I was just wondering what brand or styles or whatever of tire chains that people on this forum might suggest. I have 33x12.5 tires, and intend to continue running this size of tire for quite some time in the future.
In particular, there's a place nearby that's doing a special on "Weissenfel" brand of tire chains right now. Are these good?
I want a set of chains that will work on very inclement weather roads, but would also work off-road on the off-chance I decide to try winter-offroading this year or next year.
I can't help you with info on chains but I would suggest that you consider narrower rubber for winter... 35 years in the great white north, 110,000 mi/yr for the last 10 years and I've never used chains. Wide rubber floats and is your last choice for inclement weather.
I have to agree. These 12.5 MT tires suck on ice. They're ok in snow (when the tread is still reasonably deep on them).
I currently don't have the funds (or the desire to store all those extra tires) to go out and buy a whole extra set of tires for the winter, and I like my 12.5 tires for both how they perform off-road, and just as much for how they look (so, for those of you who would tell me that the narrower 9.5 or 10.5 tires would work as well off-road, I say I don't care...they don't look as good on my Jeep!).
Therefore, I thought maybe having at least one pair of chains on-hand for that off-chance emergency situation might be a good way to compensate for my wide-patch high-flotation tires, as well as for if I wanted to do any snowbusting in the winter sometime.
Our group went on a snow ride last winter in about 2-3' of packed snow. The guys with chains would dig down till they bottomed-out and would then be stuck. Us guys with lockers (no chains) would float across the top and keep going.
Man I was with one guy as a passenger in one fall run and he insisted on chains on the back for the mud....
Damn good job he has a receiver winch with front and back ports....
If you need chains to get through, you shouldn't be there. We got about
1/4 mile in 3 hours after he put the chains on.
I finally convinced him to turn around....
On road is a different story, totally. Some folks have to be mobile, period.
I contracted to a major newspaper for 9 years as a service tech and had to be on site from 12:00 midnight to 4:00 AM. Not showing up for a shift was grounds for dismissal. Ice or snow storms no matter, the paper was going out.
Even so, I have been in conditions where I couldn't walk safely to my CJ7, yet it still motored on fine in 4x4 running BFG 33x9.5 muds. That happened this spring for almost 2 weeks. The plumbing contractor I now contract for had me in my CJ7 follow him in his work van with all the parts to all the jobs, just to make sure he could get there or better get out. Usually I run shotgun with him.
I run tall skinny tires on my CJ7, so I don't need to spin to get going, fat tires spin easy so chains just make them drop straight down.
I haven't ever done any trails in snow. So I am not too sure what to expect. And, last year's blizzard here in Denver was not just the most snow I've ever seen personally, but also my first true winter anywhere where snow actually falls (I just moved to Denver from Texas last year). So, after 4 feet of snow fell in < 48 hrs, and I could no longer bust out of the neighborhood (I could still make it out after
2+ feet had fallen), I decided that maybe I needed to invest in chains "in case this ever happens again, so I'll really be unstoppable"...lol. Maybe I just need to accept that no one in their right mind can get out in a blizzard that just dumped 4' of snow. Nevermind where I possibly thought I was gonna go if I made it out...
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