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Heavy snow and rain can suddenly turn a regular road into an impossible mud track, except there won’t be any mud to drive on here! Unless your tires are new and the treads are not worn out yet, driving on snow and slippery roads is indeed impossible. Even with good and new tires, speed and handling of the vehicle are often hampered. Driving on steep mountain passes, hill stations and roads on high elevations in such conditions can be really risky and dangerous. Snow chains, though not known to many people, act as guardian angels in such snowy and wet conditions, offering excellent handling of vehicles and traction to tires. Necessity Having snow chains ever ready in your vehicle has been really important for the following reasons • Heavy snowfall can strike anytime during bad weather conditions • It is neither safe to drive without snow chains nor safe to halt your vehicle in one place if the snowfall is about to get very heavy • Snow chains can penetrate deep into the ice and provides the thrust the vehicle body needs to move forward • Snow chains, increase the traction of tires up to 300%, in turn increasing the handling of the vehicle. Buying Follow each of these steps without fail to buy snow chains that fit perfectly and serve the purpose • Snow chains are always attached to the drive wheels. So before heading to look for one know if your vehicle is a front wheel drive vehicle or rear wheel drive vehicle. • Next step is to measure your tire to perfection. Note down the tire width, height ratio and diameter of the wheel which are respectively the first, second and third numbers in a string of numbers and letters marked on your tire. • Choose strong and reliable chains that match your tire measurements from a reputed manufacturer. • Make sure to check how perfectly it fits on your tire and whether you have chosen the right one by driving the vehicle with the snow chains on for a short distance. • Choosing snow chains that don’t fit perfectly will only increase your burden, reduce your speed and prove to be worthless. So be very careful while measuring your tire and choosing snow chains of the right measurements. Installing Again, follow these steps with at most precision and patience. • Though installing snow chains on tires seems effortless, it isn’t easy as said. First and foremost, bad weather, snowfall and cold shall dampen your mood and make the installation really hard for you. So anticipate a bad weather well beforehand and dress appropriately. • Spread out the chain quickly and ensure that there are no twists or kinks in the metal. It is advised to do this beforehand itself as just spreading out the chain and removing the mere kinks will eat up most of your precious time and energy out in the cold. • Park your vehicle in a safe, sturdy place and keep the parking brake engaged. • Cover the top three portions of your tire with chains and ensure they are running side-to-side in a line. • Disengage the breaks and move the vehicle only so much that the uncovered portion comes on to the top. Connect this portion too with the rest of the chain and ensure that the links are strong. • Repeat the same steps for other wheels too, and finally after driving a half a mile or so, again tighten the chain links as they will be shifted from their initial positions. And once you pass the snowy road and are sure of a clear road ahead, remove the snow chains. This is because no matter how safe and helpful they are on snow and slippery roads, they are totally unnecessary and pointless on regular roads. Moreover, they reduce the vehicle’s speed and decrease tire life. RUD is one of the world’s largest chain component manufacturers having 140 years of experience in manufacturing and supplying strong and reliable round steel chains, snow chains ( http://www.rud.co.uk/product_categories/snow-chain ) for tire, lifting and lashing equipment and other related engineering system solutions. To know more about installing snow chains, visit Wikihow.com.
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