Idiots without / who can't put on chains & think winter tyres will be ok

A snowHead

Re Thule Chains with the step down mech I bought some three years ago and the few times I used them they are superb.

I did this vid which shows how easy and fast they are to fit.

http://youtube.com/v/DV8wEyGLksw&t=7s

Three years ago I came off the road to attack my hill and there was a feckin snow plough coming back down.

I ended up sliding into the side as I tried to reverse out back on to the main road which I pretty intimidating as you can't see what traffic is coming hence if you start to slide you go into the snow.

I jumped out and got my chains out and the snow plough driver visibly groaned at the sight of an Englishman about to put chains on.

Think I took about a minute and he applauded me at how fast I was able to get myself out of the doodoo.

And took this early this morning just outside the chalet below me, what's the vehicle?

A snowHead

It's that XC90 you snapped in the car park t'other day.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@Weathercam, the video is in the car park near the yacht club in Goring

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@codyaitch, Looks more like Streatley to me wink

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@Weathercam, thank you for posting your thoughts on the Thule chains. Will get a pair in time for us to start our regular holiday drives to Chatel - once our place is finally built, hopefully by Easter.

Seen them advertised for £150 but it seems my tyre size (245/45/1 Cool

is more expensive at c. £225 but well worth the extra IMO for ease of fitting which I suspect will be irregular.

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Couldn't get the Thule ones when we bought ours, so Roofbox.co.uk suggested Maggi Trak. They are usually more expensive I think, but were on offer when we bought ours.

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My old RWD Jaguar XF needed snow chains even with proper winter tyres on (Continental Wintercontacts), when the car in front of me got stuck on a flat road in about 2-3 inches of snow drift, taking away my momentum. I've also had issues getting up slight inclines and driveways in the snow. Therefore I would recommend them for any RWD car in particular. Fitting them in ice-cold gale force winds during rush hour is an experience I'd hate to repeat though.

Another time, after a particularly hairy descent at Les Paccots in Switzerland in my wife's Honda CRV with all-seasons on where I lost control driving very slowly on compacted snow (but thankfully recovered in time), winter tyres are now mandatory in our household.

I now have a Land Rover Discovery Sport, with winter tyres, and haven't needed chains yet although it hasn't really been testy conditions. I do carry some easy to fit K-Summits with me just in case though. As much as anything, I'd hate to be stopped going up the mountain by the gendarmes just because I don't have chains.

After all it is free

+1 for the Panda 4x4. I have a 2007 version with Continental T860 winter tyres (narrowest fitting for the car) and it is like a mountain goat. But I also have quality self-tensioning chains. Why? Our road is very steep and south facing so it can get an inch or two of ice. There are no barriers either, just trees to catch the car. In my experience, winter tyres are great going up snowy lanes, but coming down icy ones without barriers is another thing altogether. I reckon the difficult bits are the tight hairpins where the wheels struggle on ice just as you are facing directly down the fall line.

My suggestion is that chains don’t really take up much space and they can be bought used but in new condition on auction sites quite cheaply, because, as already noted, it’s not very often that they are required unless you leave the main mountain roads. You probably will pay more in tolls between Dijon and Lyon than the cost of a second-hand set. In Sestriere this week we saw a handful of Italian cars with chains on and all the snow clearing machinery was chained-up.

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This one from March 2012.

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Looks like the cheap snow socks cost around 40 GBP and the more expensive ones are around 90 GBP.
The Thule easy fit snow chains are around 150 GBP so hardly a massive investment. I doubt the cheaper snow socks will last longer than a [Gerald Ratner] prawn sandwich from Marks & Spencer[/Gerald Ratner].

Unless you are travelling to France in the spring (or in spring conditions) and are not planing to keep the car long I don't really see the point in snow socks. Even then I'd buy a cheaper pair of chains as in spring conditions it's highly unlikely you would need to get them out of the box.

