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 race track, 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 very specific circumstances on your morning commute.

Winter Tire 101

Winter is slippery, which is why regular summer or all-season tires simply don’t cut it. But the truth is, snow and ice are only a small component of what makes driving during the harshest of seasons a hassle for most people.

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 treadblocks 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 both dry, slippery surfaces, and snow itself. Overall, this one-two punch makes winter tires the safest and highest-performing solution for much of the country, considering that 80 per cent of Canada’s population lives in cities where snow-clearing and salt are a regular fact of life.

Life Outside The City

What if you don’t live in town? And what if your ‘regular 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 – outside of deep desert sand or thick mud – 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.

It’s these severe conditions that call for an equally hardcore tire approach. By choosing tires that have metal studs embedded in the treadblocks, you gain the ability to cling to ice like you’ve attached a hundred tiny pick-axes to each wheel. Studs enormously improve traction over even the most solid of ice surfaces, and also do well when confronting hard snow-pack and frozen gravel.

Not The First Choice For Everyone

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 treadblock makes less contact with the pavement – which can also affect wet weather driving or driving on slush as the treadblocks try to channel away water. 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 handicapped by studs rather than helped.

Then there’s the noise – that constant clicking that comes from the studs impacting asphalt – and the additional cost of adding studs to a new set of tires, or purchasing pre-studded units. Finally, you can’t run studs in most provinces outside of specific dates, because metal studs do serious damage to soft, spring roads. This can mean having to mount your summer or all-season tires earlier than you’d like to avoid paying a fine.

Know Your Enemy

Are studded tires right for you? As always, the answer depends on the type of driving you do the most often, and your budget. If you live in a metro area, you may only benefit from the added traction of studded tires a few times a year, and even then only if you beat the plow to the highway in the morning. The rest of the time you’ll be dealing with the reduced braking and road-holding, and increased noise and expense associated with studs.

If you’re headed out on packed snow past where the plow turns around, however – or if your area simply can’t keep the roads free from the dangers of ice – then studs will outperform traditional winter tires and potentially be the difference between the ditch and the drive home.