Studded tires

[MTSuby]

Forgive me if this has been beat to death, but at least searching through thread titles, I didn't see much.

 

Are studs dangerous on dry or wet roads, or do they just handle a little worse? I love them around town on snowy/icy roads, but say I was going to get on I-15 and head to SLC Utah, and they're dry roads the whole way?

[soobies]

you should be fine although it will be a little noisy

[bheinen74]

on totally dry roads, studs are probably the worst way to go. Tires need rubber to grip on dry, not metal spikes.

You can read some here

http://www.suite101.com/content/should-you-get-studded-snow-tires-for-winter-driving-a317532

 

They are really only meant for those driving severe winter weather, Mountain passes all the time, and arctic environments.

here are some good advice from car talk: basically they are lousy terrible on dry;

http://www.cartalk.com/content/columns/Archive/2008/December/06.html

http://www.cartalk.com/content/googleresults.html?cx=partner-pub-7133054861616181%3Ahi3ycasbap0&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=studded+tires&sa=Search&siteurl=www.cartalk.com%2Fct%2Freview%2Fsearchresults.jsp%3Fname%3Dstudded%2Btires%26caller%3D%26city%3D%26state%3D%26keyword%3D%26make%3D------%26model%3D--------%26showMonth%3D--%26showDay%3D--%26showYear%3D--%26showEndMonth%3D--%26showEndDay%3D--%26showEndYear%3D--

 

brent

Edited December 27, 2010 by bheinen74

[MTSuby]

Interesting...thank you.

[Qman]

Studs are generally installed in soft rubber snow tires. They grip just fine in "normal" everyday driving. They are not going to handle like a performance tire ini the dry. Drive sensibly and you will have zero problems.

[NorthWet]

Studs are generally installed in soft rubber snow tires. They grip just fine in "normal" everyday driving. They are not going to handle like a performance tire ini the dry. Drive sensibly and you will have zero problems.

+1

 

I installed studded tires on all of our cars in early November (ahead of a bad snow storm) and we have driven on them since.

[987687]

I've found studded tires to handle absolutely awful. I had a scary experience or two with them on dry roads. But I've also run them for thousands of miles on the highway, and except for a head ache from the noise I didn't have any issues.

Just be aware of the reduced traction and you'll be fine.

[ShawnW]

Mine scare the ____ out of me when I slam on the brakes in my WRX. Should be fine in any GL.

[obk25xt]

I find that when I mount my studs I get better mileage, less wear and tear and I drive more conservatively (on wet/dry roads, in the snow I definitely push it!). Also I have gotten 3-4 winter seasons out of set before replacing them, not because they are bald either, just because the studs were worn further than I liked.

[Qman]

I find that when I mount my studs I get better mileage, less wear and tear and I drive more conservatively (on wet/dry roads, in the snow I definitely push it!). Also I have gotten 3-4 winter seasons out of set before replacing them, not because they are bald either, just because the studs were worn further than I liked.

 

That is how you should treat studs.

[987687]

Also with studs I've been told not to swap tires from side to side. Only to move them forwards and backwards. Because once the studs are driven in one direction it wears them a lot quicker driving them the other way.

[bheinen74]

Does anyone else besides me have those "yaktrax" that you put on boots.

 

Have you ever gone into a supermarket with those babies on? Wow, on dry hard surface, pretty much sums up how Studded tires are on dry hard surface.

You cant stand up on Yaktrax, and that should tell something about metal spikes.

 

I guess you could put some spiked football cleats on and try to play basketball on a hard surface gymnasium floor. same thing.

 

Make your own decision on this, I just like to put out the way it is.

 

If you live in the high mountains, and drive on unplowed roads, heck yeah studs are most sure the way to go. Otherwise, i suggest listening to some facts.

[Qman]

Does anyone else besides me have those "yaktrax" that you put on boots.

 

Have you ever gone into a supermarket with those babies on? Wow, on dry hard surface, pretty much sums up how Studded tires are on dry hard surface.

You cant stand up on Yaktrax, and that should tell something about metal spikes.

 

I guess you could put some spiked football cleats on and try to play basketball on a hard surface gymnasium floor. same thing.

 

Make your own decision on this, I just like to put out the way it is.

