REDMOND SPOKESMAN • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2022 A5
Get a grip on winter driving
GET IN THE GROOVE
Schwab and Discount also
point to the very purposeful
design of winter tires: deeper
grooves, obvious, and sharp, ir-
regular edges, or sipes.
All-season tires, generally
what comes with the average
car and SUV, are not technically
“winter tires” but perform well
in 90% of our winter driving.
Higher-end cars are more likely
to come with performance tires
that are awesome in summer or
dry conditions, but perform less
well in snow and ice.
BY BILL BARTLETT
For the Redmond Spokesman
Many in Redmond, especially
skiers and boarders and oth-
ers who thrive on cold weather
activities, hope for big winter
storms that dump snow on our
mountains and cities.
And while winter storms are
good for winter recreation and
summer agriculture, they can be
dangerous for drivers.
Already a good number of
motorists have switched over
to their winter tires or studded
tires, the latter seemingly an-
noying some Redmonders due
to the noise and perceived dam-
age to the roads. Even drivers
using studs admit that cabin
noise from the studs can be a
nuisance.
In fairness, technology has
improved on this front. Some
studded tire makers install a
soft rubber layer between the
stud base and tire surface, act-
ing like a spring and dropping
decibels.
Studies in Alaska and Nor-
way do cite drivers are more
cautious when using studded
tires and have fewer accidents
than stud-less tire drivers.
Most experts in the tire and
road safety business say that
studded tires offer a tiny bene-
fit, useful only in clear ice, not
snow or slush. Washington State
conducted an exhaustive study
into the performance of stud-
ded tires.
One of its conclusions was
that, while studs do grip clear
ice very well, they only do so
under a very specific set of cir-
cumstances.
“Studs are most effective on
ice at or near 32 degrees F and
lose their efficacy as tempera-
tures drop and the ice becomes
too hard for the studs to grip
or when temperatures rise and
ice melts to slush or wet pave-
ment,” the study read. The
minimum effective tempera-
ture for studs? Zero degrees
Fahrenheit, according to the
study.
Bare ice in those tempera-
ture ranges where studs help
only exists on roadways for a
very small amount of time. In
Washington, the study found
that conditions where studs
work only exist one percent of
the time. In Alaska, those con-
ditions occurred just six per-
cent of the time during winter
months.
Simply put, studs don’t grip
pavement as well as soft, pliable
rubber. Getting between the
rubber and the road, studs ac-
tually reduce grip, and reduce
safety, in slushy, wet, or dry con-
ditions.
Studs wear quickly. The
RYAN BRENNECKE/The Bulletin
FILE- Taylor Zehner works on changing out a set of studded tires for a customer while working at Gill’s Point S Tire in 2017.
Randall Benton/AP
FILE- Rob Hager, of Redwood City, California, removes tire chains from
his car at a roadside gas station in Camino on in 2021. Hager and his
family spent over five hours in stopped traffic along U.S. Highway 50.
They were headed east to the Lake Tahoe are for skiing but gave up
and returned home.
Washington study cited above
finds that drivers with studs are
on ice about 1% of the time. The
remaining 99% of time is spent
on dry pavement that acceler-
ates stud wear. After only 1,000
miles on dry roads, the breaking
distance of studded vehicles in-
creased by 12%.
ROAD DAMAGE
The Oregon Department of
Transportation encourages win-
ter-rated tires.
“Our latest study concluded
studded tires cause about $8.5
million in damage each year on
state highways,” ODOT states.
The state’s road managers
suggest the alternative is to use
tires that meet Rubber Manu-
facturers Association standards
for use in severe snow condi-
tions, which are marked with a
special symbol on the sidewall
showing a three-peaked moun-
tain and snowflake.
“These tires work about as
well as studded tires on ice, but
work better than studded tires
or regular, all-weather tires in
most other winter conditions.
And they cause no more dam-
age to road surfaces than reg-
ular, all-weather tires,” ODOT
said.
WHO BETTER TO KNOW?
The Spokesman asked some
experts: Discount Tires and Les
Schwab. Here’s what they told
us.
Without getting too techni-
cal, they boil it down to rub-
MORE THAN
100
YEARS OF
COMMUNITY
COVERAGE
NOW SEEING PATIENTS
IN LA PINE!
EARLY
DETECTION IS
KEY
Read
and
recycle
SCHEDULE YOUR
SKIN EXAM TODAY
Call (541) 382-8819
Seeing patients at La Pine
Community Health Center while
our building is being remodeled.
derm-health.com
RYAN BRENNECKE/The Bulletin
FILE- A studded winter tire (left), a studless winter tire (center) and an
all-weather tire thats rated for snow (right), sit in the Gills Point S, a tire
shop in Northeast Bend.
ber compounds and tread de-
sign. True winter tires, what we
should probably have in our
neck of the woods, are a softer
rubber formulation that are
more flexible, maintaining trac-
tion at colder temps.
DOES AWD REQUIRE WINTER
TIRES?
All-wheel drive technology
has been a game changer and
life saver in the automotive in-
dustry. And for the vast major-
ity of winter driving in Oregon,
AWD with all-season tires is
pretty much all you need. But, if
you’re running to Hoodoo Ski
Area or Mt. Bachelor, playing
on U.S. Forest Service roads,
or refusing to be housebound
when we get a dump of snow,
then AWD is not necessarily
enough.
In fact, Les Schwab points to
independent testing showing
that a front-wheel-drive vehicle
with true winter tires will have
shorter stopping distance and
cornering than an AWD with
all-season tires.
WHERE THE RUBBER MEETS THE
ROAD
Don’t take our word for it. Go
down (or over or up) to your
friendly, helpful Redmond tire
retailer, tell them your driving
habits and have them guide you
into the safest option.
Otherwise, a bill to require
ODOT to study the effects of
studded tires on Oregon’s roads
died in committee at the end
of the last legislative session,
so your investment in studded
tires is probably safe for a while
longer.
█
Reporter:
ttrainor@redmondspokesman.com