Studded tire vs dedicated winter tire?

[Norwest Alta]

With snow in the forecast and in need of tires I'm trying to decide which route to take for the two pickup trucks I'm the household.

The wife's truck is a dodge 1500 that is 90% pavement miles and the other 10% gravel that can be a mud bog in the spring and fall.

My truck is a dodge 3500 that more then likely sees 50% pavement and 50% gravel/mud bog. I generally pack 100 gal of fuel where ever I go.

For both trucks I normally run duratrak 10 ply. Curious if I should just get new tires and stud them for both trucks or rum dedicated winter tires?

[CaberTosser]

I think that dedicated winters are the way to go and for me consideration regarding tread wear is at the very bottom of the priority list when it comes to tire performance. I value life and the ability to avoid accidents with those who are running crappy tires far more than an extra season or half season of use. Being a work vehicle any problems cause me lost time, which causes lost money. A business can't afford to run tires that will cause them problems. Quality tires can save your bacon so it makes sense to fork it out for the better quality ones. Of course one can shops for deals, but have a quality level or specific model in mind when you're looking. Running good winters does have me looking in the rear view when I'm making hard stops in poor traction conditions, as I don't want to get rear-ended by cheap tires McGuire. AI also don't like my Mrs and offspring to have poor traction just as a safety thing rather than a business lost-time rationale so she runs winters too. I don't know anyone who runs all seasons after experiencing the confidence and safety they get from using dedicated winters.

So far as brands go for winter tires it tops out with Nokian then many close seconds such as Toyo, Michelin, etc. Last Jan I bought a set of General Artic LTs in a load range E and had them studded and they were great. As I've bought a new vehicle that runs a different tire size I'll have to sell those ones I had on my old Savana and get suitable winters for my new 4x4 dually Sprinter 3500, for that I'm leaning towards the studded Nokian Hakkapeliitta LT (basically the high water marl for LT winter tires) though I might see what comes close in terms of value. Kal Tire has the exclusive on Nokians so one can't really shop around for pricing on them as with other brands.

[caduddin]

i've had Nokians on all vehicles for a decade now and swear by them. they go on first week of November (unless we get heavy snow etc in October) and come off in March. This year, new vehicle i'm going studded (only $6 extra per tire).

i know there are some very good drivers out there and i could get by on all weather tires, but equally there are some bad drivers out there, and some driving on tires with virtually no tread. Having AWD or 4WD and winter tires really does give that extra edge. I don't get stuck, don't wheel spin at 4 way stops or at lights, and have avoided sliding vehicles.

[lmtada]

Studded Nokian Hakkapalita. Unbelievable traction. Drove on Ice road in NWT, hook up and go. Like cheating. Little noise, 7 years so far on winter tires.

[MountainTi]

For what you do, I'd say a good tire and stud them. Big difference between driving in the city and driving roads like yourself with a heavy truck with the extra weight in the back.
Toyo M55's are studdable now. Toughest tire going and good for winter studded up.

[Norwest Alta]

Originally Posted by MountainTi

For what you do, I'd say a good tire and stud them. Big difference between driving in the city and driving roads like yourself with a heavy truck with the extra weight in the back.
Toyo M55's are studdable now. Toughest tire going and good for winter studded up.

I was kinda figuring that. I'll get the wife winter tires for her pickup and go studded for mine. Figure that the ice rock canfor puts on their roads would eat a set of dedicated winter tires in no time. I do like those m55's but found they didn't last as long as the duratraks.

[Puma]

I went to 285's (for the extra 2" height) 16" studded duratracs. Going into my second winter with them. Would not hesitate to recommend them.

[Coiloil37]

I’ve got summer and winter tires for all of my vehicles but I’ll talk about trucks because thaat what your asking about.
I run duratracs on my 2500 diesel in the summer and a dedicated, studded winter tire in the winter. They’re on separate rims and I swap them over when required. The winter tires have more traction in 2wd then the duratracs have in 4wd. The difference in braking is just as significant, which is to say it’s night and day difference.
The up front price is obviously more because your buying two sets of wheels but once your set up they last longer because each set sees half a years service (roughly) and they give you the performance you need in their respective season. Asking any tire to handle everything is a compromise. There isn’t a tire made that can do it all properly.

