I have a pickup with 2WD. Being a rear wheel drive, it sucks in the snow, despite almost 400 extra lbs. over the rear axle.
I can’t afford to dedicate a set of tires to studding this year, so I was thinking of snow chains. I see they have two kinds, a link chain and a cable.
What are your thoughts on them? Do I need 4 chains, or just a set on the drive wheels?
Do you drive places that don’t get plowed right away, or at all? I could see the need there.
You’ve never been to Scranton in the winter, have you? The DPW doesn’t like using their plows because they don’t want to ruin the blades on the many frozen mounds of coldpack they use to “fix” potholes.
Actually, Scranton is very hilly, and not all of the streets get plowed when they should or as well as they should. There are two or three hills I have to take on the way to and from work (I live on one, as a matter of fact), and they’re an adventure in winter.
Sorry for the slight hijack, but have a very similar problem: When it snows, we can’t get up or down our driveway. All our vehicles are two-wheel drive, and they suck in the snow.
Is there a nifty clamp I can buy that snaps around the tread of the drive wheels? The idea is to install the clamps around each tire before I drive up/down the driveway, and then remove the clamp before driving on the road. I seem to recall seeing a device like this. Anyone know anything about it?
Chains, unless you are actively driving in crappy conditions, suck. They’re noisy, your handling sucks, they put excessive wear and tear on the car, your speed is severely limited, and you’ll rip up dry pavement. In dry/wet conditions they will cause you to slip and skid. Only go with chains if you are going to be on snowy roads for an extended period of time. If they were easy to put on and take off that wouldn’t be a problem, but it’s a royal pain.
Consider getting Spike Spiders. You mount them on the rims and then can add them to the tires when you need them easily. http://www.spikes-spiders.com/
Cables are for radial tires, link chains for bias. At least that’s what I’ve been told.
I love 'em. They’re like having cleats on. You don’t need them on the front end, just use the caution that the 4WD vehicles should. :rolleyes:
I cable up the 83 Corolla and I can boogey on through about 12 inches of new snow like I’m on a ski-doo. It’s the most fun you can have with a budget for only one internal combustion engine.
Get two sets. They tend to break, especially if you have to drive for extended periods on dry pavement, and they’re hard to find when you “need” them.
I have never used them, although I have a set of cables in my garage.
Even when I drove a 2WD light pick-up, we lived in CO and you couldn’t use chains (they tear up the roads something fierce). We just dumped weight in the back (snow, kitty litter bags, whatever). And even in Boulder, which is quite hilly, I was only stuck once in three years.
Now both my vehicles are 4WD, and I would never put chains or cables on them anyway- not necessary. But if I do any mountain driving in the winter, I keep them in the back to show the Highway Patrol! 
The cables seem easy to use and pretty light, not like the chains I remember from my youth.
Avoid them at all costs, but always carry them.
They beat up your car, and hinder your speed to around 30 mph max. If conditions change, your screwed, unless you like laying around in the snow/mud taking them on and off as needed.
Only to be used in extreme emergency for short periods of time.
I just ordered a set. I’ll let you know if they work.
Back in the early 80’s, I had a set of plastic chains for my Firebird. They worked amazingly well, and were safe up to 50 mph. They were, however, a pain to install, just like real chains.
The FlexTrax things look like the same concept, with a much improved design and installation process. In fact, I’m considering getting some.
I’ve been using regular chains, and I hate them. Hard to get on/off, bulky and heavy, dirty, and only good for heavy snow. They suck on ice, too – act like skates if you aren’t careful.
Chains are a total pain in the ass. But when I lived in the Medicine Bow mountains (the Snowy Range) in Wyoming, I would never have considered leaving home without them… even in my 4WD Subaru.
I’ve never lived anywhere else where they were needed, at least in my 4WD/AWD vehicles. In PA, you apparently can only use them in rare circumstances: "Tire chains may be temporarily used on vehicles during periods of snow and ice emergency if the are in conformance with regulations promulgated by the department. (quoted on the FlexTrax site.)
How do they “beat up your car”? Not arguing, just curious what you mean. Do you mean they screw up the suspension or balance or something?
Any loose ends will beat the crap out of the insides of your wheel wells.
It is believed by serious auto-theologians, that tire chains are an abomination unto God, and the use thereof was only left out of the list of prohibited behaviors in Leviticus only because early scribes did not understand the reference.
There are hints of this in Psalm 149, verses 7-9:
7 To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; 8 To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; 9 To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD
And in Isaiah 3:18-19
18 In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon, 19 The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers.