When it comes to driving on ice and hardpack snow, nothing comes close to the control of studded tires. Hundreds of little spikes literally bite into the frozen surface like steel teeth, ensuring absolutely huge traction. Unfortunately, those same studs that are a game-changer on ice can make life miserable on dry pavement. Not only do they reduce ride comfort, but they can wail like a banshee and are downright rough on asphalt and concrete surfaces. So rough that some jurisdictions ban their use.
In a perfect world, the ideal solution to this dilemma would be tires with studs that can deploy or retract on command. Think James Bond’s Aston Martin V8 in The Living Daylights or the Mach 5 in Speed Racer. Maybe more the former than the latter, but still. While push-button studs haven’t become reality yet, the winter tire engineers at Nokian have cooked up the next best thing: Studs that automatically deploy and retract.
Needless to say, this has been in the works for ages. Some 80 years after inventing the winter tire in 1934, Nokian unveiled a concept tire with retractable studs that seemed like pure science fiction. Well, it took about twelve years of research and development, but the production equivalent is finally here, known as the Nokian Hakkapeliitta 01.
The way the Hakkapeliitta 01 works sounds simple, but it’s actually genius. As tires roll down the road, the amount of friction generated on a given surface heats it up. For an extreme example, think about racing drivers weaving to heat up their tires before a restart. Because clear asphalt offers substantially more friction than ice, a tire rolling along asphalt should warm up quicker than a tire on ice. This principle is key because the studs in the Hakkapeliitta 01 deploy not based on ambient temperature, but based on tire temperature.
If the tire is cold, the two different styles of studs—one type placed near the center rib of the tire for straight-line traction and one type placed near the shoulders for cornering traction—extend from the tread to bite through frozen surfaces. If the tire warms up, those studs hide back up inside the tread again. Even if it sounds like the studs might deploy overnight in cold conditions, they should quickly settle back into the tread on dry pavement, tucked away in reserve in case they’re needed.
All this happens passively, no electronics required. Nokian’s pretty coy about the precise technical details, but the essential component appears to be the proprietary material the studs mount to. Since the Hakkapeliitta 01 doesn’t require any sort of electronic mechanism to deploy or retract its studs, you can sort of just throw them on anything. Plus, if you quickly hit a patch of ice while running on mostly bare asphalt, loads of little sipes, a winter rubber compound, and the confidence of that three-peak mountain snowflake rating means they should offer just as much confidence as a studless winter tire in that particular scenario. Of course, I haven’t personally tested them yet, but I have spent my own money on Nokian tires in the past and found them well worth it—and I’m extraordinarily picky about rubber.
What was once the tire tech of fantasy is now pretty much real, and it’s coming to North America this autumn. Unfortunately, studded tires remain profoundly illegal in my neck of the woods, so I won’t be able to throw a set on my 335i and report back, but you can bet I’m watching the Hakkapeliitta 01 closely.
Top graphic images: MGM/UA; Nokian Tyres
what if they had a separate air tube close to the surface of the tire that you can pump that would push out the studs and deflate to retract the studs
If it works, talk about genius!
I’m gonna guess shape memory alloy? But maybe I’m still brainwashed by my one engineering professor who was researching shape memory alloy and tried to work it into everything.
I have the iconic James Bond theme looping in my head and have a sudden urge to watch The Living Daylights now.
The Living Daylights is one of my favorite underappreciated Bond flicks. A strong debut for Dalton, a great story, and back then, it was a wonderful antidote for how creaky the Moore era had become.
I really wish we had been able to see more of Timothy Dalton in the role, his two outings are some of my favorites in the series and have a much more modern feel to them than both the late Moore era and the late Brosnan era (early Brosnan, GoldenEye, excepted, his later ones got pretty campy and excessive)
Even more interesting, on the Blu-ray bonus features, Dalton claims he was offered the role before it went to George Lazenby and Dalton turned it down because he felt he was to young for the part.
Goldeneye is hands down the best Brosnan outing and I would love to see a 4k release. As per most of his movies, Sean Bean dies.
Its a tire application of a pop-up turkey sensor!
if the studs pop out, you’re cooked!