Studded tires in Ontario

What the regulation actually allows

Ontario Regulation 625 permits studded tires on a highway only when several conditions are all true. The date must fall between September 1 and May 31. The permit holder must be a Northern Ontario resident, a business or road authority based there, or a visitor whose vehicle is in Ontario for no more than 30 days. Northern Ontario, in that regulation, means the territorial districts of Algoma, Cochrane, Kenora, Manitoulin, Nipissing, Parry Sound, Rainy River, Sudbury, Timiskaming, and Thunder Bay.

Ottawa is not in that list. A passenger vehicle plated and kept in Kanata does not qualify. Ontario's winter driving page says the same thing in plain language: studded tires are not allowed in Southern Ontario unless you are visiting from out of province or you are a Northern Ontario resident.

What to mount instead

A modern studless winter tire bites ice with compound and siping, not metal pins. Choose one with the 3PMSF mark and mount four of them. On bare wet pavement, which is much of an Ottawa winter between storms, studs are no help and are rougher on the road. That tradeoff is one reason the south of the province bans them.

Quebec does allow studs in a winter window on passenger vehicles, but that permission does not legalize them on the Ontario side of the river. If the car lives in Kanata, buy the studless set.

• Do not order a studded set for a car garaged in Kanata, Stittsville, or Barrhaven.
• Use a 3PMSF studless winter tire, four matching corners.
• If a northern-plated vehicle is only visiting, the provincial rules for that permit still apply. A Kanata resident does not become eligible by driving north for a weekend.