snow chains.............None will work????!!!!

Tony_H wrote:Ise, for heavens sake, we are not taking about performance cars, just your average A4 estate or BMW 3 series.
I dont care what you think or what your opinion is, fact is nearly every car i saw had plain black steel wheels on with winter tyres.

and no one at all cares about your opinion, facts are facts, physics are physics and if I were you I'd stop loudly and belligerently advertising you don't understand

Chap1978 wrote:Hi all,

Just one point to watch out for is that the chains do not go anywhere near your brake pipes. I brought chains for my bmw x5 and was told that my car can only have chains on the rear. The reason being that if put on the front the chain will catch the brake pipe and most probably rip it off. Result being no brakes!!!

When u get them fit them in daylight and get your head behind the wheel and make sure they can't catch anything otherwise you may have more problems!!!

Ohh and guess what..... They never came out of my boot!!!

Have a great trip

Chap

very true, I've heard of some people getting huge bills for damage to their cars from ill-fitting chains, for me it's not worth the risk.

Sounds like an attempt at upselling. I've hired chains before for a passat (It was either a 2003 or 4 version) and had no problems fitting them. We only needed to identify the actual tyre size (as seen on the edging of the tyre) to find the right sizze chain.

thanks for the responses....didnt mean to start a heated debate.

We havent got winter tyres on the car, nor do I intend to buy winter tyres for just 1 week of driving, in fact do they actually sell them in the uk? i have never been asked by the tyre shop if i want winter or summer tyres.

My main concern is that we dont get stuck in the snow. We dont intend to drive the car other than from Amsterdam to Niederau and then park it and start it back up 1 week later for the return journey. we will not be taking it anywhere else! not even within Niederau. So I will buy my cheap snow chains and hope they fit if needed. although from what I have read, and what we will be using them for I am hoping we will not be needing to get them out the box.

karen

karen72 wrote:thanks for the responses....didnt mean to start a heated debate.

We havent got winter tyres on the car, nor do I intend to buy winter tyres for just 1 week of driving, in fact do they actually sell them in the uk? i have never been asked by the tyre shop if i want winter or summer tyres.

My main concern is that we dont get stuck in the snow. We dont intend to drive the car other than from Amsterdam to Niederau and then park it and start it back up 1 week later for the return journey. we will not be taking it anywhere else! not even within Niederau. So I will buy my cheap snow chains and hope they fit if needed. although from what I have read, and what we will be using them for I am hoping we will not be needing to get them out the box.

karen

When we lived in the UK I wouldn't have dreamed of having winter tyres, now after living in Alpine countries for 12 years if I went back to the UK I would probably have some particularly if we went back to the Peak District. If you keep a car 3 or 4 years you'll probably get through a couple of sets of tyres anyway so using a different set in winter is not a huge extra cost. Steel or alloy wheels depends on your car, many people in Europe are using the wrong wheels and won't find out until they hit the brakes at speed so some care is required there.

I thought for N people had mentioned it was possible to drive to the bottom and get a ride up to the station if the road was bad which sounds like a good idea.

Ise wrote -

'and no one at all cares about your opinion, facts are facts, physics are physics and if I were you I'd stop loudly and belligerently advertising you don't understand'

But whose facts?

I tried to stay out of this but there you go again, with your patronising and arrogant dismissal of peoples opinions!

I'm sure everyone would agree this site is open to ALL reasonable opinions not just yours!!! :thumbdown:

ise wrote:

Tony_H wrote:Ise, for heavens sake, we are not taking about performance cars, just your average A4 estate or BMW 3 series.
I dont care what you think or what your opinion is, fact is nearly every car i saw had plain black steel wheels on with winter tyres.

and no one at all cares about your opinion, facts are facts, physics are physics and if I were you I'd stop loudly and belligerently advertising you don't understand

You completely missed the point. I was not talking about opinions. I saw what I saw, ie non alloy wheels, no trims, just plain black. Please, do share with us what metal compound these might have been if they are in fact not steel, as I am sure if anyone knows, you do :roll:

Tony_H wrote:

ise wrote:

Tony_H wrote:Ise, for heavens sake, we are not taking about performance cars, just your average A4 estate or BMW 3 series.
I dont care what you think or what your opinion is, fact is nearly every car i saw had plain black steel wheels on with winter tyres.

and no one at all cares about your opinion, facts are facts, physics are physics and if I were you I'd stop loudly and belligerently advertising you don't understand

You completely missed the point. I was not talking about opinions. I saw what I saw, ie non alloy wheels, no trims, just plain black. Please, do share with us what metal compound these might have been if they are in fact not steel, as I am sure if anyone knows, you do :roll:

If you use steel wheels on cars with fairly modest performance then you will adversely impact braking performance, that's extremely dangerous when travelling at autobahn speed. Alloy wheels were originally fitted to cars because the alloy used has properties that dissipate heat under hard braking, that's why alloy wheels have spokes to increase surface area and allow the wheels to cool under hard barking. And that's why in some countries you're not allowed to use steel wheels on some cars.

I don't doubt for a moment people who don't understand this have the wrong wheels on their cars or that you've seen them. That doesn't alter the fact that when they hit their brakes hard at an autobahn speed they're in for a surprise.

If someone tells you they've a car with large low profile tyres on then it's extremely likely, unless they're a 17 year old chav with a pimped Clio, that the car cannot safely use steel wheels which takes us back to the original question.