Studded Snow tires or not?

S

Shann

Joined
Sep 2, 2004
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My wife's job just moved further north so she is up in the Burlington area. Therefore she has a good 1 hour commute each way on the best day. She has always gotten by with all season tires on her Subaru Forester but we want to get her "real" winter tires now that she is facing a 2 hour drive every day and Vermont gets a lot of snow and ice.

The basic question is whether she should get studded or non-studded tires. Her cousin who lives in that area has studded tires but she lives at the top of a long steep driveway. I have not had studded tires on any of my vehicles for over 30 years so I don't know anything about it. I've never had a problem with regular all terrain truck tires when my truck is in 4WD.

I think good regular winter tires will be all she needs because it is all paved road driving but I want her to be safe since she is already worried about the drive.

I fear that studded tires may only be good in specific icy conditions while not as good as regular winter tires in slush, snow and wet roads. But if they are better for all bad driving conditions that is good enough for me. She is not a fast or aggressive driver.

Thanks.
 
3 years ago I bought a set of winter tires for my car and they are a HUGE improvement over all seasons even in just cold weather.

There are models that have the holes to add studs if you find that they will help. That way you don't have to get them if they are unnecessary.

Are you going to buy a second set of wheels also? Makes swapping them out a lot easier.
 
dr_fosg8 said:
3 years ago I bought a set of winter tires for my car and they are a HUGE improvement over all seasons even in just cold weather.

There are models that have the holes to add studs if you find that they will help. That way you don't have to get them if they are unnecessary.

Are you going to buy a second set of wheels also? Makes swapping them out a lot easier.
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I had thought about it although the whole tire pressure sensor issue complicates things.
 
I rotate between winter tires in summer and studded winter tires in winter. Studded tires are much better on ice. If the snow/mud is deep enough you are stuck either way. I've spun out of control with both. :)
 
She's going to need a snowcat! A two hour drive in Vermont winter sounds almost impossible to me. Hopefully, she has the option of working from home on bad days. There are all terrain tires with very aggressive tread, such as you see sometimes on Jeeps. That's what I'd go with, very aggressive tread all terrain. You could have strap on chains in the car in case she gets stuck. Other than that, the best of luck to her!
 
I run Blizzaks on my RAV 4 and I used Michelin X-ice snow tires on my Focus. They were both a huge improvement over all season tires. Neither set was studded. Both sets of tires tended to track in ruts but that is the nature of the beast for snow tires. The Blizzaks were better on ice but those were the older x-ice that I had so I don't know about the current generation. The Blizzaks are dual compound so they will loose some performance at 50% wear. I'd guess the x-ice to have better longevity because of that. I would get a set of either for your wife.
 
Studded snow tires work very well at keeping you on the road when there is glare ice. They do not make a huge difference in snow, until the snow ices over, which happens after it melts and refreezes. An hour drive in Vermont Winter might be problematic at times. Make certain she has a proper Winter survival kit in the Forester.
 
Just a quick note, my Rav-4 does not recommend chains as it is all time 4 WD. It might be OK if I ran them on all 4 wheels???
 
There are situations where studs are a benefit.

I have lived through my fair share of bad winters, including 92 inches of snow, and 89 the previous season. We lived on a hill above the city.

My truck, with siped BG Goodrich TKO's always did fantastic in the snow. But on my cars I have always had studs.


A Subaru may do just fine with winter tires, but I am always happy to have studs when the ice gets bad.
 
I would suggest a set of chains be kept in the trunk along with good all season tires. Add a small flat shovel and some cat litter or kiddie sand.

Added: Clearly regular snow tires are better for snow covered roads. It just depends on how frequently roads are covered. Studs are best for ice but are hard on the highways and have been outlawed in some states unless something has changed in the last few years. If the roads are glazed over with ice, it is best not to be driving at all. But I know, sometimes it happens while you are at work.
 
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We drive on ice and snow six months of each year. Studs are good but thy tend to wear down fairly fast. A Subaru with good tires like Blizacks should be fine. My wife's AWD Chevy van does very well under the worst conditions with good winter tires. If she is driving on glare ice I would recommend studs.
 
I have loads of experience driving in terrible road conditions using winter tires both with and without studs.

If I was given a set of studded tires tomorrow I'd use vice grips to take the studs out.

Not only are they noisy as hell they reduce performance on all surfaces except ice. Snow, slush, pavement you're much better off with non studded tires.

