snow chains

Anything relating to Wheels, Tires, and Brake options and upgrades...

Moderator: volvite

User avatar
V8Pathy
Posts: 196
Joined: Sat Jul 28, 2007 9:20 pm
Location: Los Angeles, CA

snow chains

Postby V8Pathy » Mon Nov 05, 2007 12:46 pm

thinking of taking the Pathfinder to Mammoth Lakes this winter to go snowboarding. I have a 4x4 but I might need snow chains..which ones do you recommend ? remember I have 18" wheels.

thanks !
Last edited by V8Pathy on Tue Nov 06, 2007 2:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.


User avatar
RacerZX
Site Admin
Posts: 869
Joined: Wed Jun 14, 2006 10:00 am
Location: Silicon Valley, CA
Contact:

Postby RacerZX » Mon Nov 05, 2007 2:43 pm

Wheel diameter shouldn't matter, only tire diameter, right?

I bought a set from pepboys last year but never used them and now have bigger AT tires, I might even still have them around somewhere...

boogyman
Posts: 519
Joined: Tue Jul 04, 2006 6:04 am
Location: Jersey

Postby boogyman » Tue Nov 06, 2007 6:12 am

The cops don't make you put on chains if you have 4wd. Although if you have all-seasons on, I would definitely invest in some.

User avatar
blink32
Sponsored Member
Posts: 898
Joined: Wed Sep 13, 2006 6:38 am
Location: World Traveler

Postby blink32 » Tue Nov 06, 2007 8:58 am

I thought there were routes that no matter what, if they stopped you for chains you had to put them on unless you had studded tires? Although it's been a long time since I've been through the passes in N Cal so I can be wrong.

User avatar
NVSteve
Sponsored Member
Posts: 1987
Joined: Thu Feb 01, 2007 11:27 am
Location: Salt Lake City

Postby NVSteve » Tue Nov 06, 2007 11:56 am

blink32 wrote:I thought there were routes that no matter what, if they stopped you for chains you had to put them on unless you had studded tires? Although it's been a long time since I've been through the passes in N Cal so I can be wrong.
Some of the smaller, less used, out of the way highways have required 4x4 only, but I've never seen 4x4 with chains only. You'd have to live in the middle of nowhere, with no plow support whatsoever.

User avatar
NVSteve
Sponsored Member
Posts: 1987
Joined: Thu Feb 01, 2007 11:27 am
Location: Salt Lake City

Re: snow chains

Postby NVSteve » Tue Nov 06, 2007 12:01 pm

V8Pathy wrote:thinking of taking the Pathfinder for Mammoth Lakes this winter to go snowboarding. I have a 4x4 but I might need snow chains..which ones do you recommend ? remember I have 18" wheels.

thanks !
I seriously wouldn't worry about it. If you are coming up 395 from LA, you will only hit the real snow once you leave Bishop on the short way up to Mammoth. I used to drive from Reno to LA every winter & trust me, Mammoth is extremely tame in comparison with the rest of 395 between there and Reno. They keep Mammoth plowed quite well. Unless you arrive in the middle of a really good storm, I don't even think you'd have to pop it in 4x4.

User avatar
blink32
Sponsored Member
Posts: 898
Joined: Wed Sep 13, 2006 6:38 am
Location: World Traveler

Postby blink32 » Tue Nov 06, 2007 12:05 pm

NVSteve wrote:Some of the smaller, less used, out of the way highways have required 4x4 only, but I've never seen 4x4 with chains only. You'd have to live in the middle of nowhere, with no plow support whatsoever.
Nice. The whole reason I went with the AT tires I've got was to ensure smooth sailing during my off-season travels. Didn't want to have to deal with carrying chains also.

User avatar
NVSteve
Sponsored Member
Posts: 1987
Joined: Thu Feb 01, 2007 11:27 am
Location: Salt Lake City

Postby NVSteve » Tue Nov 06, 2007 12:41 pm

blink32 wrote:
Nice. The whole reason I went with the AT tires I've got was to ensure smooth sailing during my off-season travels. Didn't want to have to deal with carrying chains also.
I have no idea about the east coast though, maybe there are strange rules out there applying to snow. It honestly wouldn't surprise me.

User avatar
blink32
Sponsored Member
Posts: 898
Joined: Wed Sep 13, 2006 6:38 am
Location: World Traveler

Postby blink32 » Tue Nov 06, 2007 12:50 pm

shiz, out here, if the road entrance isn't closed.......good luck and godspeed. I've driven through rediculous storms out here when noone else was on the road in Escorts and Sentra's. It surprised me to NOT see any signs that said anything like "chains required" out here after living here for a few years. I have been through a few State's Of Emergencies where they told everyone not to go to work and don't drive anywhere unless its critical but even then the roads weren't necessarily closed down and I never heard of any vehicular ability restrictions.

boogyman
Posts: 519
Joined: Tue Jul 04, 2006 6:04 am
Location: Jersey

Postby boogyman » Tue Nov 06, 2007 2:28 pm

When I was on the west coast, I usually went on I80 towards Tahoe. My friend had an explorer and they didn't even stop him, I guess they thought he had 4wd, because it was big. NJ is a joke. They close everything at the hint of snow and don't run out of milk, because everybody bought it all at the first forecast by Hurricane. "storm of the century" he said and I was at work watching the dusting of snow. I grew up in Maine and they didn't cancel school unless a couple of buses slid off the road. Of course they actually had snow tires on them.