[Xbolt7mm]

Both,,,is the best

[Selkirk]

Oops ... double post

[Selkirk]

Back in the day, I used to run studded tires, but no longer. Two reasons ...

- When it gets 'really' cold, the ice is so hard that the studs can't dig in.
- The rubber compound in good quality winter tires is just so good now.

Buy the best quality winter tires you can get ... your life is riding on them!

Selkirk

[fordtruckin]

Originally Posted by Puma

I went to 285's (for the extra 2" height) 16" studded duratracs. Going into my second winter with them. Would not hesitate to recommend them.

I run studded duratracs on my work truck and would trade them in for a set of unstudded winter tires in a heart beat! The performance I’ve gotten from them in snow ice and mud is sub par imo. I’m a game warden and frequently assist my local highway patrol city pd deputy sheriffs and park rangers during the winter around Yellowstone. Running code on those tires is an accident waiting to happen even all locked up in 4wd.

My personal truck for snow plowing wears general AltiMAX Arctic as does my wife’s Jeep Cherokee. Pretty similar to the hankook ipike (which our Toyota camrey wears) While the Generals are significantly cheaper then many dedicated winter tires, all the tire reviews I have ever read on them rates them slightly below blizzaks for significantly cheaper. They can be studded or run with out. I don’t run studs as I’m not a fan for our road conditions, if we had more ice maybe. I bought a new truck this June so I may see about Blizzaks for it to compare. Even with a cheaper set of snow tires you will be farther ahead then all seasons.

[Coiloil37]

Originally Posted by Selkirk

Back in the day, I used to run studded tires, but no longer. Two reasons ...

- When it gets 'really' cold, the ice is so hard that the studs can't dig in.
- The rubber compound in good quality winter tires is just so good now.

Buy the best quality winter tires you can get ... your life is riding on them!

Selkirk

Where are you finding ice SO hard that studs can’t find purchase with 10,000 lbs of truck sitting on top of them?

From my experience, some/lots of “cheaper” winter tires were studded and were not as good as a “better” unstudded winter tire. These days you can stud a Nokian hakkapeletta and they’re a “pretty good” winter tire, with or without studs.
That doesn’t make studs the silver bullet. They do help in some situations but Michelin xice, unstudded tires are as good as anything I’ve ever driven on.

[RandyBoBandy]

Originally Posted by xbolt7mm

both,,,is the best

x2

[gpgriz]

Work F250 wears siped bfg mudterrain km2 (AutoTrac does a good job for the siping). I like 'em a fair bit. We dont have the option for two sets of tires. I can't get those custom tires anymore, so I'll switch to the duratracs.

Personal truck has two sets. I've gone to studded duratrac for winter. Ive been quite happy with them. Way better than the firestone winterforce i had before!

[Ice Fishing Maniac]

I like the performance of the GY Duratracs in winter. But on my new HD I am going to run at set studded.

Couple friends I had suggest the Duratracs on their truck for all year run a set with studs for winter use.

If not try a set of the Blizzaks on the 1500 dodge

[Sundancefisher]

Experience I found is:

summer tires are useless in winter
All seasons just slightly better
Winter tires big improvement
Studded winters the best safety money can buy.

Tire testing also always shows this.

I use Hakkapeliitta Tires. Best I have found.

I just wish I studded them. I suppose I could after market but for now I won't. I epoxy coated my garage floor and while it should handle it I am a little leary.

[Sparx]

It's kinda tricky depending one's situation and condition as mentioned above such as extra gravel road usage and another big factor is towing.

I wore a set of Blizzacks down on my 2008 2500HD towing to the mountains and they weren't much different then Duratracs once 50% worn down. They seem to have the softer rubber on the initial 50% tread. They almost turned into a regular tire after that with very little benefit in the winter when they lost the flex of the longer treads and most of the siping was worn down...

Towing 6000+lbs on dry pavement even in cold winter conditions is really hard on soft tires like full winters. That's where I would choose a snowflake AT tire studded over a full winter like Nokian or Blizzacks. Studs really help with the black ice at highway conditions I find mostly with towing yet again.