However I never drive in the winter with all seasons, proper winter tires make a huge difference. It's not worth risking an accident over a few hundred dollars!
 
I guess first of all, up there are studded tires legal? I'm assuming they are. I don't know how bad the snow gets up in that area but I'm using Blizzaks on my Mazda3 hatchback and Michelin X-Ice on my A4 Quattro. I still don't feel 100% confident in thick snow in the Mazda but the Audi with the X-Ice tires feel like very sure-footed most times. I've never used chains. Maybe also keep a couple bags of kitty litter in her trunk in case she gets stuck somewhere. Sprinkled generously in front of and behind the tires should help get her unstuck. I imagine the extra weight of the bags in trunk would also help the car sit properly in snow, therefore providing a little better traction.
 
Looks like we are going to get Nokian non-studded tires. They get uniformly great reviews and I have always heard good things about them. The dealer actually recommended a different brand as being good for the price but said that the Nokians were the best (although about $40 per tire more).

Thanks for the input here, it helped me a lot.
 
NaturalMystic said:
I guess first of all, up there are studded tires legal? I'm assuming they are. I don't know how bad the snow gets up in that area but I'm using Blizzaks on my Mazda3 hatchback and Michelin X-Ice on my A4 Quattro. I still don't feel 100% confident in thick snow in the Mazda but the Audi with the X-Ice tires feel like very sure-footed most times. I've never used chains. Maybe also keep a couple bags of kitty litter in her trunk in case she gets stuck somewhere. Sprinkled generously in front of and behind the tires should help get her unstuck. I imagine the extra weight of the bags in trunk would also help the car sit properly in snow, therefore providing a little better traction.
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Yes, Vermont allows studded tires no restrictions as to dates.
 
I did a 45 minute each way commute in northern Vermont for a long time. It gets really nasty up there, though Burlington area is a lot better at clearing roads than where I lived (Stowe area). The all terrains I had on my Tacoma just didn't cut it in the bad storms. I threw on a set of Firestone Winterforce tires and performance was outstanding in even the worst storms.

As stated before, make sure she has a winter kit in the car and get sandbags or cat litter to help with traction and weigh the vehicle down. Encourage her to leave work early if it's going to get really bad -- when stuff hits the fan up there, it's pretty rough.
 
NYOutdoors said:
I did a 45 minute each way commute in northern Vermont for a long time. It gets really nasty up there, though Burlington area is a lot better at clearing roads than where I lived (Stowe area). The all terrains I had on my Tacoma just didn't cut it in the bad storms. I threw on a set of Firestone Winterforce tires and performance was outstanding in even the worst storms.

As stated before, make sure she has a winter kit in the car and get sandbags or cat litter to help with traction and weigh the vehicle down. Encourage her to leave work early if it's going to get really bad -- when stuff hits the fan up there, it's pretty rough.
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We have a number of contingency plans, but I like the idea of the kitty litter and a emergency kit. She isn't technically allowed to work from home, too many people at her company were taking advantage of that, but if she can't make it in she can still get her work done because she has a complete computer set up that she can connect to her office server. If the weather is really bad in the AM or forecasted, she will work from home. At work, her office has a large couch and shower facilities, and a small kitchen, so she is planning on bringing in a shower kit and change of clothes (her version of a bug out bag!) if she has to stay at the office. She also has a cousin who lives 20 minutes from her office where she can stay if need be.

Also, her entire commute is on Route 7, which is the big north south connector in western Vermont, so if any roads get plowed and salted, it will be Route 7.

I will be worried when the weather is bad, but we've both lived here all our lives and have at least some idea of driving in bad weather. I'm hoping to get one more year out of my truck so I don't want to buy new tires. So, I'll probably have more trouble than her!

I find that visibility is almost always a bigger problem than traction. The window ices up and the wipers ice up and you can't see.
 
being willing to not make the trip is by far the best safety equipment. My mom used to always do her commute with a toothbrush, and kept a change of clothes at a family members house near her work.
Winter tires are great, big luggy mud tires tend to be way to hard in cold weather, so you don't get the good contact grip you get from nice soft snow tires. Chains are hard on vehicles, and unless you really need to get somewhere, the speed restriction makes it kinda pointless to plan on using them for any distance. My main concern with studs is that they are really annoying most of the time as they are noisier, that extra vibration can't be good for the bearings either. She's also got the advantage of a good vehicle choice for the conditions.

sounds like you have it wired. I don't think you need the studs.
 
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