 Poster: A snowHead
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I've never needed to put chains on with winter tyres.
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is that with a proper 4WD?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@eddiethebus, we're on rte de la Roumnaz which is parallel to but even steeper than the Brevent hill!!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Standee
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| I am getting General Grabber tyres so I probably wont need them, just seem a convenient fitting compared to affing around. |
Grabbers are brilliant tyres and IMO about the best you can get for a 4X4 that actually does go offroad. But... as others have said they are NOT winter tyres and in many circumstances will be no better than ordinary summer tyres. You will still slip and slide like Nigella Lawson covered in lard. I think you are right to be considering snowchains.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| pam w wrote: |
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I've never needed to put chains on with winter tyres.
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is that with a proper 4WD? |
no, a fiat van with a dent in the side, although I doubt the dent helps very much.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| under a new name wrote: |
| @eddiethebus, we're on rte de la Roumnaz which is parallel to but even steeper than the Brevent hill!! |
yeah I know it. I run down that hill in the summer, its horrible on the feet!
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@under a new name, exactly right about 4WD and no winter tyres, that was about 12 years ago. When we had the dreadful looking Berlingo which was not 4WD it still only needed the chains once, as it had winter tyres. I think we all agree that winter tyres are the thing to have, and we run our cars in the UK on winters now in our family. Over three years or so the cost balances out.
I can't see any reason though for us not to have a set of chains in the 4WD, winter tyres car though.
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@Pamski, no reason not to if they can be fitted, but an expensive bit of kit to carry around if they never get used, non?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@eddiethebus, you were probably lucky. I've twiced been required to put chains on by the gendarmerie (winter tyres or no winter tyres) and have several times put them on for extra traction when it was becoming tenuous. I once had to put chains on to get up a not-very-steep hill with not-very-much snow. It was a sudden April shower, just a few inches, but the road was super slippery, very suddenly. When I've had to set out early in the morning in heavy snow - downhill with quite steep bends for 10 kms - I've put them on in the garage before starting out. It takes only a couple of minutes and is safer. And when roads have only had one pass of the plough you are often forced off onto deep, uncleared, snow (especially when you meet the plough coming back).
I would never be without chains, with an ordinary RWD saloon car.
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| pam w wrote: |
@eddiethebus, you were probably lucky. I've twiced been required to put chains on by the gendarmerie (winter tyres or no winter tyres) and have several times put them on for extra traction when it was becoming tenuous. I once had to put chains on to get up a not-very-steep hill with not-very-much snow. It was a sudden April shower, just a few inches, but the road was super slippery, very suddenly. When I've had to set out early in the morning in heavy snow - downhill with quite steep bends for 10 kms - I've put them on in the garage before starting out. It takes only a couple of minutes and is safer. And when roads have only had one pass of the plough you are often forced off onto deep, uncleared, snow (especially when you meet the plough coming back).
I would never be without chains, with an ordinary RWD saloon car. |
maybe, i'd say you've been unlucky though 
that said, I don't tend to drive in the winter any more than a I need to so maybe you do more driving than me.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I don't tend to drive in the winter any more than a I need to
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Well, I don't drive more than I need to, as I can ski in and out of my apartment. But I do quite a lot of airport transfer driving - which is time inflexible. And driving to and from the Dolomites, twice in the last two years, also encountered some pretty snowy conditions. And I was on the road (to get son to a paid cooking job, not just for fun) in Snowmageddon last year - one of the times the gendarmes were (quite rightly) insisting on chains.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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and I have spent 2 - 3 months in the Alps every winter for the last 13 years. Not that that feels "unlucky" - rather the reverse.
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You know it makes sense.
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I always think of snow chains as just another form of insurance. They may be expensive, but with luck you won't need them and the peace of mind they give you - knowing you can scale the North face of the Eiger in you nice warm car - is worth a great deal to me. You can always flog them again when you sell the car.
As an aside - I do wonder when people say they haven't 'needed' them in x years of driving. I have a nasty suspicion that all too often they mean they have been able to get where they want without them. How many times have they achieved that while unknowingly descending a hairpin bend with only a whisker of grip in reserve. To me, it's a bit like (non-permanent) four wheel drive. You want to engage it before you get stuck or slide over a cliff.
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