I'm a little disappointed in my Nokian 106's. I got them about this time last year, and the studs are fairly worn down. Winter commutes here are a mix of snow/ice and of cleared roads, so the tires have done hundreds of miles on dry pavement. My worn-down 106's are still better than plain knobbies in the ice and snow, but they were not as durable as I'd hoped.

They may be the best out there, but they have not met my expectations.

How does this compare with the experience of others?

Do you know the mileage? I don't ride on the pavement much and I will probably get five seasons out of mine. I'm very careful to skip the pavement.
However You can buy studs and replace them. I have done it. I got mine from All Weather Sports.. on line. If you get to the point where you are going to replace them I'll give you some good hints.
Hundreds of miles on dry pavement sounds like it may be typical wear.
I should mention that if I look closely at my studs I can see wear on them, but they still grip the ice well.
Did your traction on ice change?

No, I did not track the milleage of the tires. I don't know whether it was 200 or 900 mile on pavement, but it's probably somewhere in between.

Yes, it does change the traction. But, asthey're still better than the slightly-knobby cyclocross tires I used for the first half of last winter.

How much do the new studs cost? How much of a pain is it to replace them? And how well do the replacements stay in? All Weather Sports has closed. I'll look around for another source.

Finally, I'm not saying the tires were a rip-off. All mechanical things have limits. I had just hoped they would stay better longer. If I can't replace the studs, I might lookinto Innova tires for next season. They're cheaper and are designed to take replacement studs.

I ride on 700/35 Innovas, and I have about 300 miles on pavement and I don't know how much on ice and snow.
The rubber shows no wear.
I've thrown a few studs, but I replace them easily with a little tool that Innova sells with a fistful of studs for $10.
The remaining studs have worn down quite quickly, but I can still hear them on the pavement, and they feel like they do the job.

Innovas have served me well except in rutted ice.
I had thought of getting Nokians next year.
Perhaps I have not done so badly with the Innovas.

OK, I was wondering, I don't have a computer on this bike. It's only used for snow and ice. I think now that I should have put one on. You probably have typical wear anyway. Next time, new studs or studded tire,the mileage will be recorded.

I bought my Nokian studs before I bought my Nokian tires to fix up a steel studded cheap tire. That was five years ago. I'm sorry I don't remember how much they were.

I have a pair of needle nose pliers with concave jaws that look like this from the end () so they grab the studs well. I think they are old dentist pliers. They can be made easily with a grinder.

To re-stud the tire.......

Have the tire on the wheel with the highest air pressure it takes in it. On the bike in a stand is the best. Put a little something carefully into the stud hole next to the stud. A wire, a thin nail, the pliers, etc. Spray in some windex. let it soak in for a few seconds. Carefully gently push the pliers down around the stud and grab it.Move it around a little to get the windex to spread around, tip it to the side not quite 45 degrees and unscrew it like a screw. It will come out. The back of the stud looks like the head of a nail. It just screws itself into the rubber and spins out. Just reverse this to get them in. Because the studs are like a nail head the replacements will stay in just like a new stud will.

If you look closely at the studs in your tire you may see the body of the stud is sinking in to the tire a little bit. Mine are. I think the rubber is moving back behind them. When I measure the studs they are only .003 shorter than a new stud, even though I can see thay have lost the sharp cylinder edge. I may shim my new studs with something thin, maybe tape, to make them a little longer when I replace them. I have not done this yet it may not be needed, the new studs may not go in as far. I don't know yet.

I have the situation where I don't have to do the whole tire in one shot. It takes a while. I also only have to do half of the studs on each of my tires. Each of my tires has 296 studs. Good thing. I have done a few, as I said I took some out to measure them and put 224 Nokian studs into two IRC tires. You probably won't want to do a whole tire in one sitting. It takes a while. If it's one minute to remove and replace a stud 106 studs is an hour and 46 minutes. If you don't take a break !!!

I know what you mean, you really have no way to estimate how long these things are going to go when you buy them, I wish they lasted longer too.

The Innovas or any other tire that does not specifically say "Tungsten Carbide" studs, will wear out the studs "about" 4 to 5 times faster than the Nokians from my own experience and other riders comments. I don't know about the tool or how much work it is to replace Innova studs, but you would have had to do it 4 or 5 times by now. My lesson was that Nokians were about twice as much as steel studded tires, but last at least 4 times longer (still going). I learned the hard way.
It might be worth a look to see how that stud replacing tool works though! Next year or this summer I will probably look for Nokian studs. We should keep in touch in case one of us finds a good source first.

I don't ride this bike in the summer so I can leave it in a work stand and do it a little at a time. If you need your bike for transportation, this might be a huge pain! Although you don't have to do the whole tire before the next ride either ! Just replace as many as you can in a sitting. Maybe the way to go is to do 10 or 20 a night, or something like that?

I just edited my post ...this is the Innova stud replacement tool.

http://www.universalcycles.com/shopp...2&category=405

Apparently studs come out of the tires and you just have to put them back in. I have never lost a stud. This probably does not fit the Nokian studs, they are different, but you can see a similar stud on this page. I will make something like this for the Nokian studs when it comes time for me to put mine in.

Thanks for the long post. Do you have any suggestions for sources for Nokian replacement studs? I'll have to look around hardware stores for something equivilant to concave needlenose pliers.

Is it possible that you have defective tires? I got mine last season also, and I don't see any wear after about 700 miles, mostly on bare pavement.

Paul

Concrete vs. Asphalt would make big difference in wear. Columbus has a lot of concrete streets, DC uses asphalt perhaps that is the difference?

I really did not look yet, I think my tires are going to be fine for the rest of this year. If I do find some I'll find you, and let you know, for sure.

That would certainly make a big difference. When the Nokians are new you can see them dig into asphalt and leave marks sometimes.There's a lot of varialbles too. Rider weight, power, type of riding, air pressure in tires, riding over something like a metal plate etc.etc. Exact model of tire. It goes on.