Who changes wheels/tires seasonally?

Sorry, I left this quote out! and wanted to respond to above!

 

I swap my rims and tires for winter/summer driving. I use the dun-crap tires for summer on a set of aluminum rims and a set of blizzaks on the steelies that came with the truck. Note I have no choice as I live in CT and my truck is a little 5 lug, one wheel drive.

 

You're right, everything is a compromise. I stack the deck in my favor habitually, and simply stand firmly by lessons learned on the road. What I state, is what I do. If you only need those studs one time, when you get caught in a storm were they worth it? did they save you're ass?, you're truck? other people around you? Any winter tire will perform differently then an all season, so shouldent we be adult and drive accordingly, especially while the snows are on?

Understandably, I live in lake effect country, and have pretty firm ideas about winter tires, of course depending on where you live, and you're yearly snowfall, you're mileage might vary!

 

Yup, you're right!

 

I am running Firestone Winterforce UV with studs in the 245/70R17 spec on crager rockcrawler style rims during the snow and ice season in the mountains. The last few miles to my cabin is one lane climbing and twisting county road, with the last 1/2 miles as steep gravel. Since i have to maintain the gravel section, i snowblow as needed and use studs.

Once spring hits, all season tires go on...

'11 taco access cab, 6 speed, 6 cylinder

Howard

 

When selecting tires for fleet vehicles, other considerations such as cost and treadwear often take precedence over performance. The latest winter tire compounds are more expensive and, until the last couple of years, wore faster than older tire compounds. Technology also takes time to trickle to commercial vehicle tires. For example, Michelin's Xi2 is available for P-metric only, while the LT load-rated LTX Winter is still based on older tech. Xi2's ice traction is 43% better than LTX Winter, according to Michelin's own ratings. Just because the police and plow trucks run a certain tire, doesn't mean it's the best for your Tacoma.

Do you base your summer tire decisions on what the police vehicles run? I don't.

 

i swap tires as well. i run 265/75 duratracs on 16x8 wheels during spring/summer/fall months, and 245/75-16 blizzaks on stock wheels for winter.

i know the duratrac is excellent in snow, but they kinda suck on ice, and i get a lot of ice vs deep snow where i am. in fact, my driveway is a near sheet of ice as i type this...

 

I thought I was clear that my decisions are based on years of experience, as well as conferring with other professional road men about what works.

Do you base all your purchasing decisions on what manufacturers advertisements tell you? I don't

 

actually, I currently own the taco, (Hankook IPike's with studs), a 12 subaru impreza, (general altimax arctic with studs), a 2000 subaru outback,(general altimax arctic NO studs), and a 3/4 ton chevy with cooper diccoverer st's NO studs,(snowflake symbol).

I think you might be a little off base painting me as an old guy stuck in his ways, ignoring the new fangled stuff, and technology. I believe and acknowledge that tire studs will be banned everywhere sooner or later, because they are destructive to roads. But they are destructive because they are working. Would you not agree that tire manufacurers also realize that studs will be banned everywhere soon?

As for tirerack, I think they're great. All of the tires listed above, that I own, were delivered from tirerack with amazing precision.(acually not the coopers), But, I trust my real world expieriance and first hand knowlege of studded and studless tires above the tirerack crew skitching a bmw around on a hockey rink, when they clearly have motivation to sell more of the new super rubber. I know statistics and results can be skewed to show what the tester wants them to, so, no I don't believe there is a sweeping tirerack testing conspiricy, maybe just a little special interest involvement.
I drive studded and non studded winter tires regularly, in harsh winter weather. My personal opinion is that for all around safety, while operating your vehicle in harsh winter weather, studded tires offer the highest degree of safety. and yes, absolutely on the taco.

 

If you changed your statement from "for all driving conditons", to, all driving conditions in moderate winter weather, I could agree with you to some extent.

I also think that this statement is a little mellowdramatic,

"The problem is that for most people, studs create many more dangerous situations in non-ice conditions than other winter tire alternatives."

You could say the same thing about engaging 4 wheel drive couldent you? Dummys speed up, but they can't slow down. Should we keep it in 2Hi for our safety?

As I clearly stated earlier, we must change our driving habits when the snows go on, regardless of studs. and again, as I stated earlier I am advising those who can expect to operate in HARSH or SEVERE winter weather.

And for the eternal tacomaworld record, I hope there are no hard feelings from spirited debate, you can always count on me to pull your studless hull out from the ditch!! (with the C20 of course).