As others have said snow chains come into their own on compacted polished snow / ice. Once you have needed to use snowchains on a car with winter tyres or have had to stay in a hotel because the conditions were so bad (in my case the snowplough stopped clearing the road as the avalanche danger from the slopes above the road was too great) you realise why you lug that small case of chains about. Snowsocks are just an abrasive fabric so not very good on ice, the metal of the snow chain bites into the ice.

snow reports

For information, the easy-fitting, front-fit types of chains include

Apart from being easier to fit these also fit performance and SUV vehicles whose tyres are low-profile and/or too wide, meaning there's not enough space between the inner side of the tyre and the wheelarch/suspension to safely fit 'conventional' chains (i.e. where the chain wraps-around both sides of the tyre). When buying chains, always check your Owners Manual against the tyres/wheels you have fitted to make sure your setup can take conventional chains. If the manual says chains can't be fitted you'll need a front-fitting type as above.

@DB, I am inclined to agree that chains are a far superior solution. A few small points:
1. IME snow socks are more of a fleecy material than an abrasive material.
2. The price of snow socks varies little as wheel size increases. Snow chains much more so. For large wheels Thule CU9 cost nearly £300 and spikes spiders nearly £400.

You know it makes sense.

I think we now have some of the Spikes Spider type having had more ordinary chains over the years. Now too old to have to fiddle aro7;d for too long. We used to sometimes have to put chains on just to get up to the hotel in Austria, 25 years ago now. We certainly didn’t have winter tyres in those days. And I do recall having to stop on the autobahn near a Munich and having to chain up for a little bit.

Our younger son often drove out with student friends in various cars and would buy chains in the UK and either use them if necessary, or he would take them back unused after being away for a week or so.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

@DB, Yes, I saw that pricing, but Amazon don’t have the largest sizes such as would fit a Range Rover. The cheapest I can find for the 265 model is about £285, although I don’t understand why there should be such a huge jump in prices.

A snowHead

@DB, thanks for the link to the CU-9 chains. They have model 104 which will fit 245/45/18. Will get some as my new car is a long term keeper.

Just out of interest has anyone tried the zip-tie type emergency ‘chains’? Not for me but curious as sometimes simple ideas can be quite good.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0782XJ4LN/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_wOssAbZT7CFXW?tag=amz07b-21

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@foxtrotzulu, think you may need the CU-10’which is the off-road / SUV model with 10mm links instead of 9mm. Lots of sizes available including the largest for £211.

You can check which model you need for your tyre size here: https://konigchain.com/chains/consumer-snow-chains/passenger-car/konig-easy-fit-cu-10.html

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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My hire car parked outside my friends house in Bourg yesterday morning Shocked

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After all it is free · Last edited by After all it is free on Tue 2-01-18 0:32; edited 1 time in total

Think my chains were circa £350'ish as my transporter wheels I seem to recall are almost commercial vehicle size or something ??

So was with a mate last evening who is not short of a bob or two and he'd bought his OH a Porche 4x4 and it came with half a day driving lesson at Silverstone - sounded superb.

Driving along at a 100mph no hands on the steering wheel and slamming on the breaks as hard as you can and the car just sorts itself out!!

I'd bought the OH for Xmas a lesson the Ice Racing Circuit just down from us and she's adamant she does not want to do it and thinks I should, oh well Toofy Grin

At whilst we're still on the topic of winter driving in the mountains with all this snow - now is the time to really think about where you are parking as in La Grave yesterday a whole roof load of snow fell three floors and smashed up badly two cars below.

Those signs you see on various buildings are there for a reason.

And the Range Rover left yesterday

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Maybe I should have bought LynnX a session on the ice, she wouldn't have done it either, we could have gone racing Laughing

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@KenX, Looks like alloys can suffer the same problem.
http://youtube.com/v/W5WpeB9V1LU

I’ve ordered some, but the reviews are pretty terrible on amazon.

