Snow Socks and Chains.

[Stroppymonkey]

Hint of snow in the forecast next week so reminded me to chase round all the vans to check winter supplies. I like everyone to have a pair of snowsocks (AutoSocks) as they are great at getting you out of a situation. Generally if its a fresh dump we tend to stay home, but sometimes the lanes can stay covered for a while, or you get stuck in a Cul-de-sac somewhere and a pair of socks make all the difference between getting home on time or not. Socks easy to go on/off and at about £70-£80 a set not awful money. Had to buy 2 pair for the lad with the RWD drive. Found 4 vans with no socks (including mine) and one with the wrong size. £400 later and new kit is on the way.
Need to get something for the Dmax, but tossing up between chains and socks... never used chains. Any suggestions or recommendations? Its only going to be used as back up, or getting stuck vans UN-stuck. Do you run all 4 wheels with chains or socks or just the fronts and keep in 4 high? Its on decent AT's anyway.

 

[V8Druid]

Hint of snow in the forecast next week so reminded me to chase round all the vans to check winter supplies. I like everyone to have a pair of snowsocks (AutoSocks) as they are great at getting you out of a situation. Generally if its a fresh dump we tend to stay home, but sometimes the lanes can stay covered for a while, or you get stuck in a Cul-de-sac somewhere and a pair of socks make all the difference between getting home on time or not. Socks easy to go on/off and at about £70-£80 a set not awful money. Had to buy 2 pair for the lad with the RWD drive. Found 4 vans with no socks (including mine) and one with the wrong size. £400 later and new kit is on the way.
Need to get something for the Dmax, but tossing up between chains and socks... never used chains. Any suggestions or recommendations? Its only going to be used as back up, or getting stuck vans UN-stuck. Do you run all 4 wheels with chains or socks or just the fronts and keep in 4 high? Its on decent AT's anyway.

don't even go there .... I detest the damned stuff ...... never have enough of it to be 'proper snow conditions' (well not often) ........ and still haven't found an 8ft wide, 4 in 1 for the 'Drema's dipper for when we do

 

[Lancs Lad]

Hint of snow in the forecast next week so reminded me to chase round all the vans to check winter supplies. I like everyone to have a pair of snowsocks (AutoSocks) as they are great at getting you out of a situation. Generally if its a fresh dump we tend to stay home, but sometimes the lanes can stay covered for a while, or you get stuck in a Cul-de-sac somewhere and a pair of socks make all the difference between getting home on time or not. Socks easy to go on/off and at about £70-£80 a set not awful money. Had to buy 2 pair for the lad with the RWD drive. Found 4 vans with no socks (including mine) and one with the wrong size. £400 later and new kit is on the way.
Need to get something for the Dmax, but tossing up between chains and socks... never used chains. Any suggestions or recommendations? Its only going to be used as back up, or getting stuck vans UN-stuck. Do you run all 4 wheels with chains or socks or just the fronts and keep in 4 high? Its on decent AT's anyway.

Bought a set of proper chains for mine last year. Picked em up cheap mid summer lol.
Brand new unused.

This year we had a real dump on the fell...
Two of us in pickups.
Not a chance .

Chucked the chains on. Straight up. Didn't even spin. So backed down and towed my mate up

 

[Stroppymonkey]

Bought a set of proper chains for mine last year. Picked em up cheap mid summer lol.
Brand new unused.

This year we had a real dump on the fell...
Two of us in pickups.
Not a chance .

Chucked the chains on. Straight up. Didn't even spin. So backed down and towed my mate up

Chains on all 4 wheels?

 

[Lancs Lad]

Chains on all 4 wheels?

No just rears...
Ace peace of mind .
And pretty quick to chuck on once you've done it once.
Get decent ones though. Konig auto tighten iirc
Was a decent dump.

 

[CPS]

Only one recommendation, don't buy these

 

[V8Druid]

Only one recommendation, don't buy these

View attachment 77273

should think the caiper'd have them on the first revolution ... not a lot of space 'tween wheels and calipers these days

 

[hiluxman]

Only one recommendation, don't buy these

View attachment 77273

Can't you buy a big bag of cable ties for a few quid

 

[CPS]

should think the caiper'd have them on the first revolution ... not a lot of space 'tween wheels and calipers these days

Ah don't get me wrong, they actually fit on a work great. It's just when you jump in the van and drive and the wheel moves then yes, they get wrapped around the calibare

 

[CPS]

Can't you buy a big bag of cable ties for a few quid

Yea but they're black

 

[V8Druid]

Yea but they're black

only if you buy black ones

 

[TiltyShaun]

If you need chains……you should have stayed at home.
A decent set of winter tyres is first port of call.

 

[Stroppymonkey]

If you need chains……you should have stayed at home.
A decent set of winter tyres is first port of call.

It’s usually for when you need to GET home , or in my case sometimes venturing out to get an employee or family member home .

