Studded Tire & Chain Rules

Alabama never sets a studded-tire season. Ala. Code § 32-5-210(b) instead bans every block, stud, flange, cleat or spike made of any material other than rubber that projects beyond the…

Alaska is one of the few states whose studded tire season depends on where in the state you are driving. AS 28.35.155(a) makes it unlawful to run studded tires or tires with chains…

Arizona lets you run metal studded tires anywhere in the state from October 1 to May 1, and bans them for the other five months. A.R.S. § 28-958(B)(3) also caps the hardware itself…

Arkansas lets you run metal studded tires on public highways for five months a year, from November 15 through April 15, and only if the studs protrude no more than one-sixteenth of an…

California permits metal studded tires only between November 1 and April 30, and only where the studs are tungsten carbide or another suitable material and the metal touching the road…

Colorado puts no calendar on studded tires. C.R.S. § 42-4-228 (3) lets single-tired passenger vehicles, and other single-tired vehicles rated up to and including three-fourths of a…

Connecticut allows studded tires and tire chains only between November 15 and April 30, inclusive. The permission is written as an exception to Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 14-98, which…

Delaware permits studded tires on every motor vehicle using its highways from October 15 to April 15 and prohibits them the rest of the year. The window sits in the statute itself at…

Studded snow tires are legal in the District of Columbia, but only between October 15 and April 15 of each year, and only if the studs are small enough to satisfy two dimensional…

Florida does not ban studded tires and does not restrict them to a winter season. The one wheel-surface provision in the traffic code, Fla. Stat. section 316.299, prohibits driving on…

Georgia does not run a winter tire calendar. The state's traction requirement lives in O.C.G.A. § 32-6-5 and it switches on only when the Department of Transportation closes or limits…

Hawaii does not run a studded-tire season. HRS section 291-33 bans operating any vehicle on a public road whose wheels carry flanges, ribs, clamps, cleats, lugs, chains, spikes or…

Idaho writes its studded-tire rule as a closed season rather than an open one. Idaho Code section 49-948(3) prohibits motor vehicles, trailers and semitrailers with tires having…

Illinois gets lake-effect snow and still bans studded tires outright. Section 12-401 of the Illinois Vehicle Code forbids operating a vehicle on an improved highway if any road wheel…

Indiana lets any vehicle run metal tire studs from October 1 to the following May 1 and bans them for the rest of the year. Ind. Code § 9-19-18-3(d) caps the projection at three…

Iowa Code section 321.442 starts from a flat ban: no tire moved on a highway may carry a block, stud, flange, cleat or spike of any material other than rubber projecting beyond the…

Kansas allows studded tires, but the dates are not in the statute. K.S.A. 8-1742(c) permits studs only if the secretary of transportation approves them by regulation, and the two…

Kentucky has no studded tire statute at all. The four tire provisions in KRS Chapter 189, the chapter titled Traffic Regulations and Vehicle Equipment, regulate wheel chains, iron and…

Louisiana is not a seasonal-window state. It has no statute that authorizes metal tire studs during any part of the year, and no Louisiana Revised Statute uses the word "studded" at…

Maine lets you run metal studs for seven months of the year with no permit at all. 29-A M.R.S. § 1919(1) makes it an offense to operate a vehicle with tires having metal studs, wires…

Maryland bans studded tires on its highways as a baseline rule, then carves out five counties. Under Transportation Article § 22-405.2(c), owners of vehicles registered in Allegany…

Massachusetts writes its studded tire rule as a ban on the warm half of the year rather than as a permission for winter. G.L. c. 90, § 16 makes it unlawful to operate a motor vehicle…

Michigan does not run a studded tire season the way its neighbours do. MCL 257.710(b) forbids operating on a highway any tire carrying a block, stud, flange, cleat, spike or other…

Minnesota does not have a studded-tire season. Minn. Stat. § 169.72, subd. 1(c) bars any tire on a highway from carrying a block, stud, flange, cleat or spike of any material other…

Mississippi never opens a studded-tire season, because it never created one. Miss. Code Ann. § 63-7-67 forbids any tire moved on a highway from carrying on its periphery a block, stud…

