bfg mt studs

[rsty1]

I have 33 inch mts on my toyota pickup. Alberta winters are rough and these tires are awful on ice especially with such a lite rig. i was wondering if studs will help much, also ive heard that sheet metal screws work just as well. any input would be appreciated.
thanks

[Quick Draw]

In my experience, if you drive on any dry pavement at all, studs suck.  A good snow tire will do almost as good on the ice, without the problems with studs everywhere else.  Studs on dry pavement can almost be like driving on the ice.  I can't tell you how many times I got my car into a good slide trying to avoid somebody who cut me off.  And this is coming from somebody who drives on ice every single day from October to March. 

These for example, are great:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Bridgestone&tireModel=Blizzak+DM-V1

I can understand if you don't want to spend the money on new tires.... stud them if you must... but please don't put sheet metal screws in them!  

[rsty1]

i do not have the money for winter tires haha i suppose sheet metal screws are a tad welfare haha is it best to put a stud in a few lugs or is it the more the marrier type deal?

[H8PVMNT]

I once drilled a set of BFGs for studs.  Just put some tape on the bit to mark your depth for whatever stud your going to use.

If you just drop your pressure a bit it will help alot on road speed ice though.  Siping does almost as good as studs too.

[yotaneck13]

if they have stud holes factory then you can not stud them once they have seen road use the  studs will just come out when you are driving.

[THK Matt]

if they have stud holes factory then you can not stud them once they have seen road use the  studs will just come out when you are driving.

WRONG.

they require a certain tread depth.
I worked at a tire shop and that was not the case.

siping is much better then studs and costs the same amount.
dropping pressure will help tremendously. 3-5psi is alot. if you run 35... i recommend dropping to 28psi
that or chain up!

[yotaneck13]

WRONG.

they require a certain tread depth.
I worked at a tire shop and that was not the case.

siping is much better then studs and costs the same amount.
dropping pressure will help tremendously. 3-5psi is alot. if you run 35... i recommend dropping to 28psi
that or chain up!

so did i and am also a ase cirtified tech and will not stud tires that have seen road use.  Ive seen it happen on month old winter treads studs came out in a week.

[THK Matt]

so did i and am also a ase cirtified tech and will not stud tires that have seen road use.  Ive seen it happen on month old winter treads studs came out in a week.

never have a problem with studs coming out up here.

[rsty1]

siping? is that just grooving out the lugs?

[THK Matt]

nope... google it

[H8PVMNT]

I think the studs can come out of old holes because there gets to be road scuz in them. The reality is that it probably depends on wheather there is junk in your holes or not. BFGs aren't usually pinned for studs anyway are they?  I know I had to make my own holes for that reason...

[THK Matt]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jtk4ijS4gOo

I think the studs can come out of old holes because there gets to be road scuz in them. The reality is that it probably depends on wheather there is junk in your holes or not. BFGs aren't usually pinned for studs anyway are they?  I know I had to make my own holes for that reason...

Bingo!!

[rsty1]

so should i sipe them or stud them?

[THK Matt]

sipe em

[rsty1]

will this make these tires tolerable? and is it pricey?

[THK Matt]

siping should be 12.00 per tire. and it will enchance there winter capabilities and do better then studs, as well as enhance there summer driving too.

[rsty1]

alright sounds like a plan thanks for the help

[H8PVMNT]

Siping is really great for winter traction.  If you look for speedway motors out of nebraska they sell a hot knife/tire groover for the circle track guys for about $60.  I got mine for adding 1/8 inch grooves to the center of mud tire lugs but you can flip the knives over in the head and use them to sipe strait across too.  I highly recomend owning one because you can get the most out of a set of tires. When you get through the little bits of factory sipe and small voids a mud tire really looses alot of snow/ice and rock traction.  If you can restore these with a similar groove or sipe they will work well to the last drop, sometimes even better.  You can get a pretty lame set of tires to be really sticky if you do it right.

[BLACKDOG]

I grooved a set of swamper TSLs that were on their last legs, it gave me another year or so of use out of them, and the preformance was night and day difference, from the moment I pulled out of my driveway. 

I would definitely sipe them over studding them, a far better option with year-round preformance improvement.

[Rocksurfer]

Sipe them, I used to sipe my rear hotrod tires for that added off the line traction.