Ruts in concrete on Interstate Highway

[jerrybob]

Here's a ton of info. on studded tire road damage.....plus pictures.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyre...AFA2-808207BCEE7E/0/PavementsStuddedTires.pdf

 

[California]

Studded tires aren't generally used, or legal in California. Not enough to affect pavement wear.

(Added: I looked this up, it seems there are some allowable conditions:
Vehicle Code - Tires )

But the CHP cruisers up on the summit use them.

That wear is from truck traffic. And especially from the mandatory tire chains on trucks, required during times when a truck that can't get traction turns the entire freeway into a parking lot. There were posts over on the 'towing something wrong' thread showing a CHP cruiser tugboating, pushing, a loaded semi that hadn't chained up, to get it moving again uphill over the summit.

That's one of the heaviest snowfall regions in the US. One year a train got stranded in overwhelming snow near what is now the freeway.

I'm very familiar with Donner pass, I've driven it hundreds of time. When I was a kid I worked one summer at Donner Lake and often hiked up to an overlook to watch the construction of that miles-long grade that comes down from the summit past Donner Lake. 'Earthmoving' there was absolutely brutal. Every day there was blasting of extremely hard granite, material at the peak of the Sierras that had resisted erosion better than anything else in the region. Then awful screeches as bulldozers and belly-dumps gathered up the blasted granite for fill farther down the hill. The wear on that equipment must have been severe.

 

[Rock knocker]

Studded tires aren't legal in California

Yes they are. 27454 (b) and (e). Out of state vehicles could also use studs.
Vehicle Code - Tires

 

[LouNY]

Interesting article and especially comments:

What Grinds My Gears: Studded Snow Tires - The Truth About Cars

Bruce

Bull sh*t, studded tires do very little damage to highways, I have seen many times that studless snows or none season tires can't make it up many of the hills on the local town roads.

 

[Rock knocker]

Bull sh*t, studded tires do very little damage to highways, I have seen many times that studless snows or none season tires can't make it up many of the hills on the local town roads.

Here is a quantified study, as versus your blanket statement based on basically nothing

https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyr...AFA2-808207BCEE7E/0/PavementsStuddedTires.pdf

 

[dfkrug]

Here in snowy Quebec we must install (by law) winter tires after Dec 15 subject to fines.
If you are going south for the winter a special permit can be obtained to exempt the snow tire ruling and is valid for only 10 days.

All seasons no longer allowed.

Most tires on passenger cars say "M + S" on the sidewall. Mud & Snow. You actually have to try to get
so-called "summer" tires, as most say "M + S". My pickup tires are "all-terrain", but are intended as
all-around tires. I once had "mud-terrain" tires on a pickup (loud!).

What are the cops looking for on the sidewall for tires to comply with that Canadian law?

 

[LouNY]

Here is a quantified study, as versus your blanket statement based on basically nothing

https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyr...AFA2-808207BCEE7E/0/PavementsStuddedTires.pdf

You can find any study you wish for a great many times a study is written and biased to what the requester wants. People that live in snow belt areas and seem to think that they are entitled to clean snow and ice free roads thru the use of millions of tons of corrosive melting chemicals instead of using there equipment and options to get around. Idiots with $1000's of dollars worth of skis on their fancy city awd's with worn out all season tires going to a ski area and crying that the road was snowy and it's not their fault they are stuck and blocking traffic, it's snow country use snow tires with studs and learn how to drive. I will guaranty that studded tires will out pull any non studded tire on ice or hard wet packed snow, I have driven too many roads in inclement weather for too many years, the advent of good studded radials reduced the need to chain up tremendously.

 

[dfkrug]

I'm very familiar with Donner pass, I've driven it hundreds of time.

I used to go skiing in Tahoe. This would involve leaving early from work Friday afternoon from the Silicon
Valley to get a jump on weekend traffic.

About 30y ago, I got caught in a snowstorm going up Donner Pass in a front-wheel-drive car with chains on
the front. Cables, actually. Then one broke. We could not get traction going up the hill, so we had to
back down the hill in the dark. Saw the same CHP guy twice.

It was a long night, but at least cannibalism was not necessary.

 

[kirkawilson]

Diamond grinding of pavement - Wikipedia

 

[Furu]

Here is a quantified study, as versus your blanket statement based on basically nothing

https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyr...AFA2-808207BCEE7E/0/PavementsStuddedTires.pdf

That is a really informative study. Backs up what I have anecdotally noted and thus suspected for years.

Thanks to jerrybob and Rock knocker for the links.
Goes to show real data versus a statement that is emotionally based.

Make me wonder if maybe there should be a fee/tax for studded tires to have the folks that use them pay more for road taxes. Of course that fee/tax would have to go into the road fund. The politicians would want to put it into the general fund. Those fees/taxes also would have to be banned from being used for bike lanes, ferries etc. Road mx and repair only.

The reason I like chains is that they are only on for when you need them. Not when you are driving on dry pavement 99% of the rest of the time.