Snow Chains

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NAM
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Snow Chains

Post by NAM »

Hello All
Hope you all had a good Christmas and that we have a maintenance free new year.

The recent snow and ice plus the fact that I have to negotiate the notoroious Cat and Fiddle Road each day has triggered me to think about buying a pair of Snow Chains for my Xantia Estate. Any tlhoughts as to best ones to fit, ones to avoid etc.

There is not much to go on as far as I can tell but if anyone has any comments I'm sure there are others like me who are wondering.

Cheers and thanks

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Post by deian »

Cool, never thought of snow chains myself, even in this country, it must be a rare luxury, I doubt we've seen the last of the snow for a few months anyway, it could last on and off until april can't it.

Where would you get some?
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Post by NAM »

Hi Dei

There are plenty of sites if you google Snow chains but the link below seems to be pretty helpful and well priced. I reckon they could be a good investment as we face more of the same!

http://www.needed4.co.uk/chains.asp

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Post by handyman »

Hullo NAM, unless the regulations have recently changed, it is ILLEGAL to fit and use snow chains on vehicles in this country on public highways. I suspect it is because we do not get enough compacted snow in this country to make using them a necessity.

Driving on tarmac with them is not recommended, if not lethal! In addition, they will chew up your existing tyres, especially the sidewalls.

If you want to drive in snowy conditions, buy a set of M&S tyres as these will give you better traction, and you can run them on tarmac if you need to.

'M&S', no not the High Street store, MUD & SNOW. :roll:

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Post by deian »

Sounds a reasonable price, and they do a price match. Looks like a tidy product too.

And yes, it would be a sound investment for next few years, assuming you will keep the same car for long enough as they are custom fit for each tyre.

Also noticed they tell you to put on the driven wheels, fair enough, but on front wheel drive cars won't the back come spinning round if you don't have them on the back too?

And for RWD cars, all good and proper putting them on the back wheels, but steering the front will be fun then. No powerslides possible cos of that.

But at the end of the day, you will hardly be doing silly speeds in them would you.
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Post by Citroenmad »

Would a set of winter tyres not be a better bet? Probably safer and less hassle, as you can use them on road and snow, where as chains you would have to remove once you run out of snow. Winter tyres make a huge difference to grip in snow.
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Post by XantiaMan »

My Transit has M+S tyres and its no better in the snow. Maybe illegal but tbh, having chains just in case could really get you out of a situation if you got stuck.
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Post by Citroenmad »

We have a set of winter tyres of a spare set of wheel rims for the 6 wheeler c15. It bearly moves in snow, its quite heavy and the 4 rear wheels try want to keep it straight, so pulling away at junctions in snow is tricky on its normal tyres but with the winter tyres fitted grip is superb, there is a huge difference. Cant remember what make tyres they are though.
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Post by DickieG »

If you are buying snow chains then avoid "Ladder chains" which are the ones which just have chains running across the tyre, go for chains which have a link chain running between each chain around the circumference of the tyre. Ladder chains cause such violent vibration that you'll only use them in dire circumstances.

Also look out for chains which are fitted by way of a solid plastic loop which allows you to loop the chain over the tyre, chains which are just a set of metal links (no plastic loop) are an absolute nightmare to fit due to the build-up of snow in the wheel arch, not to mention the issue of the metal chains being rather cold/frostbite :evil: , now how do I know this? :roll:
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Post by Peter.N. »

I used to have snow chains that I used every year, until about 30 years ago, we havn't really had enough snow since then. Chains give a very much better grip than tyres, especially on ice, although you used to be able to get tyres with metal studs, don't know if you still can.

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Post by Kowalski »

XantiaMan583 wrote:My Transit has M+S tyres and its no better in the snow. Maybe illegal but tbh, having chains just in case could really get you out of a situation if you got stuck.
Are they actually winter tyres or are they all season / summer tyres?
Peter.N. wrote:I used to have snow chains that I used every year, until about 30 years ago, we havn't really had enough snow since then. Chains give a very much better grip than tyres, especially on ice, although you used to be able to get tyres with metal studs, don't know if you still can.

Peter
I'd agree that on compacted snow, snow chains beat pretty much any sort of tyre but the conditions I've found it difficult to drive in have not been snow, they've been snow compacted and refrozen as ice. You can get tyres with walnut shells (Toyo) or sand (Goodyear) in the rubber, they work as well as studded tyres on solid ice.
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Post by XantiaMan »

Kowalski wrote:
XantiaMan583 wrote:My Transit has M+S tyres and its no better in the snow. Maybe illegal but tbh, having chains just in case could really get you out of a situation if you got stuck.
Are they actually winter tyres or are they all season / summer tyres?
.
Definitly Mud and Snow tyres, they have extra tiny grooves. Michelin Agilis too, which aint cheap.

Image[/url]
M+S (Mud and Snow) tyres are those with a tread pattern and sometimes compound specifically designed to perform well in poor road conditions. An M&S tyre will usually have a high negative void ratio in order to achieve this.

Some M+S tyres rely solely on the aggressive tread pattern to achieve this extra performance whilst others will have the addition of a specially designed rubber compound. In general terms this different compound is usually reserved for out and out winter tyres.
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Post by skog77 »

Mud and Snow tyres are rarely good in really cold weather, but might be sufficient for the kind of slushy wet snow you guys get in the UK.

If you're looking for proper winter tyres, Continental and Michelin are constantly on top of the annual winter tyre tests done by the NAF, our AA sister organization.

However, the NAF also sells something called the Autosock, which i'm sure would be legal to use in the UK. A google search gave me multiple UK hits, i'm sure you can get them over there.

But if you do decide to go with snow chains then for the love of god remember to tighten the chains after you've put them on. Just drive a couple of meters so the chain is allowed to settle on the tyre and tighten more. If it's fittet properly it should'nt eat your tyre, and more importantly it wont rattle about tearing up your brake lines etc.
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Post by Peter.N. »

'NAF' means something completely different in this country :D
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Post by NAM »

Great to see all the views and thoughts on how we can best tackle driving in snow and ice.

In the end I have gone for snow chains on the basis that I may get caught out on way home or to work (Cat and Fiddle route- currently closed again) and I can then just pop out and slip them on :)

I bought the Klack and Go version (see link) which are self adjusting and the gal in the video fits them in about 2 mins flat (there is no other traffic, it is very sunny and the car is not caked up with snow and ice). Still looks pretty easy and the self adjusting bit takes away the need to readjust. Guess I will have to drive to a European Ski resport to make the best use of them.

http://www.snowchains.co.uk/main/klack_and_go.htm#

I hope not to need them but they will be in the boot just in case :)

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