Hey there I know its a little early but i wanted to know what you guys think about tire chains. Up here in Canada it can get pretty tricky on the road especially where i live the city doesn't do a good plow job and of course i don't have a 4x4. This will be the second winter with my truck and i almost got stuck a couple of times and almost went in the ditch so i was wondering if it would be a good idea to put on tire chains. when can i use them and i've seen like rubber chains things that you put on. will they also help with stopping cause i think i only have abs on the back wheels but it doesn't work that great i fishtail all over the place, any ideas?

 

i think the chains would help tremendously...any additional traction is good..and for the ABS, im pretty sure you have ABS on the front, not the rear. I think ABS can only be used with disk brakes, not drum...anywho, when i lived in Utah, we just went to the tire shop and had the little metal studs placed in them, but we also had 4wd.

 

ya i found the rubber ones http://www.sportsimportsltd.com/sncltrsy.html i dunno they seem rather expensive

 

the ABS thing... exaclty opposite .. the rear drums have ABS and the front discs do not.. for MOST models.. especially with the 2WD..you might not even have ABS at all.. but i dont think too many models didnt come with some type of ABS..normally called RWAL for rear wheel anti lock.. you should make sure chains are street legal in your country/province. here in NY and the US i dont think they are legal.. you could try studded snow tires.. ive heard they are great.. also putting weight in the back of the truck during the winter also helps.. i usually run between 420 to 500 lbs in the bed EXTRA added weight to help maintain traction..usually use sand bags bought at a store.. 1.35 a peice.. some guys use cinder blocks.. some guys use bladders filled with water that turns into ice.. this weight should be directly placed over the axle to be most effective.. ive seen some add the weight past the axle between the wheel humps and the tailgate to give more leverage... fulcrum .. stupid physics stuff like that i think they sell stud kits you can add to tires... but they tend to leak really bad since they arnt molded in.. in EXTREME casses i have seen guys run BOLTS through the tires.. like some kind of ice racing setup.. work crazy good but the truck is always parked unless its really snowy out...

 

about your fishtailing, what I do is take a long piece of wood, put it behind on the wheel indents in the bed (on the tailgate side) and stick a couple bags of 50lb rocksalt in there. they don't move because the wood is getting lodged against the wheel indents and it doesn't go anywhere. works pretty good for me.

 

Studded tires usually will do the trick. I just ran snow tires(no studs) on my truck last winter in Northern B.C. I put sand bags in the box and I only had to use 4x4 once. I put studded tires on the car (front wheel drive) for the girlfriend and that thing had zero problems. It actually took half the fun out of driving in the winter as it's traction was quite good, making it hard to do a nice controlled fishtail.

 

Sand bags actually make a HUGE diffrence. I don't need to put the wood back there though, after about a week they're covered in snow and incased in ice so they don't go anywhere. I put 300lbs in the back of mine.

 

same here.. usually i just hose down the bags till they are saturated with water and then leave them over night and theyll useually freeze up nice and are rock solid.. prolly also adds more wieght too..

 

haha i just let my bed fill with snow

 

hey thanks yeah last year i put in those pool things u fill with water but they always moved around so i think i'll try the sand this time, i think it does have some form of abs cause its a laramie slt and the abs light comes on at startup, i think the chains are legal here, i dunno about studs cause its only bad untill they plow which sometimes takes a while/.