Being in Vermont, many people have studded snows. And around here we have the same law: Oct to May I believe (we did get snow the first week of May last year). And like 4.7 said you really need two sets. A summer set of all seasons and a winter set of studded snows. And just like 4.7 said I would say two seasons is what you will get out of them depending upon your driving style/distance/type of roads...

That being said, they make an unbelievable difference. End of story.

 

So you're saying that when they are worn down flat, even with or below the tread, they still make an "unbelievable difference"? And they will get worn down flat within a short time, because most of the time they contact the pavement, even in the winter (unless you live in a town where no one plows the roads).

With my old 2WD pickup with worn-flat studs on the back, I noticed nothing in terms of extra traction, nor did I notice any difference when I replaced them with unstudded tires.

 

he ment when they are used in ideal conditions, ie: snow and ice they are unbelievable.

 

and 2nd, a 2wd pickups are just not made for ice/snow conditions plain and simple. Doable, very doable.. you just got to know how to work the pedal, Studs help alot and their fairly cheap considering a Locker Or LSD. But you can't really complain about the cost of studs their farily cheap, just the downside is that you cant restud used tires unless the tires are drilled.

Back home in labrador we get 7-8 months of snow, blowing snow, Ice, black ice, -50 the list goes on. I've had my time driving a 2wd in the winter and its fustrating, make the matters worse i was driving a 2wd FORD!!!!!! LOL!

 

Hey guys, thanks for all the opinions. I'll have to look around and do some research, and yeah a 2WD pickups really aren't made for snow or ice. I guess the first thing to do is get new tires and see how much of a difference they make but the diff should help too. We got drilled by the snow its crazy the drifts are like 5 or 6 feet high, and all the roads are closed in my county.

 

Where are you at Dirtbiker? I am in west central Indiana an my part of the state was hammered with ice the past two days. Northern Indiana was supposed to get 12-20 inches of snow. I would have rather had the snow. Even with the LS rear end in my truck the ice is a bear. I have the factory Wranglers on my truck and they are not rated well for snow & ice. Good luck on finding what you need.

 

Northern Illinois. Yeah ice is well ice not much you can do about that besides studs like someone mentioned. I'm looking at General Grabber AT2's like these http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....omCompare1=yes , I would like BFG's but the General's are cheaper which is a good thing.

 

Just like thunder said, they make a difference when in the snow and ice. Comparing a set of all seasons to a set of studded snows, yeah they make a BIG difference. Obviously once they are worn down and all the studs have come out they aren't going to make a big difference, that's just common sense. But for the first two seasons (again depending upon your driving conditions) they will work wonders over a set of regular all season tires.

It's just fact. Studded snow tires make a big difference. Yeah, a lot of the time you will most likely be driving on pavement that might be dry, but you need them for all the times it snows or ices. It's no different than having 4wd. You don't use it very much, but when you do, it makes a big difference. You don't need snow tires for most driving but when you do they make a big difference.

If you're looking for a good set of winter snow tires, I would recommend the Cooper Discoverer M+S or Firestone Winterforces. Both are studdable and do great in snow if studded. I think the Firestones are probably better though.

Don't forget to through some weight in that bed too...

 

I don't dispute that new studs work good. What I'm saying is that they wear down very quickly when driving on pavement that is not covered by thick snow or ice, which is what most winter driving consists of (assuming you live in a town that plows the roads). And by very quickly, I mean far less time than 2 seasons, and by worn down I mean no little spikes left at all, i.e., instead of looking like this:



They look like this:



At which point, they are not doing much even though there is still a lot of internal length left to them. The last truck I had (2WD) had studded tires where the studs were worn down like in the second picture (they were worn like that when I got the truck), but the tires still had plenty of tread (which means there was still plenty of internal length to the studs). They had no better traction on snow or ice than the non-studded tires I replaced them with, or the various other non-studded tires I've used. I'm sure the previous owner had great traction with them when they were new ... for short while anyway.

 

sparky burnouts are fun...