Missouri allows metal and carbide studded tires for winter driving only. Mo. Rev. Stat. Section 307.171.1 makes it unlawful to operate any motor vehicle on any road or highway of this…

Montana lets you run studded snow tires on any highway between October 1 and May 31 of each year. Mont. Code Ann. § 61-9-406(3) bans studs, cleats and spikes on a tire the rest of the…

Nebraska permits metal or metal-type tire studs only between November 1 and April 1. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 60-6,250(2) starts from a flat ban on any stud, cleat, spike or other non-rubber…

Nevada allows metal studded tires only between October 1 and April 30, and only where the studs are tungsten carbide or similar material and the metal touching the pavement never…

New Hampshire is one of the northern states that never wrote a studded tire season into law. The words "studded," "studs" and "snow tires" return no hits at all in a full text search…

Studded tires are legal in New Jersey, but only from November 15 to April 1 of a winter season. There is no permit, no sticker and nothing to apply for, and the window does not appear…

New York allows studded snow tires, but only within a fixed season and only within precise dimensional limits. Vehicle and Traffic Law § 375(35-a) makes it unlawful to drive a motor…

North Carolina lets you run studded tires on any day of the year. G.S. 20-122(b) permits studs on regular and snow tires "for increased safety" so long as they project no more than one…

North Dakota does allow studded tires, but only on pneumatic tires whose metal studs project no more than one-sixteenth of an inch beyond the tread, and only from October fifteenth to…

Ohio permits studded tires on a fixed calendar window, not on weather conditions: R.C. 5589.081(B)(1) allows them only during the period running from the first day of November each…

Oklahoma allows metal-studded tires only between November 1 and April 1, and only on vehicles with a rated capacity of two tons or less. The studs may cover no more than three percent…

Oregon does not licence studded tires, it bans metal studs outright and then suspends the ban for one winter window. ORS 815.160 makes it an offence to drive on any tire with a metal…

Studded snow tires are legal in Pennsylvania only between November 1 and April 15 of the following year, and the studs may project no more than two thirty-seconds of an inch beyond the…

Studded snow tires are legal in Rhode Island only between the fifteenth day of November and the first day of April, and only if the studs are flat-headed and project one-sixteenth of…

South Carolina has no studded tire season. S.C. Code Section 56-5-5040 makes it permissible to use regular and snow tires with studs on any vehicle for increased safety at any time of…

South Dakota writes its studded tire rule as a closed season rather than an open one. SDCL 32-19-3 makes it a Class 2 misdemeanor to drive on a state highway with metal studs embedded…

Tennessee allows studded tires, but only during a fixed statewide season that runs from October 1 through April 15 each year. Outside that window Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-9-106(a) bans any…

Texas is one of the states that never wrote a studded tire calendar. Transportation Code Section 547.612(c) is the whole of the law: a tire on a moving vehicle may not carry a block…

Utah Code 41-6a-1636(3) makes any stud, cleat, spike or other non-rubber protuberance on a tire unlawful, and then Subsection (5)(a) carves out the one thing most Utah drivers want…

Vermont is one of the few snow states with no calendar window for studded tires at all. The only provision that reaches them, 23 V.S.A. § 1092, bans wheel attachments that cut into the…

Virginia permits studded snow tires only between October 15 and April 15, and only on a vehicle whose gross weight does not exceed 10,000 pounds. The studs must project no more than…

Washington allows metal studded tires only in the winter half of the year. RCW 46.37.420(2) makes it unlawful to use metal studs imbedded within the tire between April 1st and November…

West Virginia lets drivers run studded tires from November 1 of each year until April 15 of the following year. W. Va. Code § 17C-15-37(c) otherwise forbids any block, stud, flange…

Wisconsin gives ordinary drivers no studded-tire season at all. Wis. Stat. s. 347.45 (2) bans any block, stud, flange, cleat, spike or other non-rubber protuberance that projects…

Wyoming sets no calendar window for studded tires. W.S. 31-5-956(c) bans protuberances on a tire's periphery and then lists three exceptions, one of which is pneumatic tires with studs…