Studded tires (Anchorage, Kodiak, Sterling: 2009, insurance, mattress)

[jgeorge]

Hi

I just moved to Anchorage a little over a month ago. I am still trying to find my way around. Now that I have managed to purchase a bed and mattress set, I am in search of finding a place to buy studded snow tires since snow may be around the corner.

1. What does the law say about having 2 or 4 tires. Where I lived, it was illegal to have only 2 studded tires on. You had to buy 4.

2. Where is there a good, inexpensive and honest place to buy snow tires in Anchorage.

thanks
Jennifer

[bongo]

Wouldn't it be counter-intuitive to only have 2 studded snows so as to slide on the other 2 unstudded tires?



STUDDED TIRE INFORMATION: It is unlawful to operate a motor vehicle with studded tires on a paved highway or road from May 1st through September 15th, inclusive, north of 60 North Latitude (all communities north of Ninilchik) and from April 15th through September 30th, inclusive, south of 60 North Latitude (Anchor Point, Homer, Kodiak and cities and towns in Southeast Alaska), except that at any latitude on a paved portion of the Sterling Highway a person may not operate a motor vehicle with studded tires from May 1st through September 15th, inclusive.

[akck]

I know a lot of places won't sell you only 2 studded tires if it's a front wheel drive car. They require you buy 4. Said it was a safety issue.

[roadfamily6now]

hm.........

Not sure, but I know that we did not use studded tires last year. What kind of car are you outfitting?

[AlaskaKash]

Originally Posted by jgeorge

Hi
1. What does the law say about having 2 or 4 tires. Where I lived, it was illegal to have only 2 studded tires on. You had to buy 4.

2. Where is there a good, inexpensive and honest place to buy snow tires in Anchorage.

thanks
Jennifer

Jennifer,

I don;t know about the law regarding having 2 or 4 studded tires. I am sure if you can get them on your car, the cops aren;t going to pull you over for it. If you only want 2 studded tires you may want to think about buying 2 tires, have them mounted on wheels at the shop then go home and bolt them on. Its just like changing a flat tire times 2 and then you will not have to wait in line every year to put your tires on and off.
Call a tire shop if you want to know the law. The two best tire shops are locally owned and here they are.

Alaska Tire Service - 344-6288
Alaska Tire & Rim - 563-4398

Alaska Tire Service is a larger shop (actually they have 2 now), locally owned and are more professional.

Alaska Tire & Rim also sells new and used tires and is locally owned. On the weekend you may see their kids running around. They've always treated me right.

Johnson's Tire Service is no longer locally owned and will try to upsell you all day. I would leave them alone. If you go here, stay away from their Nokian tires. They claim they are the best.... they're not. My bro had one blow to pieces on the highway and mine are wearing incredibly fast.

[stiffnecked]

There is not a state law regarding 2 or 4 studded tires. I ran studs on just the front of my old 2 wheel drive Subaru for years. You just really have to watch your speed going around corners. I had the rear end break loose on a couple of occasions.

[linz98144]

When I lived in Seattle a lot of my neighbors would only get 2 studded tires.

I recently got 4 from Alaska Tire Service. The great thing about them is they take appointments and are open until 6PM. Trying to call them was hard(always got a busy signal) so, I stopped by on Tuesday at 5 to make the appointment. Brought the car in Wednesday at 4:30, was back out the door by 4:50. Easy

[dmills]

If memory serves me correctly, Johnson's Tire Service goes to round the clock service at the first snow, until the rush (and there will be a rush) is over.

[richelles]

I have been checking out buying studded tires versus snow or all weather tires for use in and around Anchorage. So far the prices are all about the same except for the major dealers who are simply overboard on their prices. As for advice it was all "my tires are better than yours" which I didn't find very helpful. The major problem I found was, with a late model (2009) pickup truck, the tire inflation monitoring system is probably the worst idea ever put over on the American motorist. If you want to buy a set of mounted tires and change them yourself, like the flat tire situation mentioned, that is either extremely costly or just impractical because of this insane law. Dealers are prohibited from meddling with the system and/or can't understand how to get around it. Also I found the spare tire doesn't have the system installed and you can't run on the spare without the warnings being a constant nuisance. Actually from the time I got the truck the warning has come off and on randomly and at no point could I ever determine which tire sensor was giving the warning. In every case after a short period of time the warning stopped with no action taken on my part other than checking the tire pressure and finding it to be normal. The new car dealer said that was a frequent complaint which says to me this is just another effort to do good which isn’t worth the effort. I believe the system was activated more by changes in altitude in the mountains in North Carolina than by tire pressure changes. I checked my tire pressure gauge against one which the dealer said was calibrated and over a range of twenty pounds and my gauge was accurate. I finally made a decision to get two studded tires mounted on the rear and drive like I always have in the snow in past years. Just pay my collision insurance and take my chances. I’ve driven in snow in Alaska over the past twenty years with only a few small problems.

[AKdood]

I suggest you seriously consider studless winter tires such as Bridgstone Blizzaks. Just as good as studded tires in all situations and better in many. And they don't tear up the roads. When I am king of Alaska one of my first edicts will be to ban studded tires.