Is there any way to increase the clearance between your fenders and tires? Mine are a little tight and the snow gets stuck pretty easily.

I have the same issue with the studded tires. If there's a way you can adjust the fender itself, even a little bit - 1 cm or so, you should have just enough clearance for it to work. BTW, I find much more snow/ice build-up around the brakes (both front & rear) than around the fenders. During a heavy snow, I'll have to stop & clear it out two or three times.

I moved my rear fender (a clip on) to the top of the chainstay bridge and just zip-tied it there. With full-length fenders, it would be a lot more hassle.

I actually took a file to my rear fender, where it was bumping against the rack, to get a bit more clearance.

Not entirely the fault of the fender--it's meant for 35 mm tires, and my winter tires are 40.

Your fender stays can't be adjusted? What brand of fender is this?

Pretty sure you can just loosen the nylon locking nuts on the stays, those would be some pretty silly full fenders if they weren't adjustable...

I've read that the key is making sure your fender is closer to the tire at the point where the snow comes in than it is elsewhere. A wide entry that leads up to a narrow spot ends up with snow packed up, but a narrow entry and a wider spot doesn't. Or so I've read...

somewhat true.

It doesn't help if there's only 1cm of clearance at the tip and 2cm of clearance in the middle. You need something like 1cm at the tip and 4cm of clearance in the middle if you don't want snow to build up enough to grind you to a crawl.

Best method, IMO, take a file to your fender and make a trench where the seatstay bridge is. The faster method is a blow torch, but that releases a lot of toxins, so I don't recommend it.

Yeah the issue wasnt that it didnt have adjustible clips as some people thought, it was that the seatstay got in the way. Thats a good idea..