Studded vs. friction tyres

ndavid

A2OC Donor
I came to Northern Finland in this February and my car has brand new Conti TS850 tyres fitted. Before the trip my Finnish boss said that I MUST change my tyres immediately when I'm arriving to Turku or even before, in Sweden somewhere otherwise I will never reach Oulu and I will die under a Finnish truck.
Now I'm here and still hesitating what to do. The roads are mostly clear, sometimes snowy, sometimes icy but the Contis are working pretty well under this condition. All of my colleges have studded tyres on their cars just because everybody has the same and they have no experiences with other than that. I have driven a rented car here in January when it was -25 Celsius, its hard to compare but on slippery roads that car was sliding as well.

What are the real benefits of studded tyres comparing to the friction ones on everyday driving?
 
not much. But TS850s are central european, so the rubber mix is hard at -20 or so, where Nokian Hakka Rs will still be "soft".

So I'd drive the 850s down through the summer, they'll be great on gravel... and then replace with 185/60R15s. Especially up north, if it's really cold, you will notice when you try to brake on ice. Which is the only other time you'll really see the mild benefits of studs over unstudded tyres.

- Bret
 
Certainly the Hakkapeliitta 8 is great when the road gets slippery. I cannot fault the studded tyres.
On clear roads the friction tyres are quieter but when needed the studs are amazing. I have seen cars with friction tyres sliding on ice and moving when parked. A BMW in front of me on the road to Finland nearly slid off the road sideways when we were stopped in a jam but none of the other cars with studded tyres had any problems.

These are great:
http://www.nokiantyres.no/dekk-no?id=32097171&group=1.01&name=Nokian+Hakkapeliitta+8

It also looks like the future may offer both in one tyre:
http://www.nokiantyres.no/media-release-no?id=52229997&year=2014&group= In Norwegian.

There are degrees of slippery and to be fair the traction control on the A2 is great and also smaller lighter cars are easier to control on ice.
One of the key benefits of studded tyres is that they offer a longer life than friction tyres and they also give much better lateral stability. From what I understood the grip of friction tyres decays rather quickly and that the grip would be pretty much useless by the second or third season.

Maybe you should see if you could meet bretti_kivi and try his A2 to see how studded and non-studded tyres compare?

Once again it is in Norwegian but here is the 2012 winter tyre test:
https://www.naf.no/forbrukertester/dekktester/vinterdekktest-2012/

The performance on Nordic roads is quite different from elsewhere and so tyres that are great elsewhere may not be so useful here...


John

In Arctic Norway if you have an accident the first question the police ask is if you have studded tyres. If not you are likely to be given more blame if grip was a factor in the accident.

John
 
Thanks guys for all the replies and links. This "studded friction tyre" looks really innovative ...
 
I'd be more than happy to host a tyre test at the next icetrack day... maybe we should aim for Rovaniemi in October? GuruX, going to join us? ;)

- Bret
 
I can bring the Contis with me... Rovaniemi is a very good idea: we can expect some ice for sure and its definitely closer (at least for me :) )
 
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