Thanks for the replies, I was planning on going with studded tires for the nasty days. I will just go with my first instinct and get a set of salmon pads for the v brakes and ride these rims till they die. I am thinking I am going to try to find a cheap set of spare rims to keep some non-studded tires on for the days without ice or snow. This is all going onto a free dumpster find giant mountain bike that came along just in time for me to start working on my winter commuter.