 

If you live in the high mountains, and drive on unplowed roads, heck yeah studs are most sure the way to go. Otherwise, i suggest listening to some facts.

 

No it does not! Quit being a *********************! If you drive responsibly they are fine to drive on. If they were dangerous they would be outlawed everywhere.

 

Let me guess, you even licked the frozen pole!

 

You have gone way over the line with this one. I run studs every winter. My wife runs studs every winter. They are not dangerous for a driver that obeys the traffic laws. Dumb people who can not drive may have problems with them. Morons who do not know how to slow down may have problems with them. Quit trying to use scare tactics.

 

Simply stated, you are wrong!

Edited December 29, 2010 by Qman

[987687]

You can't really compare yaktrax to studded tires anyway. The things that go on your shoes don't really have any rubber that contacts the ground. Same with soccer cleats. It's just spikes. So of course they don't have any traction on a smooth surface. Studded tires actually do have a good deal of rubber that contacts the road when it's dry.

They don't handle nearly as well as the same tire without studs on dry pavement, or summer tires, or whatever. So you just have to drive carefully. I had an incident in my Legacy with studded tires and came to the conclusion I just need to drive the speed limit... but it also meant I could drive the speed limit when the road was covered in ice and snow and the rest of traffic was going 5mph

 

I hate studded tires just because they're friggin' loud... But that has nothing to do with safety.

[bheinen74]

sorry.

 

and btw i found the motherload of info here:

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/research/reports/fullreports/551.1.pdf

50 pages to source on this, charts, etc, love it.

 

quote from page 37

" On bare pavement, the studded tires had

stopping distances 40 percent and 42 percent longer than the Blizzaks and all-season

tires, respectively. "

 

 

and page 39

"For concrete, though, studded tires

required longer stopping distances than highway tires. On dry pavement, a vehicle

equipped with two studded tires required 11 percent longer distances to stop and 16 percent longer when the concrete was wet. For four studded tires, this difference

increased to 16 percent for dry conditions and 32 percent for wet conditions. Though

such statistics may not be entirely valid for today’s CP studs, radial tires, and ABS, they

still indicate a trend that is likely to be valid: studded tires on wet or dry concrete provide

less traction than non-studded tires. This is likely because the studs cannot penetrate the

harder roadway surface, which actually lowers the effective coefficient of friction, in

much the same way as studded tires lose effectiveness on ice at lower temperatures. "

 

 

please if someone knows of some more recent study, post it here and continue this thread. I want to know.

Edited December 29, 2010 by bheinen74

[Qman]

Under normal driving they are fine. If you tailgate or drive recklessly they will not provide adequate stopping distance compared to a non-studded tire.

 

I will always advocate studs. They saved my entire family when I was young. My Mother had a Chevelle convertible. Sliding on ice towards a telephone pole. My mother tried all the techniques to stop. She had always been told never slam on the brakes on ice. She finally floored the brake pedal. The studs grabbed and stopped us before we went head on into the pole. Studies, thoughts, opinions based on other peoples opinions mean nothing. Real world experience is the true gauge here. If you don't know first hand don't push your opinion!

[NorthWet]

I have driven on several sets or regular tires that have less dry-road grip than any of my studded tires.

 

Around my area, studded tires are nearly a necessity for getting around in the winter. Plenty of precipitation in various forms followed by freeze/thaw/freeze cycles glaze the roads, and the hilly terrain (>6% grade) to and from my house means that I would be parked somewhere for several days at a time without studs or chains.

 

Statistics are just numbers, numbers to be used to prove whatever point you choose to make. Everything in life is a compromise, and the point is to operate within the parameters of our compromises.

[MTSuby]

Sweet, thanks everyone. They rarely plow in my town, so studs are really nice. With decent tires and 4wd, my Loyale would be fine...but with 4wd and studs, my Loyale is awesome!

 

Really, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to just go sliding of the interestate at 80mph or something on dry pavement. Increased stopping distances in the winter are a no brainer anyways. I mostly wanted to be sure they weren't downright dangerous, but I agree, if they were that bad, they'd be completely outlawed. And the only reasons I've seen for why they are outlawed in the states they are is because of road wear, and the dangers that causes, not because studs themselves make driving dangerous.