what do people think studded or studdless tires

[98outbackpdx]

personally i prefer studded tires since that is what i have always grown up with and have had very good luck with them. i am going to be getting studded tires in January and was wondering what people thought of studded and studless tires. i know the studded tires tear up the roads, but i think the added traction of the studs really help, knowing from experience. any insight might be useful to someone. but my mind is made up, and i found the tires i am getting.

[Huffer]

Depends on where you live and how much snow you get. Studded snows are also illegal in some counties. I don't like tearing up the roads and I don't icerace so studless is what I use.

[Sarra]

Studded snow tires are a thing of the past, really. New tire compounds mean that studless snow and ice tires outperform studded snow tires just about all the time. Studded snow tires are notorious for understeer in pack snow, as well as being noisy, heavy, and bad for the roads.

Studless snow tires basically have all of the benefits of studded snow tires, without the drawbacks. Studless snow tires get better traction on dry and wet pavement, most certainly. When you get into snow, they just plain do better on pack snow, don't understeer, and brake better. On ice, they are amazing. Powder is about the only place where they're the same in my experience.

When I put my 195 65R15 Blizzaks on my WRX, I went up to an iced over parking lot. I stopped, revved to 4k, and dumped the clutch, to do some cookies and stuff. Instead of burning out, it friggin launched the car! All the way through 4,000 RPM in second, no tire spin at all. I stopped, went back to where I launched, and got out of the car... I slipped, fell on my ass, and slid down the slightly inclined parking lot around 30 feet to the snow bank. It took me like 20 minutes to get back to my car, and another 10 to get back into it. :lol: Make sure you research the specific tires you buy, there are some junky tires out there still, and "Performance Snow and Ice tires" are really intended to be driven on pavement/wet 90% of the time, and offer less snow/ice traction than full on snow/ice tires, but are better than all seasons.

[98outbackpdx]

i was thinking of hankook ipike, you can truly go studded or stud less, but i drive the Columbia River Gorge A LOT and live in the eastern gorge (the dalles), i do know how to drive in the snow, but you guys are making me take second thoughts, also the hankooks are rated nearly 4.5 stars on americas tire factory website. plus i dont want to spend 90 on a tire, i just dont have the money.

[Sarra]

Blizzaks, they're less than that for 16" wheels, and much less than that for 15" wheels. ;)

[Huffer]

Not just any Blizzaks. The Blizzak range covers a few different treads and compounds. So do your research.

[Sarra]

:P I've got the WS50 or WS60's, whichever the 195 65R15 is available in. I doubt it's the highest performance version of the Blizzak though. :lol:

[Mikey97D]

Sarra - thank you for your review of stud vs stud less. I always thought the studded tires were better on ice, but I guess the material science in tires has made up the difference. Amazing.

[jey]

Tirerack also tested this out:

http://www.tirerack.com/videos/index.js ... tab=winter (http://www.tirerack.com/videos/index.jsp?video=7&tab=winter)

[Grafton]

everything i was going to say has already been covered so +1 studless

[anothernord]

The only time when studs are truly necessary is on pure ice. For our local ice races, the only cars that can even get around are ones that have studs. But everywhere except frozen lakes, studless tires work fine.

[one bad bg]

i was thinking of hankook ipike.

did someone say ipike? lol. i have those and their friggen awesome

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2010/01/SDC10214-1.jpg

[Eken]

Studded all the way.

With the condition we have here in mid Sweden in the winters unstudded is useless. We rarely have over 0 degree celsius in the winter, icy and snowy streets all winter long, so unstudded just dont cut it.

[Grafton]

tire rack's thoughts...
http://www.tirerack.com/videos/index.js ... tab=winter (http://www.tirerack.com/videos/index.jsp?video=7&tab=winter)