Retractable Stud Tires: Sheer Brilliance Beth Snyder February 25, 2014 Is it just me or is this the winter that will not die? Where I live, we currently have a little over three feet of snow on the ground (even after a few days of warmup which melted a few inches), and we’ve been absolutely inundated with snow and ice and freezing rain and sleet and more snow and more freezing rain and…you get the idea. What all that adds up to is not just a whole lot of misery in general, but car accidents. Lots and lots of car accidents. Some fatal, most just with injuries. Even though we’re good at snow here, this winter has been way too much. When I was a kid, we had snow tires. Now we have all-season tires, and they’re sometimes just not good enough. Nokian Tyre is developing an idea that has probably been entirely too long coming if you think about it. You’re driving, and you notice your traction is getting worse. Instead of panicking, you simply reach out and press a button on your dashboard, and voila! Steel spikes pop out of your tires, giving you an instant advantage over the guy ahead of you sliding sideways into the median. When the snow clears (or you reach your destination), simply press the button again and the studs retract, leaving your tires with normal rubber tread. There’s no need to change them for the summer, either. If you don’t extend the spikes, they act just like any other tires. I love these more than I can say. Check out the video to see them in action. I can’t wait until these are a reality. They’re worth whatever they want to charge for them. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNXL2EEscuE] Source: BGR Share This With The World!
