Characteristics of snow tires

I just scored a set of tires off a local kid. They are only 225's but they came off an old willys, have full tread, and spikes. He wanted 50 bucks. I just replaced my 33's with these tires because we are expecting a foot of snow and with my 33's I can barley make it up a snowy hill in 2wd. I am going to do a decent 25 min. drive before it snows and was wondering what to expect. I have never had a set of tires with the spikes in em, never even seen em. Only heard of them. Am I suppose to never use them on pavement? I am hoping I can rip people out of snow banks

 

Check local laws. Most states do not allow spikes on tires to be driven on public roads anymore.

But if they do, cool find.

 

I thing you might be refering to studded tires, which a lot of people run from around october to may,,or whenever they remember to change them,,, if they do at all. I ermenber growing up in NW New Mwxico even in the dead of summer people still had studded tires on,,, just never bought other all season tires to switch them out with. No experience with them though,, during those years I was still driving a Camaro to highschool on roads with 2 inches of snow & ice,,,, just driving real slow!!!!!

 

I've seen 'em. Some friends of mine bought an old 4X4 S-10 Blazer from Northern AZ a while ago with studded tires on it. They are illiegal in the Phoenix area, but work VERY VERY well on ice. It's like putting golf shoes on your vehicle! If you want to keep them around for a few seasons, just don't drive on pavement that's dry or you'll wear them all the way down.

Also, there are thin, bicycle looking tires the Forest Service uses for snow here. I am not sure but I think those replaced the studded tires over the years. Good Luck!!

 

They make cool sparks when you spin the tires on cement. Can get a little squirrely in-- never mind Cj's alredy are squirrely in a panic brake situation.

 

Here in the SoCal mountains a lot of people use "studded tires". I understand that they are legal from Oct - March or so. You may want to check you local laws.

I used to run them on my Toyota p/u and my wife's front wheel drive and they work great on icy roads. We would swap them out at the end of the season and save them for next year.

One time the tire guys talked my wife into all four tires and it felt a little squirrelly. (Kinda like marbles)

BTW, we just had the storm that you're expecting. Heads up! 3 days of snow here.

 

We ran them on the farm truck in the late 60's early 70's.They made a huge differance in the ability to drive on icy roads.The farm is on a gravel road and when the county plows it in the winter it eventualy turns into a couple inches of compacted snow/ice.The steel studded tires provided that "golf shoe" traction (of course you can still spin out or get stuck.)Michigan outlawed them years ago but you can run "soft studs" which have hard plastic studs instead of steel studs.I dont know of anybody who has ran soft studded tires,to expensive for little performance gain.

 

Great in the ice!

 

if you have a blacktop driveway dont spin or youll dig up the pavement.

 

I've run studs on several different trucks. They work great on ice, make a cool sound on pavement and separate you from the wannabes in the middle of the blizzard
The only thing better is chains but thats another whole debate. I say run them, i never had any problems running them on pavement.

G

 

In Ohio we are allowed to run them in the winter. Use them. They work especially good on skinnier snow tires.

 

Those studs are great on snow and ice. Be very aware they are down right dangerous in a rainstorm.

 

I've never had a set of studs that handled any differently than other tires on pavement or rain.

 

i usto autocross on bald snow tires In my old 89 nissan 240sx. i was too cheap to buy tires so always used old throw aways from my brothers shop. They worked as well as any all season tire in the dry. the only time theyd act any different is twords the end of my run when they got too hot they were like driving on ice. i got the most intresting run award several times

 

XXX2

They cant be beat on ice and hard packed snow.
They are the norm in North Idaho. But the studless ones are slowly taking over.
And I wouldnt call them dangerous but they need to come off in spring.

You should check local laws.
they are hard on the highway.
So the states dont like them.
And they will make marks in your drive way if you spin them alot.

Have them on my van right now and there the best.

But blizzaks are better and they are called studless snow tires.

The blizzaks I had were the best snow tires I ever used.

They used to make snow tires with walnut shells in them too.
Dont know if they still do...

 

They do still make tires with walnut shells. Treadwright retread also offers the walnut shell in their ultra grip line. I will be buying from them in the spring for my 02 dodge ram. I just put new tires on the CJ, but when I wear them down, I will be buying the retreads for it as well. Nice thing about the walnut shell tires, is you can run them all season long. As the tire wears, there is always shell material in it.