Winter Tire Questions/suggestion

[Korruptor]

I've narrowed down my choices to:

Studdable -
- General Altimax Arctic
- Hankook Winter iPike W409
- Gislaved Nordfrost 5

Studless -
- Michelin X-Ice Xi2
- Dunlop Graspic DS3
- Continental Extreme Winter Contact
- Bridgestone Blizzak WS70 (becomes less effective at 55% wear)

I will probably NOT stud the tires even if I get studdable, because I may move next spring to a place where its not legal.

After much research, I can't find a couple answers to some questions:
- Do the studdable tires work well on ice if they DO NOT have studs?
- Do all the studdless tires lose their ice effectiveness at around 50% wear like the Blizzaks?

I live on a dirt road, ~30 degree incline at the entrance, and the road the the highway is roughly 8km long and very twisty. It's pretty well plowed and sanded, but still gets slick in corners quite often.

Would anyone rule out any of these choices? If so, why would you rule them out?
I'm not interested in other winter tires, other than those listed above.

[Korruptor]

Well, I've decided on the General Altimax Arctic tire. I will have them mounted on my existing steel rims, that the OEM tires are on, and in the spring, if my cash flow allows, I will buy new alloy wheels for the All Season tires.

Does anyone have anything to say about the General Altimax Arctic??

[daan]

I have a set of the Altimax-es on my V. Very, very excellent traction the first 2 winters I had them on. (I took them off as soon as it warmed up). THis last year, the tires got SUPER noisy, but still seemed to stick just fine. These tires are cheap enough (compared to other snow tires like the NOkians I ran in years past) that I will just replace them even though there's enough tread left for a couple more winters. You really can't go wrong with the Altimaxes.

[Korruptor]

That's good to hear!

I was concerned about running them studless, being studdable tires I thought maybe the ice grip wasn't very good without studs.

Do you use yours studded? How is the ice grip?