Auto Sock v Tire Chains

[bigceltic]

Good Morning all. Hope you had a great Christmas. I am contemplating purchasing a traction aid for my truck due to the CO passenger vehicle chain law ("When the Passenger Vehicle Chain Law is in effect, every vehicle on the roadway must have chains or an alternative traction device (like AutoSock)"). I have used chains in the past, but had one break and do a number on the side of my bed. Anyone have experience with the Auto Sock or similar? Or any recommendations for the best standard chains if auto sock not recommended? Thanks in advance,
George

 

[NIsaacs]

Just looking at them, with no experience, I would say in deep wet snow or if it were slushy they would be worse than a good set of tires. If the road was solid ice or hard snow pack they might work. I would just get a set of chains. Stay away from the v-bar, they are too severe on pavement. Peerless is good.

Nick

 

[MichaelOverfield]

Good Morning all. Hope you had a great Christmas. I am contemplating purchasing a traction aid for my truck due to the CO passenger vehicle chain law ("When the Passenger Vehicle Chain Law is in effect, every vehicle on the roadway must have chains or an alternative traction device (like AutoSock)"). I have used chains in the past, but had one break and do a number on the side of my bed. Anyone have experience with the Auto Sock or similar? Or any recommendations for the best standard chains if auto sock not recommended? Thanks in advance,
George

Peerless makes good chains, check out Autotrac. If you can afford it, have a set of studded snow tires and you won't need to use the chains.. assuming they are legal there. I have studded tires on a FWD Chevy Cruze Diesel, and it went up and down a very steep snow/ice road where SUVs and 4x4 trucks were stuck. Studded snow tires work, I also have chains but with those tires I've never needed to use them.

 

[BarryG]

Colorado has a stepped traction law 4x4 gets you through a couple of levels snowflake rated tires are required also but the final stage requires chains or socks. However I have driven several hundred thousand miles in this state and have never seen them enact that level of traction law by the time it gets to that point they close the road because so many people ignore the law and stuck and clog the road making it impassable chains or not or the plows can’t keep up at all due to the very significant snowfall

 

[Hoefler]

We use Z-Cables on all of our fire trucks with great success.

 

[bigceltic]

Colorado has a stepped traction law 4x4 gets you through a couple of levels snowflake rated tires are required also but the final stage requires chains or socks. However I have driven several hundred thousand miles in this state and have never seen them enact that level of traction law by the time it gets to that point they close the road because so many people ignore the law and stuck and clog the road making it impassable chains or not or the plows can’t keep up at all due to the very significant snowfall

This has been my experience as well, but I figured on the off chance I am out skiing and they actually enact the passenger chain law but do not close the road I have a chance to get home.

 

[DonFitzwater]

What ever you do.........if you go the tire chain route, get American made tire chains. I got a new set of V-bar tire chains this fall (500.00 for all 4 corners) and had one immediately break. I was lucky and was going very slowly when it happened and I saw it immediately. Upon inspection, I found that the V bar section that's welded to the cross links was welded with way too much heat (too deep penetration) and the links were burned most of the way through. Further inspection revealed one bag was made in USA and one in China. You can guess which on was poorly assembled. I returned the Chinese chains and after some discussion with my dealer, they exchanged them with a set of USA made chains. No more problems since.

 

[Tuesdak]

This has been my experience as well, but I figured on the off chance I am out skiing and they actually enact the passenger chain law but do not close the road I have a chance to get home.

You are really better off just staying the night(s) when it's that bad in Colorado and watching the National Guard rescue people on the news. (Recall Blizzard '97 anyone?) Prepare for it - sleeping bag, pillow, fire kit, and dry food should be in your truck at all times. Other people get stuck and in the way, avalanches have been known to close roads and strand people for days On The Freeway... Just saying sometimes it's better to ride it out without leaving known shelter. Esp when you get stuck needing chains there will be lots of others stuck as well - you are on your own at that point.

 

[Killer223]

i just drove Vail pass this last weekend, the commercial vehicles had to have chains, but passenger was just snow tires, or 4x4. i have an all season Goodyear wrengler adventure on my truck and zero issues. lots of other were off the road though.

 

[AH64ID]

If the road conditions warrant chains you want chains, not an auto sock. Auto socks are great for cars on ice, and that’s about it.

I carry 3 pairs of chains in the winter. 2 pairs of HD link chains with extra cross links with V-bars, which are too aggressive for most paved road chain requirement and one set of standard HD link chains that are mianly for Highway chain requirements.

If you have quality chains, use double tensioners, and zip tie the extra inside links back you shouldn’t have any issues of you don’t drive too fast or on bare pavement.

My rule of thumb is if I have to chain up for DOT then I’ll put the nonV-bars on the front. If I’m chaining up because I fell the road conditions warrant it then I’m putting all 4 V-bars on.

For what it’s worth I’ve never had to chain up on a paved road but I’ve chained up lots on dirt roads, sometimes with as little as 4 inches. I also carry drag chains for any trailer I tow in winter. I’ve put drag chains on the trailer and left the truck unchained too.

You’ll be happier with real link chains if you ever have to actually put them on.

 

[jgillott]

I purchased a set of chains from https://www.tirechain.com/ for our plow truck. They are somewhat local to me here in PA. Very high quality and pretty much have something available for any application you can imagine.

 

[MP in WA]

With 30+ years in the fire service I think I have something to add here that all our members might find valuable. In the community where I work the city crews typically manage to keep the main artery streets plowed. The problem is the area is very hilly and we need to be chained up for the 80% of roads that aren't cleared. So, driving on pavement with the chains to an emergency often resulted in breaking cross link chains. Because we couldn't stop to repair them the resulting damage to the truck bodies could be quite severe. Fortunately we were able to find a suitable replacement product that eliminated the problem. St. Pierre Manufacturing Corporation has a roller chain design wherein the cross link chains roll due to the design of the cross link to rail link connector. This allows for even wear on the cross links without flat spotting. Also, the cross link chains are replaceable without removing the chain set off the tire. With this snow chain set up we eliminated winter damage to the rigs. Here's a link: stpierreusa.com

 

[AH64ID]

With 30+ years in the fire service I think I have something to add here that all our members might find valuable. In the community where I work the city crews typically manage to keep the main artery streets plowed. The problem is the area is very hilly and we need to be chained up for the 80% of roads that aren't cleared. So, driving on pavement with the chains to an emergency often resulted in breaking cross link chains. Because we couldn't stop to repair them the resulting damage to the truck bodies could be quite severe. Fortunately we were able to find a suitable replacement product that eliminated the problem. St. Pierre Manufacturing Corporation has a roller chain design wherein the cross link chains roll due to the design of the cross link to rail link connector. This allows for even wear on the cross links without flat spotting. Also, the cross link chains are replaceable without removing the chain set off the tire. With this snow chain set up we eliminated winter damage to the rigs. Here's a link: stpierreusa.com

Are you with Redmond?

I have a buddy who works for Redmond that was telling me about those.

 

[MP in WA]

No. Retired from Edmonds.