Studded Snow Tires

[M-Tecs]

https://www.nokiantyres.com/tyres/su...studded-tires/

[SeabeeMan]

I've only had one pair of studded tires many years ago, but I prefer non-studded, winter compound tires over studs. I felt like they performed better in any amount of snow and just as well on ice, assuming the speeds were low. I've ran several sets of Pirelli Ice/Snow Scorpions on our small SUV and van over the years, and have Discoverer Snow Claws on my expedition and plow truck now. Unless we are talking about the ice storm that turns the roads into a skating rink, they perform wonderfully. In conditions like that, powerlines and downed trees become as much an issue as road conditions.

[waksupi]

Ok. I found a dealer not too far from me, but do they have studded tires available? I’ll give them a call next week. I found a French site for Finnish tires but they only had normal snow tires. No studded. I remember when snow tires came ready for studs and they would install them when you bought the tires. Do they still do that?

Do it yourself!
https://www.amazon.com/BOXOB-Carbide...1054904&sr=8-4

[MaryB]

Back in the late '60's & '70's, I put studded snows on my front wheels and regular snows on my rears. Found it better to steer & stop than go. Even with massive snows, I never really had a problem with that old Volkswagen. (driving that is, the heater was worthless)

Friend had a VW... I remember a road trip 45 miles one way to go see a band... when it was -20f. We FROZE. Only real heat was from cramming 5 people in a VW bug...

[GregLaROCHE]

Do it yourself!
https://www.amazon.com/BOXOB-Carbide...1054904&sr=8-4

That’s interesting. I wonder if they hold up as well as factory installed.

[jonp]

IDK but they are cheap enough to buy a couple of kits and just replace the ones that go missing.

[Gewehr-Guy]

Regarding the screw in ones, I would think they would go missing INSIDE the tire as easily as outside. I'd trust the old flat bottom studs rather than screwing sharp things into my tires

[MaryB]

Friend did ice racing, he would take short sheet metal screws with a hex head and stud his racing tires... he ran a pad between the tire and tube so no punctures. Little front wheel drive cars zipping around a track on a frozen pond... until the DNR declared it an illegal use because of 1 crash that leaked a quart of oil! That we cleaned up/chipped up the stained ice and hauled it off. Dang farmer leaked more oil in from his tractors in the field next to it.

[anothernewb]

They don't allow studded tires in MN. (legally) but ND does. Been tempted more than once to license the truck in ND so I can run studded. they work.

Simply put there's no substitute for purpose defined equipment - of any kind. Everything else is a compromise. No all season or all weather tire will work as good as ones designed for each condition. Not that they are bad, just not as good.

I've become a 2 season tire fan. dedicated summer and winter. ran them for 13 years now. In the long run - there really is zero cost difference between running all seasons and separate sets. Yeah, you buy 2 sets. But you are driving only half as long on each one. (in may case it's a lot closer to 1/4 on the summer ones since I ride the ultra as much as possible in summer) There really is only one downside - you gotta store the extra stuff. You are probably more at risk of tire rot if you drive low mileage. But that is easily mitigated with how you store and maintain your tires.

[Hannibal]

If I really needed to get somewhere and didn't have chains I'd be tempted to just run some short self-tapping screws into the lugs on a set of standard snow tires.
Normal studs have a hardened tip but those don't last long anyway. Not recommending this, it would have to be an emergency situation for me to mess with it. Hopefully I'll never need to get out that bad.

You'd better not leave something like that in long or you'll have no end of flat tires too.

[megasupermagnum]

They don't allow studded tires in MN. (legally) but ND does. Been tempted more than once to license the truck in ND so I can run studded. they work.

Simply put there's no substitute for purpose defined equipment - of any kind. Everything else is a compromise. No all season or all weather tire will work as good as ones designed for each condition. Not that they are bad, just not as good.

I've become a 2 season tire fan. dedicated summer and winter. ran them for 13 years now. In the long run - there really is zero cost difference between running all seasons and separate sets. Yeah, you buy 2 sets. But you are driving only half as long on each one. (in may case it's a lot closer to 1/4 on the summer ones since I ride the ultra as much as possible in summer) There really is only one downside - you gotta store the extra stuff. You are probably more at risk of tire rot if you drive low mileage. But that is easily mitigated with how you store and maintain your tires.

While MN does allow out of state vehicles to have studs, it's only for occasional use (listed as less than 30 days in 6 months). The only exceptions I see is if you are a Non-resident, and work or go to school in MN. The only exception I see for MN residents is for rural mail carriers, and you apply for a permit. One of the good things about MN though is the overbloated tax system plows and salts the roads like crazy. The dirt roads are still bad, but it is what it is.

