To Stud or Not To Stud..and Which Tires?

Well I know there is a lot of controversy about studded tires...but we do have them on the back of our Tracker (which is 2WD rear wheel to be specific) and they do help a lot in the compact snow/ice we get here.

But, I am thinking about whether or not I should stud my Ranger's tires or not. I have BFG T/A KOs on her right now. But if I decide to stud the tires (even if it means new ones) would they be put front or back or both?

I did a search and learned a lot about chains but not a lot about studded tires for a 4WD vehicle.

 

[gsx220]

you could always just grab a set of snow tires and toss some weight in the back of your truck my general grabber AT2's work fine in the snow

 

[TREMEK]

I Would stud them all. they last for ever. i have a set that are 10 years old still lots of rubber left but there dry and cracked. I use to deliver with a ranger with 4 studded tires never slowed me down. Really its like night and day. But im in Montreal we have bad very cold winters. So even when the streets are plowed there can still be a small layer of hard snow for a few days left on the streets. So for me the benefits are huge. Sorry the roads were bad never come out of my mouth.

That being said my Explorer has all seasons that work fine in snow but once you start to slide theirs 5000lb with momentum behind you . but i dont use it for work.

 

[TREMEK]

Here is a video of my old explorer with all seasons in snow

 

[gsx220]

id probably flip my truck sliding like that lol damn pot holes around here

 

[solitary ogre]

RhainyC,
i'm about 2 miles north of you in Canada. i used to run studded tires for about 20 years until i discovered the Michelin line of winter tires. i run the X-M&S year round on my bronco ll. my last set got 137,000 kilometers on them and are now on a trailer with a few years of life left that way. i've also ran the X-Ice radials. they are fantastic in the snow with a nice soft rubber compound. the wet performace is far superior to anything else iive run as well. they do clog up in mud though. with the X-Ice, i didn't need to use cable chains when i used my snowplow on my bronco ll. they have about 90,000 kilometers on them with about 1/4" of tread left.
with the cold we have now and the snow coming this afternoon i am considering switching the Michelin A/T's off my explorer (they were on it when i bought it) with the X-M&S off my bronco ll that sits out back waiting for new lifters. the X-M&S have more sipes in them making them better for winter. the more sipes and softer rubber is what you are after for a good winter tire.
studs are nice but noisey and not that great on the wet roads. we do get the occassional bit of rain here but it never lasts for more than 3 or 4 months at a time. this snow we are getting today will most likely be gone by new years when the PINEAPPLE EXPRESS comes in from Hawaii.

http://www.michelinwintercenter.com/

happy xmas and merry new yearz

 

[RhainyC]

Thanks everyone! Good thoughts/ideas...and Way Cool Video Tremek! I will admit I would never be able to attempt that in my Ranger...I'd be too scared! And that coming from a woman who drove 200MPH in a funny car!

Ogre,Thanks for the heads up and info...yeah what we have now just sucks! IF Lady is up and running before spring, and the tax return is large enough, I will probably follow your suggestions on the M/S tires. I was just curious about the studs, since they do a fairly good job on our Tracker, all things considered.

I am hopeful the truck will be running within a couple weeks, so whatever the weather is forecast will have a lot to do with whether or not I spend the money this year...or wait til next on the tires.

 

[CrazyAlaskan]

I grew up In alaska and im use to driving on icy snowy roads, and if you can afford it buy a seperate set of tires for winter and stud them puppys! I have driven with both studded and unstudded and on ice and packed snow studs really do help. APD (Anchorage Police Department) stopped using studs for 1 winter to try to cut down on the amount of road erosion from studs and before January they recalled all there cars and had studded tires put back on! They said that they were involved in more accidents because thier police cars were not able to stop fast enuph and they wree rear ending people and sliding past accident scenes!

Trust me if you can afford to have an extra set of tires for summer and winter get studded tires for the winter!

 

[solitary ogre]

i agree with you CrazyAlaskan, we don't have the long lasting winters you have though. we get the Pineapple express weather coming from Hawaii so our cold weather rarely lasts more than a couple weeks at at time before a deluge of rain and warm air hits us. when i used to ski and drive up the mountains, then studs were great. i had a honda pubic then, now i no longer ski (the ground keeps jumping up and hitting me) i can get away with regular tires. few people around these part bother with studs. when i was fresh out of high skewl in the early '70s i worked in a tire shop and studded thousands of tires each winter. tire technology has changed since then and softer rubbers work great in this climate. i've got my hubs locked in but have yet to pull the lever back into 4wheel drive in the past week other than when i moved a trailer off the driveway for easier snow clearing. yep, it works still.
keep smilin.............t

 

[solitary ogre]

ps: dropping the tire pressure to 20 psi makes quite a difference. keep the speed down. i don't recommend you drive hiway speeds at that low of pressures.

 

[toypaseo]

I think on a 4WD, I would stud all four tires.

Have to watch out for cheap tire studs though. I had a pair of studded tires on my Paseo. Studs were wearing out fast. I took it to a small town tire shop where I knew the owner, and he said the studs were ultra cheap junk. He said he could buy a 1000 of them for $1. Returned to place where I bought the tires, got them replaced under warranty, and had the new ones siped. I think the siped helped out alot. Studs were definately better, but mine were going to be worthless after being worn out after one season. I did did drive carefully with the siped tires to not tear them up. They wore evenly. If you might be driving constantly on snow/ice covered roads, then I would consider studs. If you might be driving on cleared roads, I might not consider studs, due to them possibly wearing out, and the skating/wandering of the vehicle.

Siping is another option, if the tires are not heavily siped...
http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/tireSiping.dos

 

[RhainyC]

Well thanks everyone for the input! If we get some sort of stimulus cheque, or a huge tax refund...I may buy a set of winter tires for the lil' gal. Otherwise, I think that a set of chains for DIRE situations will have to do.

I have pretty good faith in my manual hubs, and trans to get me out of most situations, and keep me on the road in general bad weather...like we have now. If it gets worse, more icy etc, I just will not go out!

 

[snoborder42]

Personally I wouldn't get studs on my tires. The icy conditions don't last long enough to justify having them on for the entire season. I know that you get more snow and ice up there in Blaine than we do down here in Seattle, but I still think that it would be overkill.

I've been out driving the expo everyday do work since the snow started falling last week and the "NEW" tires haven't let me down yet. I say "NEW" since they are actually 1 year old but I've never really got the chance to drive them on icy conditions last year. They haven't let me down yet...

 

[Mbrooks420]

Nothing beats studs on ice. I'd only run 4, even though you can get away with them in the rear only. I've been considering studdable mudders for next winter.