Here's the lowdown, IMHO:

1. xB on stockers is great in snow
2. Blizzaks kick ax
3. DOT only reqs chains on commercial vehicles, and can recommend chains on pass.
4. Chains would be a BAD idea
5. Chains are excellent paint removers.

Matt's totally right. the chains will come off, interfere with steering, and likely negate the positive effects of VSC on the xB. I live in Colorado and go up the hill quite a bit.
I have never seen chains required on a passenger vehicle, and the times Ii've seen chains required on I-70 for commercial vehicles (read: buses and rigs!), no sane person should be on the road doing more than 20.

The primary reason the big rigs need chains is to climb the pitch. If I ever saw a vehicle that heavy slide in the least, I would pull off the road and find a place to wait it out. Even in Colorado, this is RARE.

Also, if you think they occasionally allow 4wds to get thru, get a fake shift **** and tell the officer that it's in 4! Okay, seriously, they don't stop vehicles and inspect for chains (unless commercial), and if you got stopped you should tell the officer politely that as an operator, it is your responsibility to operate the vehicle safely.
Your vehicle is equipped with VSC, and front wheel drive, and chains on the drive wheels interfere with safe operation of your vehicle. furthermore, you are responsible for any damage caused by chains or lack thereof, and by operating the vehicle under these conditions you accept this responsibility. I bet they'd give you a warning.

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yea right

 

I've put chains on my xB numerous times to get to the resorts around here. Use the rubber tensioner to keep things tight and drive slowly. I've seen so many people use chains or cable type chains without tensioners and I just laugh, you know they'll be damaging something when they come apart..

Here in Nevada and California they check if you have chains on and they do have chains mandatory and chains or snow tires required depending on the conditions.

Here is the product i use.

Shur Grip by SCC Part number SZ323 ... Z designed cable chain which meets S clearance. Its at Pep Boys. should be around 60 dollars . Lasted me 2 seasons and counting.

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I used cables but not chains??? Are we crying about chains? Do they even make chains anymore???

lol..I've used cables and was fine. Drove great up the hill to Reno pass the storm at Boreal.

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I got the same ones from PepBoys for our Tahoe trip over Christmas. It dupmed snow on us before we headed home so we had to throw them on. Ther are the "cable" type where it's a wire that goes across with little coils of metal on them. Went on on about 2 minutes per side and came off even easier. We drove about ten miles on a unplowed backroads with 6 inches on the ground as well as 10 miles on freeways with a mixture of slush/snow till chain control ended. The xB performed great!

 

I remember my school bus in high school when I lived in Alaska had what ammounted to medival flails mounted under the rear tires that would spin around when it was snowing to toss true to life chains under the rear tires for traction. When there wasn't any snow the chains would drag on the road under the rear bumper. I got a close look one day and they where about the most heavy duty link chains I'd ever seen that wasn't used for a cruise ship boat anchor.

As far as cables vs. chains, I think 'car chains' is just a term used for any augmenting device attatched to car tires for traction in snow, be it chains, cables, spikes, or hampsters.

 

Hey TJ,did you have to remove your wheel covers for the chains to be tight enough? I have the stock set of rims and tires that I'm using in the Winter, but they have the wheel covers on.

 

The cable type specifically tell you NOT to use tensioners. Mine fit nice and snug the first time and after 20 miles hadn't come loose at all.

 

Ok, I finally get the chance to use snow chains on my box. Below are pictures from Mammoth Mountain in CA (yes, we have snow in Cali).

I used cable chains, and used the rubber tensioners. I took the risk and everything went fine. I drove up to 30 mph without any problems, but it was really noisy, as the chains hit the inner plastic pieces. I think I need to make it a little tighter next time, even though the user manual says not use any rubber tensioners.

My only advice, use chains at your own risk!

 

glad it worked out for ya!

How was the mountain?

 

Ahh, Mammoth is awesome... but i dont know how it is compared to Colorado!

 

Yeah all this hissy-fit over chains why not just use cables I have used those before on a trip to Tahoe and worked fine

 

HoTBoX009, a couple of questions:

1. What is the Brand and model # of your cables, and from what store?

2. Do you have stock tires? If not what size?

3. What made you put on the tensioners if the manual said they weren't needed?

 

Yes, a fwd car can drive with chains no problem. If they are whipping the wheelwell then they are the wrong size chains for the tires. You can find a lot of information on chains and their correct applications at www.tirechain.com, and they even have nice measurement diagrams to show correct amount of clearance needed for class "S" and "sub-S" (smaller clearance than even class S). You can get either cables or diamond-pattern chains for class s or sub-s. Friends of mine who live in snowy climes keep a set of tires with chains already mounted handy in the garage and swap out when needed. One trick to getting tight chains on a tire is to mount the chains while the tire is off the car, deflate slightly, snug down and then properly inflate. them chains be snug fer sure then.

 

I used the chain to go to Reno few weeks back. I have the stock tire with no drop and everything was fine. I got my chains from local Autozone....

 

I got the chains from my cousin, I think he got it at Pep Boys. I have stock wheels. I had to use tensioners because they are not made for our stock wheel size. As mentioned by other posters, if you have the correct size, you should have no problems.

 

 

Snow chains?? I bought some for our Corolla, but then after a cursory check, took them off and sent them back.
Jump to about 3 1/2 mins into this video. It shows the check you MUST do to see if snow chains make sense on any car


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