Studded tires shine on dirt roads
Anyone living in a winter climate who has entertained more than a passing fantasy of winning a rally stage is familiar with the reflected glory of studded tires. With gleaming metal claws gripping ice and snow, studded rubber is presented as the ultimate when it comes to control and performance in winter driving.
Just like on a racetrack, however, the tires that the pros use on the rally circuit aren’t always appropriate for daily driving for the vast majority of Canadians. In fact, while studded tires do have their place in the winter-beating arsenal, chances are they’re not right for you unless you are dealing with some specific circumstances on your morning commute.
Winter is slippery, which is why regular summer or all-season tires simply don’t cut it.
Cold, it turns out, is the real killer when it comes to winter traction. Low temperatures cause the rubber compounds found in standard tires to freeze up and grow stiff, which significantly reduces their ability to grip almost anything, including bare pavement. Winter tires get around this by using a special compound that maintains its softness and elasticity even when the mercury drops.
Winter tires also feature unique tread blocks that are designed to grip through whatever snow they encounter and also offer sipes — small openings in the tread — that improve the flexibility of each block, increase its overall surface area and enhance grip on snow and both dry and slippery surfaces.
What if you don’t live in town? And what if your facts of life include kilometre after kilometre of packed dirt roads that freeze over for most of the winter or coastal highways that do the same thanks to the constant spray of water and moisture? This is where studded tires truly shine.
As good as winter rubber is, it can have serious issues dealing with ice on more than an intermittent basis. Ice is the most challenging surface a tire will ever have to deal with and if you live at the end of an isolated, ice-covered road where snow plows are only an occasional visitor, you’re going to need more than just rubber on your side.
These severe conditions call for an equally hardcore tire. By choosing tires that have metal studs embedded in the tread blocks, you gain the ability to cling to ice like you’ve attached a hundred tiny pickaxes to each wheel. Studs enormously improve traction over even the most solid of ice surfaces and also do well when confronting hard snowpack and frozen gravel.
Just as standard winter tires aren’t ideal on ice, studded tires aren’t the best all-around performers either. When driving on a clear road, you’re actually giving up traction with a studded set because the tire’s tread block makes less contact with the pavement, which can also affect wet-weather driving or driving on slush as the tread blocks try to channel water away. It’s most noticeable when braking on a slick, cold road surface in the absence of snow or ice, which means city and suburban dwellers are more often hindered by studs than helped.