tire chains

Give you traction needed to drive through snow.

 

Mostly they're there to pop tires,tear off mud flaps and get wrapped around the brake drum & axle..

 

They make noise, vibration and give those special traction grooves to the pavement.

 

They're ballast.

If you're a tad heavy on the steers and drives you can dump them.

 

There mostly needed in California when they require you to put on max chains for bare pavement.

 

Same thing with the spare tire...lol!!!

 

In all seriousness, for many they are for display so they can operate in a few states through the winter, wether they ever put them is another matter ... but no chains? a ticket ensues and no entry into the state (or over the pass). They have chains just like you have a drivers license. No drivers license? no drive.

 

tires are not perfectly round, the portion touching the road yeilds and spreads out. This is called your contact patch:






Tire chains (and cables) take that wide contact patch and turn it into ribs of very high pressure which dig into ice and hardpacked snow to provide better traction:

 

LMAO ^^^ (contact patch)..double yellow does it again..