Studded Tires: Good or Bad?

Article produced by the PMCtire.com team

Winter is coming and it’s time to buy new tires. Several manufacturers offer studded tires for better traction, but are they really a good solution? It all depends on your daily commute.

First of all, studded tires obviously cost more than equivalent conventional tires, but on dry surfaces, they will be much noisier. The additional friction will also increase the fuel consumption of our vehicle. And since metal studs damage road surfaces in warmer weather, we can only use them for a certain period of time. Studded tires are permitted in all Canadian provinces and territories, but most of them only allow them during the winter months, usually from October to the end of April. One exception is Ontario which only allows studded tires in the northern part of the province. Several U.S. states have banned the use the studded tires completely, considered responsible for damaging roadways and creating dust.

Studded tires perform better on icy roads than snow-covered ones, so if your daily commute consists of country roads or highways that are constantly covered in a sheet of ice, this type of tire could help. Otherwise, a good set of winter tires without studs will do the job just fine. Certain tire manufacturers claim that their new winter tire models perform so well on icy surfaces that they almost eliminate the need for studded tires altogether.

However, what we should never forget is that studded tires will never replace good driving skills. On slippery surfaces, we can simply slow down and be extra cautious instead of relying on studded tires. In short, the disadvantages outnumber the advantages: studded tires are good for driving on sheer ice, but aren’t better than normal winter tires on snowy or dry roads.

Share on Facebook

More on the subject

TiresThe Car Guide's 2015 Top 10 Best Winter Tires
For most drivers, shopping for snow tires is no less complicated than shopping for a new car. There are so many products out there that consumers don't know which way to turn. To make your life easier, we’ve compiled our top 10 picks of the best winter tires on the …
TiresBest Winter Tires For Cars
Article produced by the PMCtire.com team Evaluations of ice/snow tires – 2014 Edition These are our evaluations of winter tires in the category for products developed specifically for cars, including sedans and crossovers. The winter tires for cars that we evaluated are designed to offer good traction on ice or …
TiresNew Tires for Pickups and light-duty SUVs
Article produced by the PMCtire.com team Each year, automotive manufacturers keep improving their products. The market changes and vehicles become more and more sophisticated. Their electronics evolve, the traction control systems are more and more effective, the engines perform better, and that’s not all. That’s why it becomes necessary to …