Originally Posted by
Alec84
For everyone saying that you won't need winter tyres, please do not say that. I live in Finland and we must by law use winter tyres for at least four months of the year. The difference between winter tyres and normal tyres is huge! As soon as the road gets even a little icy driving with normal tyres becomes tough, even for someone who is used to winter conditions.
Having lived in Alaska for 17 years, I'll dispute what you're saying. On one of the cars I kept for several years, I never bothered to buy studded winter tires and did just fine with the regular all-season radials. I also drove hundreds of rental cars without studded tires and survived quite nicely.
Do studded winter tires help? Certainly, especially during the freeze/thaw/freeze cycle when roads can get covered in glare ice. But if you have a little common sense--drive slower, stop way earlier, leave plenty of room between you and the car in front of you, and avoid stopping on uphill grades of more than a few degrees--you'll do just fine without studs or special winter tires, just like about a third of Alaskans do.