I wouldn't worry about chains if I were you. Just look out for the other people going to fast in the snow. I had a 9 hour trip back that should have taken 2, because of some idiots. I even saw a car run into the snowblower on a dump truck.

Sorry for the rant. They are talking snow again, of course it will be a dusting in the Pocono's. So everyone will be overly cautious and buy out the stores.

User avatar
V8Pathy
Posts: 196
Joined: Sat Jul 28, 2007 9:20 pm
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Postby V8Pathy » Tue Nov 06, 2007 2:43 pm

thanks for all the feedbacks ! :D

User avatar
NVSteve
Sponsored Member
Posts: 1987
Joined: Thu Feb 01, 2007 11:27 am
Location: Salt Lake City

Postby NVSteve » Tue Nov 06, 2007 3:16 pm

blink32 wrote:shiz, out here, if the road entrance isn't closed.......good luck and godspeed. I've driven through rediculous storms out here when noone else was on the road in Escorts and Sentra's. It surprised me to NOT see any signs that said anything like "chains required" out here after living here for a few years. I have been through a few State's Of Emergencies where they told everyone not to go to work and don't drive anywhere unless its critical but even then the roads weren't necessarily closed down and I never heard of any vehicular ability restrictions.
I've experienced a few of the "stay off the streets, businesses are closed" type storms in the past. Since it usually scared everyone to death, driving on the roads was actually a piece of cake. Driving in fresh snow is quite easy. The only problem with driving in the snow is if there are other motorists on the streets, which causes the snow to melt, then re-freeze, making the drive more of a long slide than anything else.

We had 17" of snow in town back around '90 or so. That wasn't a problem, but there was a cold front attached to the back end of the storm. -20 degree low temps for the following 2 weeks. The first day of the snow, people were out driving in it, creating the usual gigantic ruts, which then ended up freezing into solid ice (tearing up chunks of the road, 12" ice ruts, etc). It took about 4 weeks to get rid of all the snow-especially the 12" of ice underneath.

One of the guys who used to work with me is from Wisconsin, to which he ended up returning. He used to go on and on about how we don't get any snow out west, specifically in the Salt Lake area. I had to pull up the annual precip & snow totals online to show him that we get more snow here than he did in Wisconsin. The only difference being that our temperatures usually go way up after it clears (if we don't have a smog inversion) and melts everything pronto. Wisconsin just doesn't warm up during the winter months so he sees snow all winter long & just equates that to having had tons of snowfall.

It all depends on where you live. Utah took in a bunch of Katrina refugees & it seemed like there was something in the paper all the time about them, mostly that they had never seen snow before (obligatory pics of them in the snow included).

Did I mention I love the snow?

User avatar
blink32
Sponsored Member
Posts: 898
Joined: Wed Sep 13, 2006 6:38 am
Location: World Traveler

Postby blink32 » Tue Nov 06, 2007 5:31 pm

Lol, I know what you mean. Got my license in Southern Cali and moved by 18 so I never hit any weather until my first Monsoon in Texas. Then straight into the fire with the crap weather in Jersey. Took a year of seasons but driving in the snow is the best fun anyone can have. I purposefully go out and find a place where traffic is super light and just get on it to see what the limits are so I know if I need to take a corner at 5mph or if 10 will generally suffice. Same with the rain so I know how my tires and vehicle will react in any kind of situation.

Snow driving is the best though. In-law's have a farm and I'm waiting for the first real snow fall of the year to go out there and have a little fun.

Gray
Posts: 750
Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2007 12:39 pm
Location: xxx

Postby Gray » Thu Nov 08, 2007 9:38 am

xxx
Last edited by Gray on Wed Nov 05, 2008 2:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
NVSteve
Sponsored Member
Posts: 1987
Joined: Thu Feb 01, 2007 11:27 am
Location: Salt Lake City

Postby NVSteve » Thu Nov 08, 2007 10:01 am

Greybrick wrote:Here are the California regulations for entering a 'chain control area'.

http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/traffops/truck ... allweather
If I have 4-wheel-drive, do I need to carry chains?

Yes. Even though weather conditions may not warrant the use of chains on 4-wheel-drive vehicles at a particular time, to enter a chain control area, you must have a set of chains (for one drive axle) for your vehicle in your possession. If conditions worsen or you have trouble controlling your vehicle, you must stop and install the chains.


I have never seen or heard of anyone being checked or told they needed to have chains, but then again, I'm not talking about people who own pseudo-4x4's like Subarus or Kias.

R-3: Chains are required on all vehicles without exception.

R-1 and R-2 are the most common conditions. A highway will often be closed before an R-3 condition is imposed.


Never seen or heard of a R-3 condition either. The road is either open with controls, or closed. I-80 gets shut down quite often in the winter during heavy storms because the plows can't keep up with the snowfall. Most of the other highways (not freeways) have little blinking signs saying you need to chain up, but there isn't anyone around controlling this. I-80/Donner Pass is a huge ordeal when chains are required. It has its own micro-economy during the winter, with hundreds of full-time chain installers, plow drivers, huge CHP presence, etc.


Return to “R51 Brakes, Tires, and Wheels”