Have you used them yourself?
spec me some snow chains in prep for the winter
- Thread starter bigjimmyauk
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Have you used them yourself?
That's your opinion but reviews and videos of it say different. I think for this country where patches of ice and tarmac are more common they're a suitable compromise.
That's me having used the things.
How is it a suitable compromise? If you drive with them on patches of ice (not snow) they are useless, and if you drive with them on tarmac, you destroy them in a very short distance.
The best (and most cost effective) "compromise" for this country would be to deal with it for the whole 3 days a year we get any decent quantity of snow.
I've got the same tyre size and use Michelin EasyGrip or whatever they're called.
A bit of a faff to fit first time, but with a bit of practice are a doddle.
I've only ever used them in the Alps, however, to make up for my non-winter tyres where the roads were covered in snow and ice. Whilst being steep.
To be frank, however, I'm probably going to save up for some steelies and snow tyres as my wife will be using the car more than I will and there is no chance in hell of her fitting the snow chains with two screaming kids in the back of the CMAX.
Even then, driving on snow isn't particularly difficult if you're careful and know what you're doing. Ice is slightly more of a challenge, however.
Also, snow chains are only useful on roads where everybody else has them: if the road is blocked because of an accident/some muppet that can't drive, then they're as good as useless.
A bit of a faff to fit first time, but with a bit of practice are a doddle.
I've only ever used them in the Alps, however, to make up for my non-winter tyres where the roads were covered in snow and ice. Whilst being steep.
To be frank, however, I'm probably going to save up for some steelies and snow tyres as my wife will be using the car more than I will and there is no chance in hell of her fitting the snow chains with two screaming kids in the back of the CMAX.
Even then, driving on snow isn't particularly difficult if you're careful and know what you're doing. Ice is slightly more of a challenge, however.
Also, snow chains are only useful on roads where everybody else has them: if the road is blocked because of an accident/some muppet that can't drive, then they're as good as useless.
I still have snow tyres on one of my cars, drove it to cornwall and back a few times they still seem good as new, not what I would call performance rubber though!!
nobody in a normal car can "drive" on ice, you can however slide on ice very convincingly
in the alpes this year there was a mahoosive traffic jam caused by four russian numptys in cayennes thinking they could drive anywhere in their overpowered vw's promptly all crashed into each other creating a rather expensive road block for the best part of 6 hours..... oh how i laughed waving and beeping at them as i drove up the piste in the work kangoo
Likewise. Most likely on a different car in different conditions. OF course being FWD with winter tyres I would most likely have used them in quite different conditions to you.
I didn't, aklthough it was a very short distance and it was mostly ice with patches of tarmac and it was very cold.
Daftest statement - just deal with it? Does that mean staying indoors? I'm glad you never drive anywhere that isn't gritted but some people live in places, or need to get to places, which aren't gritted. Life doesn't stop because it gets cold.
No, I mean learn how to drive in the snow. I had no issues driving on untreated roads both here and in France.
Skill and equipment are a combination - yes you can do more with poor equipment with enough skill but there comes a time where the equipment you have just isn't good enough.
Hills, poor surface, bad tyres = problem. If something as cheap as chains or socks can help you get over it then why not?
There is a reason countries who get regular ice and snow have laws about what equipment you need, if it wasn't needed there would just be a different driving test.
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wow
well the zafira just would not cut the ice to get grip to get home. Hence why i'm asking.
tell you what leave it and when i right the car off next year i'll come back to this thread and say why didn't you help rather than bickering about the subject.
well the zafira just would not cut the ice to get grip to get home. Hence why i'm asking.
tell you what leave it and when i right the car off next year i'll come back to this thread and say why didn't you help rather than bickering about the subject.
But then that comes back to, we don't need it in this country, our weather is neither severe enough, nor frequent enough to warrant it.
Winter tyres would be a better purchase than chains, as they not only perform in the snow, but are better suited to the cold and wet than their summer tyre counterparts. Summer tyres in low temperature conditions (be that slightly above freezing point, or below) are not made up of the right rubbers to deal with the temperature and give adequate grip on even a completely clear road surface. For the amount of snow we get that would require something above the use of normal summer tyres, you'd be better off swapping to winter tyres come november, and placing your summer ones back on in March.
Again, the only reason I have chains is the legal requirement for driving to the French Ski Resorts. I used them once in the UK to get to grips with fitting them in the snow, but that's it.
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where can you get said winter tyres and do they have to be fitted to all wheels or just the drive wheels
I wouldn't make it the law but as in the OP, for that few days / a week when they get some ice they want to be able to drive up to their house. They could park at the bottom and walk up, not a big chore for a few days, but they want to look at something to get around it. Getting a car that handles it better, some experience and some decent tyres would perhaps be too much expense or trouble for what they want.
As I do - not full on snow tyres (Michelin call them cold weather tyres) but they give much better grip and for cold wet roads they're a hoot
I also have a set of snow socks for holidaying in the lake district in January - couple of back roads it's really easy to get stuck on even with good tyres (a bag of grit and a shovel would probably do just as well).
that was always half the fun for me, we had a kangoo van with just fronts and it was a right laugh, lost it loads of times but alpine roads at 2am you can see people coming a mile away, was great way to learn the limits on such a horrifically powerful beast such as the kangoo...
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Maggi RapidMatics have always worked for me . . . although putting them on in the dark when it is snowing and the road is wet is always a pain 