One of the best options I run are Hankook IPike studded tires and used to sell Hercules Avalanche studded tires for LT tire applications for those who don't tow. The IPike's I have personally many miles on my 1/2 ton over multiple winters with great balance between wear and traction.

On gravel our 1/2 ton is running Toyo ATII Open Country's and they are significantly torn up bad from the gravel in quite the unique pattern as though they are a super soft tire. I wanted to try a set on my 3/4 ton until I saw this, they weren't an issue on any level until we moved out to the country. The Duratracs seem to tolerate gravel roads much better without the same issue.

Another problem especially on bigger, lifted trucks is tire size options. Pretty hard to beat a Duratrac for size options, much better the K02's that way even. It gets really hard to find a narrow 34-35" tire for winter around 285 or 11" wide.

[tirebob]

When it comes to maximizing winter traction there definitely are tangible benefits to running studded tires, but they are also not a magic bullet.

Depending what you are driving and where you drive etc, considering studded tires is not a bad idea. Today's new winter tires absolutely do have better compounding and even without studs provide a much higher level of traction than in days past, but many of you are driving heavy duty trucks and use LT rated tires which do not have they same level of winter compounding that passenger tires do. That is because they are designed for heavy duty use (obviously) and the super complex compounding that stays soft when the temperatures get really cold would get destroyed in heavy duty applications. It just isn't tough enough for that type of scenario so the heavier duty LT tires are not built using it to near the same degree as your p rated tires. For these LT tires, studs most definitely pick up your ice traction noticeably.

Not all tires use the same amount of studs either. Higher stud density on pure winter tires will help more than the less stud density that are used in studdable AT tires, although fewer studs are still more of a layer of protection than no studs at all.

Now even with the p rated tires, combine studs with the complex rubber compounds and you will be about as winterized as is possible, but still you will not be infallible. Where studs shine is when starting to move, especially on a grade, slow speed stopping (think about when rolling up to an intersection that is polished ice and you just keep sliding), but the most tangible benefit is when cruising along the highway and you find yourself on black ice. While definitely not foolproof, you absolutely will be more planted and have more control input available to you.

I am the first guy that will tell people who try studs for the first time to still be very careful and to progressively learn the limits of the tires because you can quickly get in over your head if you get a false sense of security and overdrive thinking you can do anything now, but I try to tell people that with studs even though you have more ability, you will still slip and slide about when it is slick out, but you will keep traction a bit longer before you break loose and you will recover faster if traction is lost.

All of this said, driving safely is job number one... Everything else is an extra layer.

[sako1]

Originally Posted by Selkirk

Back in the day, I used to run studded tires, but no longer. Two reasons ...

- When it gets 'really' cold, the ice is so hard that the studs can't dig in.
- The rubber compound in good quality winter tires is just so good now.

Buy the best quality winter tires you can get ... your life is riding on them!

Selkirk

Spin your tires on your shop floor and look what happens. They will dig into the ice when it's really cold just fine.

[Suzukisam]

Winter tires that can be studded are a little harder rubber (to hold studs) then a non studable winter tire. Not studables use softer compounds for the bite. So studable wil last longer. And yes M55 studded are great run them year round for out of town truck

[Sparx]

Always important to look close at the weight rating and letter rating of your tires even with some full fledged winter tires. Hankook IPike's, Blizzaks, and Hercules Avalanche tires are an example all of Full winter tires some that are studdable both with sizing available in some P and LT ratings for the same tire size. I wouldn't be afraid to run a P rated tire on a 3/4 ton truck in winter as long as it didn't tow over 3500lbs or heavy box weights.

Some poor reports however are from people who do use P rated tires when towing on a 3/4 ton truck. It's amazing what some shops will setup a vehicle just for a sale not completely explaining the difference to a customer just for a sale due to lack of availability and what not.

[Badgerbadger]

Tires are cheaper than body work.

Get studded winters.

[CaberTosser]

Originally Posted by Badgerbadger

Tires are cheaper than body work.

Get studded winters.

And they’re much cheaper than lost time from work spent in a hospital (or morgue for that matter).

