Part of the point of Gipper's post above is that some tires are made of rubber specially formulated to give extra grip. It's not just the tread pattern (although that helps)--it's the rubber itself.
If the choice is cheap winter tires vs. cheap winter tires with studs, I'll take the studs every time--they're great on ice, good on packed snow, and only somewhat less effective on dry pavement. But if I was looking for a single set of tires to cover me from shoulder season through deep winter, it'd have to be Blizzaks or Hakkepeliittas. They're pretty good on ice, pretty good on snow, perfectly fine on dry pavement, and legal year-round--but they're expensive and wear out fast.
At home I trade off between 4 all-weather tires and 4 winter studded tires. When I've got the studded tires mounted, I often find that when things are icy I'm the only 2-wheel drive car on the roads, and I'm constantly passing 4-wheelers in ditches.
YMMV, but I hope that's helpful.
Mark
Last edited by markharf; 9 Sep 2016 at 04:54.
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