[RM7]

As an alaskan that drives on ice a large % of the year, this seems very VERY location-specific, as to where it would be a benefit.

In very cold temps, like -20 and colder, traction on winter-tires goes up significantly. A bit hard to explain, but the warmer-sloppy conditions can be the worst.

Ice on the other hand can exist below 0C anywhere and as long as there's shade here in the winter, which is many months due to the sun and then later due to time of the day, there's ice, regardless of the temp. Here, you can't remove it from the road unless you spray crazy amounts of fluid and even then you still have strips and patches. That's only for the highway, most roads just become impacted ice and that's what you are driving on a large % of the winter.

The problem is in warmer weather on non-ice surfaces, you wear down winter tire compounds (high silica) rather fast. That's the reason you should change your tires out. Yeah, the studs wear too, but it's that siped high-silica tread that has a lot to do with overall winter traction, vs. the studs that help with ice. So if you are retracting studs for warmer weather...you're just still going to wear out the winter compound. I see no benefit here, unless I'm not getting something. If it's about the roads...changing the tires over for summer is the answer.