For those who live in an area where its mandatory or have the "specific tool for the job" belief, how much difference does it really make?
Btw, I agree w the rt tool for the job theory.
But...
You can easily search the web or youtube to answer that question for yourself; alternatively, you could wait for an icy day and ride with someone who has dedicated winter tires on and then drive something without them directly after on the same circuit.
But my answer to your question is a simple and resounding, "Yes, they make all of the difference in the world". Possibly a life saving difference. Possibly the difference between arriving at your destination and not. The difference between a fairly calm drive and a drive with your sphincter continuously going through its full range of motions.
But here are just a couple of video hits I got when I did a google search on the topic; there are many more:
Winter Snow Tires vs All-Season Tires vs Summer Tires testing on Ice - YouTube
New Nokian Hakkapeliitta 8 - The most advanced studded tyre in the world! (English) - YouTube
What You Need to Know About Winter Tires - YouTube
Do yourself a favour and take a few minutes to watch these.
... I have driven many a vehicle, lastly a corolla for about 290,000 miles and I gotta drive, no. matter weather, in fact the worse a winter day has been the more I would go out. I got that thing stuck in the middle of a paved road for about 30 seconds, till I took the wheels down to pavement. In all those miles through the worst winter this state has seen any many storms the driver was the biggest influence imo.
Now I am new to a Jeep and I will go off road this winter when it has stormed. I can see a sick day already lol. I'm looking forward to seeing how my mt's work. I feel after driving what I have this will be ridiculously good in the snow. I drove a basic toy truck 4x4 single cab, before the name taco, and it handled awesome in snow in 4x, I never even gave tires a second thought.
I agree that the driver may be the biggest determining factor when driving on icy roads, but one must consider all factors and not just the biggest. A pilot's skill could likely be the biggest factor in a safe flight but the physical condition of the plane, the weather, and the landing strip are also factors of importance. Would you want to go seriously mudding with a set of stock Duellers? They would likely let you down no matter your level of skill at driving in mud.
Your Jeep with MTs will undoubtably be better in snow than a Corolla as well as many other vehicles that you may have driven; but
better and
good are two different things. An amputated finger due to frost bite would be
better than the loss of both feet, but I wouldn't call it
good by any definition of the word.
Being good in the snow is not what those of us who run dedicated winter tires are after, rather it is being safe on hard packed snow and ice. So, like I mentioned, in areas that get snow but not prolonged hard packed snow and ice a well made AT tire may (or may not) be fine. In fact something like the Cooper ST Maxx (which are even stud-able) could be a great choice that will also perform well off road in the winter wonderland.
(Along with switching tires between winter and summer I also switch between road and terrain; here's a set of the Coops
And here are some Cooper Discoverer M+S on my previous JKU, first in the freshly shovelled drive and also on a fine Saturday morning before shovelling:
The original question was "How many change out their mud terrain tires for snow tires for the winter months?" and I would venture a guess that the number of people that do so is approximately equal to the number of people who drive in areas where the winter road conditions include ice and hard packed snow (minus the number of people who lack good sense).
You wrote that previously you "never even gave tires a second thought" but from your question I had gathered that perhaps now you were giving tires a second thought. That is probably wise of you.
The MTs shouldn't have too much difficulty getting you through 8 inches of freshly fallen snow on a 35 degree F day at low speed; you will likely fare much better than most on the road on such a day. The MTs will not take you safely and where a little two wheel drive car with real winter tires can. They will spin when you accelerate from a stop, they will take much longer to stop, and they will not be anywhere near as safe in cornering.
You buys your ticket you rides the ride.
(In answer to a couple of other anticipated questions; running summer and winter tires is more cost effective than one may think at first glance and swapping tires takes about fifteen whole minutes or less (especially when my wonderful wife assists by taking away and bringing each tire to me and being in charge of appropriate beverages for the given season).
Be Safe. Have Fun.