[anothernewb]

The only exceptions I see is if you are a Non-resident, and work or go to school in MN.

that could be my situation. I'm only 25 miles from the western border. close enough that the commute costs are a toss up between the savings in taxes and insurance. If they ever settle on a remote/in office decision. it might just become completely worth it. crap road or not.

[MaryB]

While MN does allow out of state vehicles to have studs, it's only for occasional use (listed as less than 30 days in 6 months). The only exceptions I see is if you are a Non-resident, and work or go to school in MN. The only exception I see for MN residents is for rural mail carriers, and you apply for a permit. One of the good things about MN though is the overbloated tax system plows and salts the roads like crazy. The dirt roads are still bad, but it is what it is.

They plow and salt the metro roads... out here in nowhere land they plow but salt? What's that?

[GregLaROCHE]

IDK but they are cheap enough to buy a couple of kits and just replace the ones that go missing.

It would be interesting if you were able to screw them back out the time of year they were illegal.

[GregLaROCHE]

They plow and salt the metro roads... out here in nowhere land they plow but salt? What's that?

In interior Alaska, the winter temperatures are too cold for salt to melt snow and ice. In the cities they use pea gravel. It’s better than nothing.

[megasupermagnum]

They plow and salt the metro roads... out here in nowhere land they plow but salt? What's that?

Well I don't think they ever salt dirt roads, but every MN tar road is bright white all winter. It looks like they have cut way back on salt usage in the last 3 years due to cost and environmental concerns, so maybe things have changed since I moved. My truck is still a testament to rural MN's salt in the past.

[SeabeeMan]

Well I don't think they ever salt dirt roads, but every MN tar road is bright white all winter. It looks like they have cut way back on salt usage in the last 3 years due to cost and environmental concerns, so maybe things have changed since I moved. My truck is still a testament to rural MN's salt in the past.

Same in WI. Once you leave a county highway you're on packed snow/ice in most places.

[georgerkahn]

It’s been a long time since I had studded tires, but last year I decided to get some because, even though we don’t get much snow, we can have a lot of icy situations. We just changed them to summer tires and I noticed that they didn’t seem to have worn as much as the all terrain tires we normally use. The small utility van that my wife uses to go to markets to sell our cheese, does the same route and distance each year. Is it possible that studs help keeping the wear down?
Thanks

I, too, had been a fancier/user of studded tires -- but the government got in the way. Ontario (Canada) used to allow them from September through April, but now they are only permitted for Northern regions. The fines for having them, from what I hear, are quite ridiculous, too! Printed is,
"Studded tires were banned in Ontario in 1972. The government lifted part of the ban in 2005 to allow those with a northern address in Ontario to keep using studded tires in the winter. In Algoma, Cochrane, Kenora, Manitoulin, Nipissing, Parry Sound, Rainy River, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, and Temiskaming Territorial Districts, drivers can use studded tires between September 1st and May 31st for vehicles registered in these areas."
Tires need have the "M + S" label, and/or a neato icon which likes like a three-peaked mountain with a snow-flake image in its centre to be "legal" as mandated "winter tires"... For me? I've gone the Blizzak route, complemented with four 25-pound, each, weight-lifter weights (used to be my son's) in the back of my Tacoma. These take real little space and provide added weight/traction/stability -- 'specially on roads (??) like the 401... South of that silly double-yellow line on maps (New York State, USA) I believe studs are legal from Mid October thru the end of April, but... imho... not worth the hassle change -- so, again, I use the Blizzaks.
However, from my recollection of using studded tires in winter, I do believe you are correct vis less wear than their non-studded counterparts.
geo

[BD]

I'm a firm believer in studded snow tires for serious work in the snow. I ran Zamboni Takeoffs with the big 1/4" studs on my plow rigs in northern Maine for many years. Many times with Canadian peg chains on all four as well for the big storms. This worked until solid front axles went away around the turn of this century. I learned the hard way that the magnesium front diffs with unsupported axles can't handle the high torques that result from chains on the front. I have a good story about snow in the south of France as well. In the late '80s I was at my in-laws in Marseille when they got about two inches of snow. the folks there just stopped driving and left their vehicles in place on the roads until it melted. We went back to the family place in Salernes which had a steep switchback driveway and had to walk in. I went to the local autoparts with my brother in law, (who had spent a couple years in Maine), to buy a set of chains. Not only did they not have any tire chains, we could not even convince the guy at the counter that they even existed. He thought we were making them up.

[BD]

In Maine they salt the dirt roads in the summer. It keeps the dust down. Vehicles rust out fast around here.