Winter tires: Snow traction, snow tires[SIZE=-1]The good news from our tests of winter tires is that tires continue to improve, so finding a tire that meets your needs is less difficult. Moreover, our test of studded vs. unstudded winter tires shows that for most drivers, studs may hurt more than help. All-season tires aren’t the best in the wake of a severe winter storm, especially if you must be on road before the highway crews. (See our report on all-season tires.) Winter tires have treads with more biting edges for better grip on snow and ice, while their softer compound remains flexible even in extremely low temperatures. On cleared roads, however, they might not grip as well as all-season tires, and they often wear more quickly. They do not have tread-wear warranties or grades and should be removed in the spring. There are many winter-tire models to choose from. We selected appropriate winter replacements for the all-season models we tested. Tested models included some familiar names, too, such as the Goodyear Ultra Grip Ice and the Bridgestone Blizzak WS-50. They are still impressive. For our winter-tire models, we ran the same braking and handling tests on dry, wet, snowy, and icy surfaces as we did for all-season tires. However, since winter tires are designed for cold-weather conditions, we weighted their performance on snow and ice more heavily in our overall scoring. And since winter tires aren?t designed for long tread life or low rolling resistance, we didn?t test them for those attributes. To see whether studded tires really perform better on ice and snow than unstudded tires, we tested two winter-tire models, the Cooper Weather-Master S/T 2 and Nokian Hakkapeliitta 2, with and without studs. Most studs are metal posts a tire shop imbeds into the tread that protrude slightly for added bite. Besides the models we had studded, in our group, only the Mastercraft Glacier Grip II and Dayton Winterforce accept studs. The studs hardly made a difference in traction on moderately packed snow, but they stopped better on ice. In our tests, the Coopers without studs needed the longest distance among the winter tires to stop, 36 feet from 10 mph. The Coopers with studs stopped in the shortest distance, 20 feet from 10 mph. Studs proved less effective with the Nokian 2s. Stops ranged from 29 feet without studs to 25 feet with them. The gains that studs provide come at the expense of noise. We judged the noise levels of both studded models poor, compared with good or fair for the nonstudded versions. Also, studs can damage roads, which is why some states limit studded tires to winter months, and others ban them entirely. Studded tires have their place in some icy regions, but winter tires are best for most. For more on tire traction, see our tests of winter tire traction aids. This report was originally published in November 2005, the information presented here is current.[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Subscribe now![/SIZE]
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