leeboy

I'm pickin up new tires this week, some stores say you don't need studded anymore , others prefer to sell you studded. What do our trucks like best ?

delsilver

Depends on your driving conditions. If you get a lot of ice or hard packed snow then studs will help. If you get fluffy snow and the roads are mostly clear or you are driving in area's with deep snow, studs won't do you any good what so ever.
Del

Hillbilly66

I have never ran an actuall "winter tire" on mine. So I can not be of any input on what they like the best.

But I do know that studs only help on ice, or slick hard pack snow. In loose fresh snow they offer no assistance, and if you drive a lot of dry pavement you will wear the studs out fairly quick.

Busboy

I'm using these on mine and very impressed, Telus is using them on their truck fleet too. I told my daughter about them now her company that uses 2RWD full size vans has switched to them for year round use.

http://www.multimiletires.com/tires/...ication=SUV-LT

leeboy

Problem with our town is , it's one big hill . Other day I was sliding at 5 mph down a mild hill after our first snowfall. I have 3 year old arctic claws ( no studs) and didn't do a darn thing to stop me .

cougar

Studs are only a slight (but worth while) improvement. The tread design and rubber compound are everything when it comes to winter driving. Soft rubber, open tread, and fine cyping of the tread give it the best traction on snow or ice.

Busboy

I would say you need studs, however the tires I mentioned can be studded, I don't use studs but always carry tire chains. My niece studded her Ford F150 as she's in a hilly area of Ft Mac, she does take them off in the summer tough.

SIXSLUG

^^^What cougar said. I worked at Mt. Baker ski area for 7 years in the 90's and never chained up once.

Good tires, smart driving and siping are the way we roll down here...

caper

good types of winter tires can't be studded , so what ya get when ya get studded tires are a crappy rubber compound tire with studs that will be half wore off or totally ripped out of tire and missing after the first winter making them less effective than good non stud types of tires .Non stud have the softer rubber and sipping you want with a quite ride also . depending on your climate I guess but I can count on one hand the days of the winter that studded tires "may" be better for traction where I live

leeboy

Great information guys

Rons red Ram

I'll second the crappy tire with studs. They're pretty much short lived. Either ground off or high speed flying projectiles. I'll stick with my dedicated winter Cooper Discoverer M/S. No tire is perfect for all conditions, but these aren't far from it.

SeaW250

Below is a good study about studded versus winter tires. It's 12 years old and primarily compares against the old Blizzak. In a "past life" I was part of a similar tire study and we found that studded tires in light trucks provided a very narrow improvement in traction over good winter tires. Most importantly, studded tires give significantly worse traction in most other conditions! Unless you live where there is commonly sheets of ice on grades (such as Parts of Washington State, where the below study is from) avoid studded tires.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/research/rep...orts/551.1.pdf

joem

This, I normally stud my trucks and keep the cars un-studded as I commute in the car and grab the Dodge when things get ugly. Except This year I did put stud's on both my Dodge and Honda civic and Im amazed at what a good studded tire can do on sheer ice aired down to 20psi, 100% blow away at the grip. My father got 1" of freezing rain and with a light carful foot I was able to drive up his 17% driveway backwards with the weight over the engine of the civic without any problems. I had the Hankook I-pikes on the civic at the time