Snow Chains

[jonquirk]

Back in 1988 I worked on a farm and had a Transit with a very light wooden dropside body. I used to get stuck in the farm yard with no traction.

I got a pair of Nokia mud and snow tyres for the rear axle. It was miraculous: I could go almost anywhere on the farm. Then the limiting factor was getting the front beam axle aground on the centre ridge of the farm tracks.

 

[beamdune]

Bah! Wish I'd ordered some of those autosocks last week - snowed in this morning.
Just helped to push a couple of cars that got stuck, wheels spinning everywhere.

 

[rancid badger]

the autosocks looked like a bit of a gimmick but checking the web and youtube seems they are ok, anyone on here had first hand experience?

Not actually used them, but can certainly confirm how good they appear to be, from witnessing them in use last week.

The people using them would most certainly not have unstuck themselves without them.

R.B.

 

[stooboy]

Might invest in a set, just watching with amusment some people stuck in works carpark from my desk, however i might not be laughing in an hour when i try to leave!

 

[Shewie]

Had to leave my Golf Gti in town this morning as it wouldn't get up a tiny little slope, the tyres are too fat and too slick.

 

[Klenchblaize]

Modern chains are easy to put on and tension, but it's not something you'd do for a few hundred yards. As said earlier, you really need deep snow everywhere to justify them. If you drive on tarmac with them on, you'll knacker your tyres. It is a good idea to own a set though, in some parts of Europe, carrying a set in your boot in winter is required by law. I've a full set of 4 chains for my Landy, but have only ever put them on to practice doing it and check the fit. It'd have to be pretty freaky weather to justify them. For short "get me up that hill" type of thing, a set of "AutoSocks" is the way to go.

In a nut shell.

Undertook exactly the same experiment with all for wheels last February. Got to the bottom of hill and found snow had been cleared making me look a complete plonker!

Doesn't do much for either vehicle or tarmac.

Cheers

 

[johnnytheboy]

I know that I work in a BMW/Mercedes Garage, the rest of the sentence explains the first part!!!

Spent the last two weeks shoving everything from Ferrari's to Sprinter vans round our carpark

A lot of BMW's are rear wheel drive, with the engine in the front it makes for an awful combination in snow.

 

[robin wood]

Autosock website seems to have crashed, I wonder why?

 

[stooboy]

hehe i tried them last night and sold out in my size of wheels

 

[Brown Bear]

I used to put a large chunk of steel H beam in the boot of my RWD BMW it helped the traction no end

You wouldn't want it there in a head on accident though. It would smash through the back seats and anyone in them. I've seen a crash test video with a tool box in a boot....nasty.

 

[Martyn]

hehe i tried them last night and sold out in my size of wheels

Shedloads on ebay, Goodyear do a similar thing. Was looking at em for SWMBO's mini.

 

[Mikey P]

You wouldn't want it there in a head on accident though. It would smash through the back seats and anyone in them. I've seen a crash test video with a tool box in a boot....nasty.

Frankly, I'd never get fast enough in this weather to cause anything more than a light 'dink' against the back of the rear seats ...

 

[Hetzen]

I understood that you can only use snow chains on roads in the UK that have sufficient snow covering as not to cause any damage to the tarmac. What depth of snow that is I have no idea.

 

[Steve13]

Just to bring everybody up to date

After 2 days of ringing round and searching on the web I managed to find some snow chains local in my size at a reasonable price, so will give them a try tomorrow and see how I go

Could not get any snow socks for love nor money except on line , but with the roads blocked I feared they would not be delivered in time

Will update over the weekend

 

[Overlander30]

Going to have a bit of a rant here.

When I was a kid (70's) it seemed to snow all the time in winter. everyone had winter tyres (basically very soft remoulds - very cheap) and when it snowed, people just shovelled the snow out from the drive and went to work. Now you may say this is looking at history with rose tinted glasses, but it isnt. It really was like this. It's really ****** me off over the past couple of weeks about how totally helpless some (many) people seem to be (not talking about people on here so much, just generally). They actually seem to revel in the shamelessness of their helplessness and have a view that says that someone else (ie local council) should wrap them in cotton wool and help their every need. I saw a pregnant woman interviewed in her car and she was saying that she was 38 weeks pregnant and couldnt get to the hospital. well, i m sorry but make some contingency plans for events like this. dont rely on your local council to dig you out of the ****.

The scandinavians just laugh at us - by law they must use winter tyres from october onwards and they do, so there are no issues, they just get on with it. Local councils there snow plough the main roads (hardly any salt - why is the UK obsessed with salting and gritting the roads?!) and locals then club together and give the local farmer a few quid to run his plough down the road to clear the worst of it.

