sunny spots in day light and freeze at night= very icy conditions. I have seen...So slick, hard for me to stand upright on road.

No talk of banning Studs in OR or CA, I have heard of. But I know the damage you are talking about.
Thanks.

[NeilBlanchard]

We just got Nokian Hakka R3 winter tires on new 16" steel wheels - they are a taller aspect ratio to make up for the smaller diameter wheel. This saved us about $150. The 17" steel wheels were hard to find, and they were 7" wide (vs 6.5" for the stock wheels and the 16" we got). We included cloned TMPS units, so I can swap these out myself, and we will break even in about 2 years.

The price was $1,331.58 including the 6.25% MA sales tax.

They roll as well as the stock Michelin tires - and that is saying a lot. They are the quietest winter tires I have driven on, but they do make a little bit of noise.

[mathygreen]

I need tires by Thanksgiving also but I'm not thrilled about a winter set, swapping them and storing them. But I have the advantage that I am pretty much only local commuting and running errands in the suburbs of Chicago, about 20 miles a day typically.

I can charge at home at L2 so I'm going to give up some range and get the Nokian WR G4. That will cover the winter extremes we seem to be moving towards and should do much better in the wet too.

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