Originally Posted by flere-imsaho
Bear in mind that studded snow tires tend to not be allowed in many localities, since they'll chew up the roads something fierce if exposed directly to asphalt.
A set of good regular snow tires is likely all one needs for winter, and then only if you're going to be driving on actual snow or ice on a regular basis (as opposed to salt-created slush, as it more common in most large, cold metropolitan areas).
To be honest, we only got snow tires in Chicago on one of our cars the last few years, and this was specifically because I wanted the car my wife used for the kids to have them, as an extra precaution. I found, in Chicago, that with the use of salt almost all the time I was driving in slush anyway (at worst) and a good set of all-seasons that were good in water (rain) were good enough.
In Maine, where I am now, it's a different story. Maine uses a lot less salt, preferring sand instead, so you're often driving on packed snow, loose snow, and/or ice. We have Dunlop Graspics on the Subaru Forester and Michelin Ice-X's on the Honda Fit. Makes a huge difference to both. The Honda does amazingly well for such a light car, and driving the Subaru in snow is as if you're on rails.
In fact, a few weeks ago I had to drive from Bethel to Portland (roughly 70 miles on country roads) at night, after a day of freezing rain (and it was still coming down). There was probably 1/4 to 1/2 inch of ice on the road. While it was challenging, the combination of the tires, the fact that it's a Subaru (AWD, wider track, low center of gravity) and, most importantly, the experience of having grown up driving on ice and snow, meant I made it without too much trouble, but it's definitely not something I'd recommend to anyone without the experience or proper gear (like, I'm guessing, most of the poor folks caught in the storm down south).
Anyway, stay safe folks, and stay off the roads!
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