When I've had this debate with people before, they tend to say "ah but we get conditions like this so rarely, so people dont know what to do". Well yes, you could say that, but a week in feb, and now 4 weeks (for us anyway) now, this is becoming not so unusual, and people should take responsibility for themselves (like the OP is doing for example). The UK is still in recession, and the past week weeks hae set us back hugely, economically speaking. Last Monday I had to pick up a computer from the trafford centre in manchester. I left home at 2pm, drove over there (an hour) and guess what, there were 3 shops open. THREE! Yet the motorway was totally clear, and the side roads were passable with care. What has happened to people in the UK? why do they think its ok to sit at home like spoiled schoolchildren (dont get me started on the schools closing) and be fed from the council/government tit? Is it the fault of the media? "Don't travel unless its life or death!" or have we become so cossetted, so privileged, so spolied that a few inches of snow falls and the world halts?

 

[robin wood]

I put winter tyres on my van last week and the difference is incredible. Not only do they give hugely increased grip on snow but you get increased grip on wet cold greasy roads too, exactly the conditions we get most of the winter. No messing about sticking socks or chains on and off as you go on and off the snow they are fantastic. The major difference I am told is what they are made from. Normal tyres become very hard, inflexible and loose all their rubbery stickyness at low temperatures. Winter tyres are made of different compounds (silicone based?) which stay soft, flexible and grippy at low temp.

I am currently enjoying driving my front wheel drive VW T4 van passed stuck 4wd cars on normal hard slippery summer tyres. The other thing is that where 4wd helps with grip going forward as soon as you touch the brakes you are in the same boat as everyone else. Winter tyres greatly increase grip under braking too. I can stop my van going down a steep snow covered hill in not much greater distance than I can in the dry.

They will stay on till March then get swapped back for summer tyres.

This is my van, I can stop on slopes like this and set off with no wheelspin at all.

 

[rancid badger]

I put winter tyres on my van last week and the difference is incredible. Not only do they give hugely increased grip on snow but you get increased grip on wet cold greasy roads too, exactly the conditions we get most of the winter. No messing about sticking socks or chains on and off as you go on and off the snow they are fantastic. The major difference I am told is what they are made from. Normal tyres become very hard, inflexible and loose all their rubbery stickyness at low temperatures. Winter tyres are made of different compounds (silicone based?) which stay soft, flexible and grippy at low temp.

I am currently enjoying driving my front wheel drive VW T4 van passed stuck 4wd cars on normal hard slippery summer tyres. The other thing is that where 4wd helps with grip going forward as soon as you touch the brakes you are in the same boat as everyone else. Winter tyres greatly increase grip under braking too. I can stop my van going down a steep snow covered hill in not much greater distance than I can in the dry.

They will stay on till March then get swapped back for summer tyres.

This is my van, I can stop on slopes like this and set off with no wheelspin at all.

Hello again Robin,

They really are by far, the best option in my opinion. I used to fit my spare rims and snow/mud tyres, at the first proper snowfall and leave them till March too. They are softer of course and wear a lot quicker than normal tyres. That said; I had my first Skoda Fabia for 5 years and the second for nearly 3 and ran the same pair of snow tyres for that time. When I changed to a Ford Fiesta, I didn't bother to get spare rims for it

Mind you, I've only had to walk to work once so far. Really though, its the safety side of this, that really makes the difference.Some of my drives to and from work, have been pretty scary, (usually due to other clowns on the road) and I'm used to driving in snow!.

I'll be sorting out spare rims and tyres asap now

Oh and for anyone who hasn't seen this yet, this was a Vauxhall Frontera, on standard tyres, after slipping off the flat road into Chopwell Wood.:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFIKa5WYaD4

took nearly 3 hours to get out!

cheers

R.B.

 

[dave k]

Snow tyres make a massive difference. The best cars in the snow are ones with really skinny tyres that can cut through the snow and slush onto the tarmac and grip.
In Switzerland everyone switches over to snow tyres in November and back to normal ones in April. I've got a friend here and he said he has never had to use his snow chains - just snow tyres.

Like people have said, you only have to have one scary moment then you'll wish you got a pair of proper tyres. Don't assume the cheapest ones are the best as well - check out http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Type/Winter/ for some tests. Nokian ones a really good - I've got michelin pilot alpine 2 and they are good as well.

 

[forestwalker]

As everyone else I agree with Robin; proper winter tyres make a world of a difference. And not just in snow, but in any road conditions below 5 C or so. Around here the "standad car" is a normal old Volvo (usually a 945), and there are very few issues. Even though it is rear wheel drive. Proper tyres and sane driving styles are the key (don't gun it, take it easy in curves, slow down in time before you need to stop).

Here we can use studded tyres, the non-studded ones are inferior and much more dependant on quality; basically any studded tyre is ok, while the worst non-studded ones are much worse than the best. But studded ones eat tarmac, causing nasty particles in the air, so are no longer recommeded for urban drivers, only for us country folks (i.e. everyone living/driving outside greater Stockholm).

 

[EarlyRiser]

I can thoroughly recommend these (no connection).

I've used them once in the last six winters up till now.

This year I've used them four times on my own car and once on a pal's.

They made very easy work of driving in snow and ice.

Cheers,

Tom