This article answers a few questions I’ve had about studded tires.
Just about everyone in Newfoundland seems to prefer studs, and it’s a reasonable stance, since we are that low percentage area in which packed snow and ice cover the roads for long periods of time. It would seem obvious that attaching spikes of some kind should help.
Online research suggests that modern studless tires are better in pretty much every case. There is, however, still a loud outcry from “team stud“, and it’s hard to differentiate good anecdotal evidence from bad.
Really, I’d like to get those $38 beauties from Wal-Mart, because I really don’t want to have to give up my Christmas present for tires. But that ain’t the way life goes.