Okay, so I need snow tires. Should I get studded or unstudded?
The answer to that is complicated, but your state or province may have already forced the choice by passing a law against studded snow tires. Studded snow tires are a trade off. If you are on hard packed (frozen) mud, or ice, they will grab better than anything except screws and (possibly) chains. On the dry, they will actually have less traction than the same snow tire without studs. This is because on the dry pavement, you will actually be running partly on the studs and you will not have as much rubber in contact with the road. Other draw backs to studs include that they are much noisier, and some people claim they chew up roads.