[Lefty]

I have dedicated winter tires on all my vehicles. My problem with the ones on the one ton is that they are very good in winter conditions, but as soon as they see some mud they are a slick tire. The mud gets in the sipes and between treads and the tire will not shed them. As soon as they get worn enough I am going a different route. Unfortunately they just keep wearing and wearing and because they were a cheap tire to buy, I thought this would of happened a couple winters ago.
When researching on tire tests on has to look at how the tests are done as well. One test I looked at compared one pair of winter tires on the front tires of the car, against a different brand mounted on the back tires of said car. Couldn't believe it when I read the fine print. Also some of the tests did not include all tires so it is a guess how some compare.
The factory studded Hak's my wife has is an excellent winter tire and would buy again. The Blizzaks I had on the previous car were very good also, but in the odd condition the Hak's appear to have a bit better traction. Where studded tires are not good is on bare pavement braking. Stopping distances in every tire test I have seen is longer with studded tires on bare pavement. With the majority of winter driving actually being on dry pavement around here the quicker stopping distance could be a factor, especially with deer on the highway.

[MountainTi]

Originally Posted by Lefty

I have dedicated winter tires on all my vehicles. My problem with the ones on the one ton is that they are very good in winter conditions, but as soon as they see some mud they are a slick tire. The mud gets in the sipes and between treads and the tire will not shed them. As soon as they get worn enough I am going a different route..

Another good point. User groups vary considerably when looking at "winter" tires.
As I said before, huge difference between city/town/pavement drivers vs. drivers like myself and I expect Northwest Alta.
In the course of one week in the winter (even January), I need a tire that is capable of handling snow, ice, mud, lot's of weight, and roads built of shards of shale/rock/sandstone.
For that I use a solid, tough tire. I'm a fan of the M55's. Have been for years. And being studdable, I'm a bigger fan now. Can't imagine driving some of the roads many drive during a January chinook with a true winter tire.
If I lived in the city and only drove paved roads, I'm sure I would be singing a different tune.

[sharpstick]

What do you guys recommend for a winter tire on a F350. Mostly hiway/town driving. I will not be towing anything in the winter either. I want to get a good set on winter tires for the truck. The wife has Blizzaks on her full size SUV and we have been happy with them but what should I consider for the F350?
Thank you.
SS

[Drewski Canuck]

Tires that CAN be Studded, are Winter tires. So a dedicated tire is just improved on with Studs.

We get freezing rain in Alberta quite often in the last 15 years. then it gets cold. A few years ago we had freezing rain and then -30.

Highway maintenance crews were NOT SALTING as the amount of salt needed to make a difference BELOW -20C made it worthless to salt. Their plows did not have ice chisels and just bounced on the very hard ice.

Highways maintenance was actually putting down Limestone chips, in hopes the vehicle traffic would break up the ice!

Now go on country roads, all iced up. No salt, no sanding. Just ice.

I have a Ford Escape with studs on Generals. A huge difference in icy conditions. Same dedicated Generals on a Honda Van, unstudded. I should have got them studded for when we get freezing rain, if for no other reason.

Drewski

[Norwest Alta]

Originally Posted by MountainTi

Another good point. User groups vary considerably when looking at "winter" tires.
As I said before, huge difference between city/town/pavement drivers vs. drivers like myself and I expect Northwest Alta.
In the course of one week in the winter (even January), I need a tire that is capable of handling snow, ice, mud, lot's of weight, and roads built of shards of shale/rock/sandstone.
For that I use a solid, tough tire. I'm a fan of the M55's. Have been for years. And being studdable, I'm a bigger fan now. Can't imagine driving some of the roads many drive during a January chinook with a true winter tire.
If I lived in the city and only drove paved roads, I'm sure I would be singing a different tune.

Much the same driving conditions I do. I think I’ll check out those m55’s. I ran them years ago and liked them but found I got about 25000km more with the duratraks. Coopers are supposed to wear really well is what I heard.

[tool]

The Hakkepelitta's or however they are spelled are the best winter tires I have ever driven on.

The comparison to them and the factory all season Firestone's was night and day.