Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Studded tires or not

All I can say is I have the rims with studded Nokians on for the winter and I've not had any bad issues by using them. Icy parking lots I still have grip. Snow on roads I have grip. Clear roads I have grip.

We didn't have studs on the way up in April and though we had brand new mud/snow on it was just slippery enough and going into a tough part of the highway, that we sat on the side for 3 days till the ice thawed again. Tried the chains but it wasn't so bad that the chains were the idea, IE I wasn't eager to drive that flipping slow with chains on... for hours and hours per day.

Dwayne rocks, for sure.

Re: the topic at hand, two of our vehicles have dedicated studded tires for the winter. Packed snow and ice is common on our drives in winter. No salt used in our area, so any packed snow turns into ice overnight after a warmish day. And we have 3.5 -4 hour drives a couple of times over the Cascades to my retinal doc. These kind of road conditions are not uncommon, and usually not as well cindered :





The other vehicle, our 2004 2wd Matrix has studless winter tires on it and I left them on all summer this year. It doesn't get used much once it gets really dicey, as I prefer studs on ice. Seems to do fine if there's only a few inches of fresh snow on the roads, and it handles quite nicely during the summer too. And even with the softer, more grippy compound I'm still getting 36+ MPG. It was going to get dedicated tires on a separate set of rims but my tire guys and I didn't find a set nearby.

Dennis, good luck with your travels. A lot of good advice here.

Drive on ice and snow here from about mid-Nov into late Feb. Four wheel drive with good radials and carry chains. The chains are only used to dig out and head home. We don't do city stuff, and our locals can handle themselves. In 30 years here the school has only done one snow day and that came about because they needed to plow out about 18" of packed snow and ice in the parking lot.

Merry Christmas, Dwayne to you and yours. You too, Jeff.

This in spades!

Momma is still cussing me for replacing the tires on her Durango with new ones 1.5 inches less in width. But I know she is much safer in winter road conditions.

In 30+ years of living in AK, I've never found a real need for studded tires.

The need is regional for sure.


Dennis
Another thing to complicate your plans, winter may be over by April.

3 years ago I drove to walla walla to pick up my gooseneck horse trailer in March. Very little snow and quite dry and warm conditions both ways. I still had studded tires on, but did not run into anything that warranted them.

I’ve had studded snows off all vehicles early to mid April the last three years, FWIW.

I have driven a lot of miles with siped tires of several varieties and am frankly unimpressed by them.
YMMV...

I run studded tires. The disadvantages are a little extra cost and they are a little noisier especially at slower speeds.

If you are going to run a dedicated set of snow tires though I can’t see why you wouldn’t stud them. On ice and hard packed snow they are outstanding.

One thing I learned long long ago,

One cannot get in a winter weather related driving accident if one is not driving in winter weather..........

It's not always an option, but when it's really nasty I tend to stay put.

Dennis, again, safe travels

Geno

PS, as someone else noted, I'm much more concerned with the other drivers that don't understand winter weather driving. Having seen them slide across intersections when they had the red light or stop sign, I'm sometimes very concerned.

If I read the the rules correctly, BC requires snowflake rated tires until May 1st.



As an aside, I was with my buddy headed out to run some hounds this morning when we hit some ice on a bridge. We ended up slamming head on into the concrete wall and dogs went flying and we were both hurt pretty good- truck is totalled guns and bows ruined, tool box ruined. All the way around a really bad deal. I won't be taking chances with tires. I will get some dedicated winter tires to either take with me or put on before I leave. Snow doesn't bother me but ice is scary $hiit.

It's not a really bad deal when all involved arent crippled or dead. Schit happens. PTL you are alive. It didnt have to end this good and very often doesnt.

Glad you, your buddy, and the dogs are going to be okay. Had some pretty scary accidents in my life. I really shouldn't be alive. They sure make one think.

Recently an old couple ran a stop sign onto a major hwy. My son doesnt remember hitting them as his forehead busted the windshield. Not all survived.

You and he were blessed to not have broken necks from the sound of things.

Some states, including WA where I live, require studs to be removed between April 1 and November 1.

https://drivinglaws.aaa.com/tag/studded-tires/

After the accident yesterday, I wonder it studs on the tires, would have allowed you to stop good enough where you didn't hit the guard rails...

I drive quite a bit of ice....a lot wind blown snow.....and canyon that has a lot of curves.....and dark spots..no sun hardly....


good tires....sip sp them...and don't be so gd cheap...stud them.....world of difference.....your advice is sound.....bob

wouldn't hurt......studs help with braking...cornering...stopping and taking off...and they are cheap......also if you are going down the road and you feel the rear end get light...let off the gas and studs help the truck straighten out....

biggest thing though....slow down.....I see a lot of people off the road...….bob

For dedicated winter/ice tires, I bring this back up.

They work. I ran nothing but these tires for years while ranching some of the roughest country in NM, and having to drive through ice/snow in the mountains.

TTT