 

[Lffsam]

We carried them on the fire engines back in the day, but thankfully never had to use them. Here in France it's obligatory to carry snow chains if you don't have 3 peaks winter tyres in some departments. Again, never had to use them. Have got off road tyres on the Freelander, which have not let me down ...... Yet!
Our winters are getting milder, with less snow. Have suffered some shockers though, -22 and 3 foot of snow for a few weeks back in the late 2000's. The horses had icicles on their manes and rugs, and we spent most days ferrying water from inside taps to them, as everything outside was frozen solid.

 

[hiluxman]

Yea but they're black

Black cable ties matter

 

[V8Druid]

We carried them on the fire engines back in the day, but thankfully never had to use them. Here in France it's obligatory to carry snow chains if you don't have 3 peaks winter tyres in some departments. Again, never had to use them. Have got off road tyres on the Freelander, which have not let me down ...... Yet!
Our winters are getting milder, with less snow. Have suffered some shockers though, -22 and 3 foot of snow for a few weeks back in the late 2000's. The horses had icicles on their manes and rugs, and we spent most days ferrying water from inside taps to them, as everything outside was frozen solid.

our first winter here '10/'11 was pretty 'brutal' .. 2-3 ft of snow and -14C for a fortnight ... have had a couple of good 'uns since too

 

[Monkeybusiness]

I inherited an old Jag XF when my dad died, and took it for a family ski trip to the Alps over new year a couple of years ago. It’s on 19 or 20 inch wheels - I stuck a set of snow tyres on it and blasted there and back at a zillion mph on dry roads (I guess they probably wear relatively fast compared to normal tyres but that wasn’t really a consideration for my limited use). .
It absolutely dumped snow on our last night and there were vehicles (including a new Range Rover) stuck blocking roads everywhere. The combination of traction control and the snow tyres took that jag everywhere with relative ease - I couldn’t believe how it could find grip!
I’d look at decent tyres before investing in chains personally.

 

[Grahams]

A spare set of wheels with winter tyres is a good way to go. Proper winter tyres are amazingly effective. Alternatively run on all seasons all year round. Not as good as full winter tyres but you don't need to change the wheels and they are great for light off roading.
Trouble with chains is you can't run them on tarmac and I've found that by the time you need them you are already in difficulty. Also no matter if you can drive abandoned vehicles blocking roads still stops you getting through.

 

[TiltyShaun]

I inherited an old Jag XF when my dad died, and took it for a family ski trip to the Alps over new year a couple of years ago. It’s on 19 or 20 inch wheels - I stuck a set of snow tyres on it and blasted there and back at a zillion mph on dry roads (I guess they probably wear relatively fast compared to normal tyres but that wasn’t really a consideration for my limited use). .
It absolutely dumped snow on our last night and there were vehicles (including a new Range Rover) stuck blocking roads everywhere. The combination of traction control and the snow tyres took that jag everywhere with relative ease - I couldn’t believe how it could find grip!
I’d look at decent tyres before investing in chains personally.

Absolutely. Tyres are the first point of contact. If you don’t have grip all the electrical wizardry is worthless. Both my E Class estate and Range Rover Sport run on 3 peaks. There wet road performance is far superior as well!!

 

[Stroppymonkey]

I inherited an old Jag XF when my dad died, and took it for a family ski trip to the Alps over new year a couple of years ago. It’s on 19 or 20 inch wheels - I stuck a set of snow tyres on it and blasted there and back at a zillion mph on dry roads (I guess they probably wear relatively fast compared to normal tyres but that wasn’t really a consideration for my limited use). .
It absolutely dumped snow on our last night and there were vehicles (including a new Range Rover) stuck blocking roads everywhere. The combination of traction control and the snow tyres took that jag everywhere with relative ease - I couldn’t believe how it could find grip!
I’d look at decent tyres before investing in chains personally.

When it comes to the vans - they are mostly 3.5t and FWD, and we rotate tyres from back to front.. I cant justify the cost of switching them all to winter tyres. Would cost about £5000 outlay, and given how many tyres we lose due to pot holes and screws in the side wall.... cant do it. Hence AutoSocks on board the vans to help get you home in a pinch.
That said.. going to put some Cross Climate Commercials on my work van soon... be interesting to see how much difference they make.
I have BFG ATK02 on the FWD camper.. but try and keep that away from snow :-/

Dmax already has good BGF AT's, so looking at chains to supplement that. Fresh snow is usually manageable with just good tyres, its when you get properly compacted snow on the lanes that haven't been gritted or ploughed, then that can make hills impassable with any tyre.

Bear in mind we are in the far southwest and only get snow once every 2-3 years at most. Its just a bloody nuisance when we do as I am responsible for a dozens folks welfare... and making decisions on whether they should leave home / go home / stay home. And usually pay the price if s**t goes wrong. The best snow is the stuff that arrives on Saturday and melted by Sunday.