Snow Chains - your experience

[tram]

Hi folks. I have just got me a pair of snow chains for the first time. I am only front wheel drive, have steel wheels, and only ever, if ever, expect them to get me out of a hole, so no distance driving expected. For this reason i bought Polar for 4x4 and small vans with 16mm chain. They cost £80, look right, and come in a decent case with waterproof fitting instructions.

Hopefully I will never use them. But anyone got any tips or where it will work (muddy grass perhaps), and when they don't perform well, and maybe if and when to use them in conjunction with other techniques or things.

And has anyone any experience of using chains....whats your story, what happened?

Cheers.

 

[Thogg]

In my experience...Only use them when you have to i.e. When there is a layer of snow/ice for them to bite in to. If you drive around and they are regularly in contact with the road surface you will most likely knacker the chains and your tyres.
Definitely have a practice fitting them though. Because when you are stressed and cold and in the dark... trying to fit them for the first time will be... challenging! Expect to swear. A lot!!
That said... my first experience of fitting them was in -16 and in heavy snow. On a hill.

 

[DaveyB]

I have never used snow chains however, I have used "snow socks" and they are brilliant. I have a set for my work car, and intend to get a set for the van. You've just got to remember that once you get out of the powdery stuff and onto terra-firma you need to remove them or you'll shred them.

 

[Walski]

Had to stop and fit them to a hire mini bus on a ski trip. @Thogg's advice is spot on. We had to pull over and fit them in the dark and cold on the way up the mountains. There was 5/6 lads all pretty handy but we couldn't get the bloody things on. A local guy stopped to help us and single handedly got them on in 5 mins!!!!

 

[Walski]

Oh and the difference in traction was amazing

 

[Thogg]

Had to stop and fit them to a hire mini bus on a ski trip. @Thogg's advice is spot on. We had to pull over and fit them in the dark and cold on the way up the mountains. There was 5/6 lads all pretty handy but we couldn't get the bloody things on. A local guy stopped to help us and single handedly got them on in 5 mins!!!!

And keep a mat or something to kneel/lie on in the van!

 

[tram]

-15 sounds very cold. I remember a documentary on tv about this place with low temperatures and everything must just have been frozen solid. He had a big rag soaked in diesel on a stick and waved it about underneath like the whole lorry was ablaze, and he was saying that his tyres shatter. Minus 9 in my outside bog is my coldest.

Yes, might get a pair of those snow socks. I think they will be a bit like ash from the fire. The backstreet cobbles were shot ice. I spread a couple of buckets about thinly and it was as good as summer in rubber soles, truly amazing. A lot of old folk around here put socks over their wooly booties (those with the zip up the middle) when it is icy and they are going up to the shops, so I bet snow socks are very good, like the ash.

This set of chains comes with a bag which can be used as a kneeling mat, with a sheet of plastic to lay it on, so you are right that kneeling to fit them is a consideration.

 

[Davenjo]

@tram with your intended usage, I wonder if traction mats would be a better alternative than chains?

I am considering getting a set of these to give me a bit more confidence parking the van up on mud rather than insisting on hard standing for wet and/or winter camps:- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tracks-Sno...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=5NTV6RFG4J6N5NFGCHHS

Anyone have any experience with these or similar?

Update: for £16 including the postage, I've ordered a set to try - hopefully they are small enough to slot in the back of the van at the side of the jack.

 

[Scruffy]

After you've had a practice, make sure you put them back in the box properly. There has been soooo many occasions on ski trips when we've had to get the chains on a hire car, and the muppets who last used them just threw them in the boot in a tangled mess. By definition, you only need them in the worst of conditions, and trying to sort them out before fitting in heavy snow is not the nicest way to spend your hols.

Take it easy obviously, max 20mph, and as soon as you see Tarmac, whip them off. The grip you get with them on snow and ice is awesome though. We're not skiing this season, but will get some socks for next year. But saying all that, I've never had to put socks or chains on a vehicle with winter tyres fitted.

 

[tram]

Dave, I was looking at those mats, too. I would be very grateful if you would give me your assessment of them when you have had chance to see.

There's a part of me wishes I'd got a 4motion with petrol engine. But I didn't. I am concerned about mud. This is one reason why I got the snow chains because i thought that maybe they would help in mud. But mud is a different substance than snow, so I don't know. My plan is to have the snow chains, but also a spade and a saw to cut branches or whatever to make a track....and a length of chain and sixty quid cash for the nearest farmer and his tractor.

 

[Davenjo]

@tram they've been dispatched so I will update in a few days. I just want something to give me a bit of reasurance and will also be adding a decent tow rope to my kit. Hoping that I never have too use either but the skinny "low rolling resistance" tyres with their required 60psi pressure really do seem to spin a bit too readily for my liking (I thought it was mainly to do with the loading of the van but its still doing it today with the van empty of water and everything else - it will be interesting to see if the replacement springs I am going to be fitting to the rear, to sort the "saggy bottom" when loaded issue, make a difference to this but I suspect not).

I also wish I'd looked at 4motion a bit more rather than, as I did, immediately dismissing on the basis that we didn't need a 3rd 4 wheel drive vehicle on the drive!!

 

[tram]

Dave, I have to negotiate a farm track every other day, and it is steep upwards at the end where it meets the road. If I stop then the wheels spin when i start and I get nowhere, just sliding back into a dry stone wall. This was on my mind re the snow chains. I have to keep a momentum forwards as I get onto the road, so I have to look quick. Its not good. Should have got a 4motion. But the front wheel drive does put the power to the wheel with least spin and most grip. I saw an old US film about a guy returning to his old mining town after WW2, and he pitches up at the mine in a willis jeep. To make some bread he bets the guys he can drive it up the slag heap which was near vertical. They lay their money down and he rips into the hill, and he gets to the top, but with real struggle, but he gets there. His technique was to keep throwing the steering from one side to the other with the lock full on as quick as possible, so the front wheel were then only going sort of sideways rather than straight up which would never have worked. Clever stuff. So I have to do this when getting off the farm track....well, not like that, ha, ha, just one turn at the end. I just about manage to get one front wheel onto the tarmac and this then will pull me up and onto it. But I should have got a 4motion. Anyway, look forwards to hearing about those tracks.

 

[Scruffy]

The old fella was throwing the wheel around because on those old jeep tyres and old Land Rover tyres, there is grip on the side walls. Have a look at some proper beefy 4x4 tyres and you will see tread patterns on the side walls.

 

[Davenjo]

@tram, the mats arrived today and look like they would do the job if required - very good value for the £16 I spent on them. They fit nicely at the side of the jack which is where I have stashed them to forget about until I (hopefully never!) need them. I've left them in their box for the time being but will look for a waterproof bag if I ever have to use them.

 

[Frosty]

You don't need snow chains lads. Just fit these bad boys!

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2996246360422534

 

[tram]

Dave, I will order a pair. Cheers. I wish stuff would come with its own bag. It is always an extra which sways me to a purchase over another.
anyway, I fitted one of the chains. It was very easy. It was 16mm chain. I can tell you it certainly looked right. I would have no worries about going anywhere almost with them on. You can just tell by looking. It makes the van pretty much as good as a 4x4, no doubt about it. It has a good carry bag. I have put in to it a folding spade and pruning saw, and a length of chain and shackles. It makes a good winter kit. I would certainly recommend those 16mm chains by Polar. Just seen a pair for £50.