Snow chains Info. What tires do you chain and when?

It depends whether the socks were used properly or not. They have their limitations, just as chains do.

If they’re used in slush or bare, wet pavement, they’re not being used properly. Same thing with dry pavement.

Last job I had was a perfect example. We had a small fleet, but it made for a good “test group”.
There were about three drivers who would run them dry, spin them, etc., and they were destroyed in no time. And then there were those of us who used them properly, we were able to get up to three seasons out of them.

 

Studded chains, they are typically for off-road or logging applications. Yes they are very expensive, we have a customer that sells them, on a lark I asked what they cost. IIRC, 4 yrs ago when I asked, 2 sets was around $400. The down side, they are not legal to run on the highway, dry pavement will chew the studs down, and at the same time, the studs will tear up the asphalt. In Colorado, if CDOT catches you running them on the pavement, they'll have you ticketed for them.

 

Go climb Vail, Eisenhower, Donner or any other pass. Not uncommon to start off in wet, then move to slush, then finally snow/ice, but with intermixed patches of dry or wet thrown in. Two weeks ago, I chained on Vail, chain law was up from the 178 to the 191, it was wet from the 178 to the 185, and slush from there to the 189, never hit snow/ice till the last two miles. A set of socks would be in ribbons unless you were idling up the hill. The same with this past week, Sunday the 13th, US 160 over Wolf Creek Pass. From the chain station to the first actual bit of snowy pavement was 6 miles, from the chain station to the summit is 11 miles. Between that chain station and the snow, it was dry or a little melt off, with a dry tunnel to go thru, I contemplated not chaining till I hit snow, but the two trucks taking chains off said there was a Trooper parked on the side of the road just past the tunnel. Autosocks would have been shredded driving on dry pavement for 6 miles.

 

Then that’s obviously a case where the socks can’t be used. As far as “any other pass”, we regularly went over Snoqualmie pass, in fact the driver who got the most life out of his socks went over nightly. But he knew how to take care of them.

Look, whatever a driver decides is best for him or her doesn’t matter to me, but to make a blanket statement they the socks won’t last isn’t accurate.

 

My boss has me carry chains but says never to use them. I drive Oregon/ Washington. I call & tell him it’s maditory chain up, he says keep driving. I just drive :/

 

No offense, but I’m not buying this. If it’s mandatory chains, your boss has no say in the matter. Number one, you’re the one who would get the ticket. Number two, you are the captain of that ship: you make the decision about whether you use the chains, not him. If he says no, then you’re not running.

 

Maybe you missed the part where I said that "I don't chain up". I run the I-5 90% of the time, and when chain restrictions go up, more often than not they're lifted within an hour or two. I carry them to be compliant with the law, nothing else.

 

I ran them for two seasons and they still looked new other than the paint was gone. Studs were still in decent shape going into this winter when I got out of that truck. I’d throw one set of 3 railers and get down the road. They were awesome.

 

That’s cool. Is he going to pay your ticket also?

 

Wow. do they follow you to unchain later for that price??