Anybody use them?

 

Yup. I live in the mountains of WV, and my MCS is my only vehicle. They're mounted on a dedicated set of four 15" wheels that I got from the Tire Rack.

And, no, I've never been stuck with these on.

 

I used to run studded snow tires on my previous car (1982 VW Rabbit), but have
been using studless ice & snow tires the past decade on the MINI with better overall results.

 

OK. Wow polar opposite advice.

I have a set of 15 inch wheels (actually 1st gen wheels I got used but
they fit). They would be dedicated to snow or ice or freezing rain maybe
days only.

Thinking it through mostly snow. We do not get much snow.
(north of Raleigh, NC)

Which would you go with?

I gut tells me the studded kind but maybe they are "bad" for some reason
I don't know about. I looked into getting these cable things too.
But they don't last long, break off, and tear up your car.

 

I live in Alaska and I run Blizzaks and they are great on ice. Studded would be better if there is a lot of stop and go on hills. But other than that these are great.

 

A set of cold-temp or standard snow tires is all I would need.
Studded tires are horrible on dry road, as the metal stud inserts make more road noise and chew up asphalt quickly.

In fact, there are cities that have banned studded tires due to excessive road wear and cost to the tax-payers.

- Erik

 

That is good to know. I will get the standard set coming up sometime.
I'll get a cheap set of those cables for a just in case and treat them as a
disposable item.

 

It's been a long time ago and maybe studded tire technology has changed, but I had a set on a Mustang Mach I and they were horrible on dry pavement. Not only noisy and bad for the asphalt but traction on the dry pavement was horrible. I put a set of Blizzaks on my new MINI but have't had any ice or snow yet to report on their performance.