...johngenx: thanks! always welcome to hear from a fellow Edmontonian. When will you be changing to winters and how do find the studs for Edmonton weather? Did you find any noticable compromises when driving in non-ice conditions?
I will either switch the morning of the first big snow (I have them on steels in the garage) or Nov 1, whichever comes first.
I drove for years on studded tires without any problems. I often drive to Jasper and then down the Parkway (terrible conditions most of the time on 93) and the studded tires were superb. However, this year I have opted to install the new Bridgestone Revo One on the Mercedes and the WS-50 on the Forester. We're going to try studless and see how it goes. I think I'll get some chains for the trunk, just in case. Coming back from a few nights in the backcountry, we've come to the car to find a METER or more of new snow and nearly impassable roads.
In the city, no problems on the studs. They wear faster on dry roads, and I suppose they're noisy. On the Mercedes, I never noticed the noise as the car has a great deal of sound insulation. You have to take a bit of care on wet pavement, but overall I wouldn't call them un-safe by any stretch.
H-rated snow tires are just too compromised for me in the snow/ice department. I had one white-knuckle winter on the Pilot Alpins. They're not bad in the city (though they're not a great ice tire compared to Blizzaks or studded tires) but I had several "holy cow we're not making it home" drives on the Icefields Parkway. I'd hop in my wife's car (she had an E-Class the winter I had the Pilot Alpins) and couldn't believe the advantage her Blizzaks gave her over my Pilot Alpin equipped C-Class. Her car had the ESP and I rarely saw the low-traction warning light flash, even on glare ice. She was hooked and hasn't run anything but Blizzaks since...
People
about the Blizzaks and the fact that the ice-grip compound goes away after 55% is worn, but I pitch my snow tires out when they get down to 5-6/32 anyway.