I am also an enthusiastic convert to the Konig/Thule CU 9/10 Easyfit snow chains. Fairly expensive but they save a lot of grief when you need to use them. I bought mine online from Exeter Roofracks & Boxes http://www.carsnowchains.co.uk/thule-easy-fit-suv-cu-9-240.html. Their prices appeared to be competitive.

I cannot understand why so many modern cars - particularly built by German manufacturers, who one would think would know better - have be designed with so little clearance between the wheel and wheel arch. This often makes it impossible to put one's hand over the wheel to fit conventional chains or snow socks. I struggled on my wife's BMW series 3 tourer and was appalled to find that a colleague had to actually jack up his Audi TT Quattro to fit a set of socks, which was extremely dangerous on a snow covered road. In comparison, fitting chains to my old Mercedes 300TD Estate was a doddle.

You know it makes sense.

@Mike S - I'm with you on this. But to be fair, manufacturers seem only to have responded to a UK (and US) obsession with fitting low-profile tyres by default. I'm on a BMW owners Forum and even given it's obviously a subset of owners, just about the first thing many do is think about fitting even-lower-profile wheels and tyres than already come from the factory. This has now extended to SUVs as well. When I got a Jeep Grand Cherokee a few years ago, the UK spec' came with wheels that couldn't take chains because it had too little clearance. The dealer said that the manufacturer altered their standard build for the UK because this is "what customers wanted". It's not as if low-profile tyres are better in the wet of a UK winter - they aren't: they're more prone to aquaplane the lower the profile. Go figure .....

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@Mike S, some reviews from the US suggest the release mechanism (red button?) can get stuck if frozen, usually if left parked for extended period. Have you ever experienced this with these chains?

I have a e-class estate (not sport spec) so clearance on the rear looks good.

A snowHead

@Ozboy, I haven't experienced this problem but haven't left the chains on for any extended period. I can visualise that this could be an issue. Thanks for the warning. I'll make sure that I carry some lock de-icer.

@LaForet, I made the mistake, the first time that I fitted snow chains to my old Merc, of not removing the hub caps. They got badly scratched. Don't get me started on low profile tyres - or the ridiculous amount of camber on BMW/Audi rear suspension, causing the inside edges of the tyres to wear out after 20K miles! The biggest joke is the Range Rover Sport, which is only supplied with low profile tyres.

A snowHead

Chains left on while parked for more than a couple days do freeze to the wheels and that fiddly link at the back that has to be undone to get the bloody things off is the one that freezes the hardest!

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Didn’t need our chains into Belle Plagne on Saturday, the winter tyres were more than good enough and only lost traction momentarily once or twice.

Even though we didn’t use them I’m still glad we took the time to do a test fit when we picked the car up

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@SnoodlesMcFlude,

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I agree that losing traction on the descent is a far bigger deal. In my experience, you need more traction descending than ascending. A friend recently drove up to Meribel-Mottaret in an Audi Quattro TT, fitted with standard tyres, without any problems but slid uncontrollably when he attempted to drive down. I tend to err on the side of caution and fit chains, when venturing down hill, whenever I have any doubts - even when driving a 4x4 with winter tyres. Fortunately, I have garage parking and the Konig/Thule Easyfits, so fitting the chains is no longer a drama.

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@foxtrotzulu, momentarily, as in a split second. Grip was actually very good and not a great deal of snow accumulated on the road so I was happy with my choice. It wasn’t one made lightly as a lot of thought went in to it. The people that fitted chains lower down were actually struggling more for traction.

I think descent is more important to have grip as there’s an inertia to descending.

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After all it is free

Damn you autocorrect Very Happy

Ta!

Carp???

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There is a lot of good threads and good advice on Snowheads but this one seems to be a complete mess with lots of traditionally savvy snowheads holding varied and in some cases opposing opinions. Odd.

Help!!

Idiots without / who can't put on chains & think winter tyres will be ok

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