Nathansharkey80
Active member
I respectfully disagree, studs only work on warm ice. At -20 pure rubber winter tires are better. Ice is as hard as steel at -20 and steel on steel is slipperier than rubber on steel.... or ice....
With all due respect. Ice is hydrogen-bonded. This means that it doesn't form covalent bonds and each molecule of water always retains its identity. ... So, no, ice does not significantly increase in hardness as it gets colder.
That being said, rubber does get much more dense/hard and less pliable when it becomes cold and the technology of the modern winter tire is based on rubber compounds and patterns which only have effectiveness until the reach a certain temperature. In other words, the warmer they are, the more effective they are.
I can tell you this has been my experience as an oilfield guy traveling the Alaska highways for years, through the Rockies in the winters pulling a trailer full of sleds and also winter back country logging in the kootenays.
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