 

Wow, in light of this miraculous driving event, I respectfully request that my posts be stricken from the record, viewers of any statement previously posted by TFLT are ordered to immediately unsee them.

As for the outback and studless tires? I wanted to test the abilities of studed vs studless tires head to head, with the same brand of high quality winter tires, on nearly identical vehicles.

Studs win.

I guess this is where the rubbers meet the road...

 

Well, this went south.

I've driven with studs. I've driven without studs. Lets just leave the final result as operator preference based on their area's road conditions.

I have lived in Estonia, Germany, Finland, etc, and I can tell you that I wouldn't have given up the studs in Estonia for my life. Germany and Finland had perfect road conditions, and kept them clear even in terrible conditions. Road speeds on average were higher due to this, and I definitely appreciated normal snows.

It depends where you live and what the laws are.

As for studs going away everywhere and manufacturers knowing this: Maybe in the U.S.

 

though i dont live somewhere that demands driving as you guys have to, i play in the snow for fun. mid season like this is generally packed snow over ice and my a/t's do fine. granted im not trying to keep up with traffic in most of the icy conditions other than my rare trips to the snowboarding mountain.

some of my family run two sets of tires for out of state hunting, but their trucks only see nasty stuff for that one or two weeks.

with today's tire technology, running one set year-round is pretty easy to do. you just have to pick the correct tire

 

We buy tires based on condition...the Taco has studded snows, the JK Wranger has bridgestone studless, if we have do a long trip this time of year on clear roads, we spend an hour and put on the all seasons.

There is no one BEST tire combination for all winter conditions. I know studs are noisy, but they do allow me to drive on icy mountain roads with a good amount of safety.

 

I got cut off by a crappy internet connection! I meant to finish about the manufacturers.

In the EU, there are quite a large number of countries operating with studded snow tires. Also, Russia is a massive market for these - although many of their tires are not imported for economic reasons.

I see numerous U.S. manufacturers being sported over here in Estonia with studs, as having M+S tires is mandatory. Most people run studded tires (I would say 1 out of 20 does not have studs) due to the poor snow removal system, and regular presence of ice under hardpacked snow.

I imagine that while sales in the states will decrease, they will still be produced for export. Tirerack.com and others ship to these countries, and so I doubt that we will see these drop off our availability radar, even if they are illegal for on road use.

I; however, and just excited to see what the manufacturers keep coming up with. Some of the new winter tech is really incredible!

 

You bet! Glad you guys are having a good back and forth - its always informative to have people who can disagree on a topic but do it in a healthy, productive fashion. I've gleaned a lot of information from the two of you!

 

Yes, studs are noisy, (not offensive), and I feel no added vibration. You are reading a little too deep into the handling loss caused by them though. If you research how they work, (modern studding), you will find that they are designed to compress neatly into their holders when operated on dry pavement. The inner carcass of the tire provide enough pressure to drive them into ice, or hard packed snow, as the tire encounters a road surface that allows the stud to penetrate, it will. So the tire is not skating on the stud on dry pavement.
I'm sure lots of people have opportunities to operate both types of tires, but maybe not the same brand, on such similar vehicles. My opinion is that there is no major handling or breaking loss caused by the studs, again, operating as an adult, aware of the limitations of all the systems involved.

I think some people might be under the impression that studs are screwed into the the tire like in the old days, which would absolutly limit they're use to ice.

I live in an area that see's severe winter weather, often and unannounced. I live here by choice, and understand that to live in these conditions, I need to be on point with my equipment all the time. I actively, seek what works best, (for me), in this environment. This is why I conduct my own whacky experiments, with tires, and anything else that impacts the safety of my family and those aroud me. I share my findings with you and hope they are helpfull to some.

 

None of these tires possess the latest tread compound technology. In fact a studdable tire typically needs a harder tread compound to withstand the stresses of studs. If you compare ice traction of the same studdable tire with- and without studs installed, the studs will always win. However, studless winter tire technology has progressed a lot further.

BTW, the mountain snowflake symbol is easy to earn. The tire needs to perform only 10% better in snow than the RMA "standard" all-season tire to get it. That's why a few AT tires have the symbol. It's slightly less superficial than the "M+S" rating, but not by much.

 

^ Good info. Thanks for sharing KenLyns

 

I'm not quite sure what your point is? or where your information is coming from. My tacoma also fails to possess the latest technology, but it works for me.

Now I'm sad about my tires...