Safety info about studded tires

[Peter White]

I just added this to my studded tire page.

https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/studdedtires.php

Studded Tire Failure Mode? 

Studded tires wear out differently than other tires. The studs have flat heads on them, much like roofing nails. The heads are embedded inside the tire tread so you can't see them. But they move a bit with every rotation of the wheel, wiggling back and forth. This movement will eventually damage the fabric tire casing. You can see the damage only when you remove the tire from the rim and look at the tire casing from the inside. This damage takes quite a while to happen. I've not seen a tire damaged by the studs that was used less than 6 years or so. What you'll see when the tire is damaged is crescent shaped cuts in the casing all around the tire. The cuts are being made by the heads of the studs.

If you use one set of wheels year round, and just change from summer tires to studded tires in the late fall, you'll have the opportunity to see the tire casing twice a year. But some people have two sets of wheels; one for summer and the other for winter, so they can go many years without ever seeing the inside surface of the studded tire's casing. This is dangerous, as a casing failure could lead to a blow out. So I recommend that if you leave your tires mounted on rims all year round, every three years or so you remove them and carefully inspect the inside casing of the tires. If you just see some crescent shaped light grey marks in the black casing, don't worry, but start checking them every single year for cuts in the casing. Grey marks are fine, cuts are bad. Once you see cuts in the casing, stop using the tire. It's time for a new one.

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Peter White

[Mr. Quindazzi]

Thanks for looking out Peter

Regards,

Bob Quindazzi

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[Jon Dukeman]

Thanks Peter...good to know!
Jon

[Steve Weeks]

I learned the the hard way a number of years ago. I had been sent a pair of Schwalbe Marathon Winter tires (by Josh Hon) to try on my folding commuter bike. IIRC they were samples from a bike show in Amsterdam around the time Schwalbe began to sell the "Winter" in 406 (20") size. After about the second winter of use (in Chicago), I had a flat on the rear wheel. When I fixed it, I discovered what Peter has described.

It seemed to me that the little steel "hats" that hold the carbide inserts were rusting in the salty environment, and the rust particles served as an abrasive paste which accelerated the wear through the tire's carcass.

Front tires would last 3 or 4 seasons, and the rears 2 or 3. The marks on the inside of the tires were predictors of failure, and I began replacing the tires more frequently. I had a feeling that the smaller tires were wearing faster, probably because of the tires' greater rotational speed.

Since I *really* don't like having flats on the commute, especially in winter, and I didn't like replacing tires so much, I tried to prolong their life. I fitted "Mister Tuffy" tire liners to the inside of the tires once the wear-through marks appeared. I used eight one-inch strips of double-sided foam tape rated for "outdoor" use spaced around the tire. I haven't had a flat since, and I have used the tires until the heads of the studs are visible poking through. This has given me another season or two on each tire. The tire liners are amazingly tough.

I bought a set of Nokian Extreme 294 tires a few years ago (from Peter White) for my mountain bike. I've seen very little evidence (none, actually) of the deterioration seen on the Schwalbe tires. Of course, I'm not racking up nearly as many miles on the mountain bike as on the commuter, and there's less salt on the trails. I feel that the Nokians are better quality tires, but they don't make them in 406.

[machiya]

Thank you, I needed to know this.

I'm having a short-person's (47cm) Atlantis built, and that means 26" wheels. I'm keeping the 26" generator-hub wheel from my current clunker of a winter bike (selling it with only 1 wheel?). I'm hoping to leave a studded snow on it and only have to chew up my hands changing a single flesh-ripping rear tire.

Now I know I still have to pay attention to it. Not usually that much snow and ice in Portland, Oregon, and only 1 morning with some frozen fog rime on the road so far this season. Haven't put them on yet.

[Steve Weeks]

On Tuesday, December 17, 2019 at 9:33:14 PM UTC-6, Steve Weeks wrote:

...After about the second winter of use (in Chicago), I had a flat on the rear wheel. When I fixed it, I discovered what Peter has described.

It seemed to me that the little steel "hats" that hold the carbide inserts were rusting in the salty environment, and the rust particles served as an abrasive paste which accelerated the wear through the tire's carcass.

Here are a couple images of what the tires look like when the studs wear through. The one with less severe wear served another season with a tire liner and had no flats. The one with ore severe wear was discarded as the wear was too advanced to be reliable; however, no flats resulted from its use to that point.

These were Schwalbe Marathon Winter 406 (20") tires.

[Todd Spivak]

What did you use the foam tape for in your "resilience" work?  Is this like foam mounting tape?

Todd

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[Steve Weeks]

I've been omitting the double-sided tape the last couple years. The tire liners stay in place better than I was giving them credit for.

But...in case you want to try this, I was using double-sided tape rated for "outdoor" use. I used 8 one-inch pieces spread around the inside of the tire.