# Snow Tires or Chains



## huntingbuddy (Sep 10, 2007)

Last night I was coming home from work at around 3:30 AM From West Jordan to Highland. It was by far the worst and scariest experience I have had driving in the snow. I played bumper curb with my car in one place, I could barely get up the hill in front of cabelas on the way to highland and I sorta went off the road, not to mention visibility across SR-92 was about 150 ft So my question is this should I get studded snow tires or chains for my car.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

Unless you want to put the chains on and pull them off when ever they are needed I would suggest the studded snow tires. 

You might also just want to look into a set of cable chains as a just in case you need them. 

As the old saying goes "It's better to have them and not need them than to need them and not have them"


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

Depends too on your car. Some cars don't have enough clearance in the wheel-well for chains. Chains are certainly a cheaper alternative. And you only use them when you need them. 90% of the winter, you don't need your studded tires either. My own preference is that I have a set of chains for each car I own. In the last 9 years of living in Utah, I've chained up one of my vehicles once. And truth be known, by 2:00 PM the day after the storm, I didn't need them. But I don't have many hills to/from my house either.


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## Wind In His Hair (Dec 31, 2009)

On my 2WD cars I have always kept two full sets of rims and tires, one set for winter and the other for summer. The nicer of the two sets of rims would wear the summer tires, and the older rims would have snows mounted to them. Having two sets of rims also means not going to the tire shop twice a year and paying to get tires mounted each time, because they can be changed at home with a jack and a lug wrench. Also, it's the exact same amount of storage space taken up whether a tire is mounted on a rim or not, just more weight. You can usually find good deals on stock rims on ksl.com and stuff like that. 

I've kept chains on hand in case of emergency, but have only chained up once during a storm that I can remember (and even then it was probably just for the experience). My pops always told us it's better to have something and not need it than it is to need it and not have it. 

If you are one of those diehard skier types that has to get up the canyon during restricted access, then chains or 4x4 is a must. You'll get turned away if all you have is 2WD and snow tires.


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

Assuming front wheel drive, all you need are two snow tires on the front, not all shops will sell you only two, like Costco. Chains are an absolute waste on a car speaking of damage done to the car, having to mess with them, etc.


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## FishNaked (Apr 15, 2009)

Snow tires for a car...and you don't need chains on a truck driving around on the roads if your 4wd works...only slip on the chains in the back country and off road.


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## campfire (Sep 9, 2007)

Critter said:


> Unless you want to put the chains on and pull them off when ever they are needed I would suggest the studded snow tires.
> 
> You might also just want to look into a set of cable chains as a just in case you need them.
> 
> As the old saying goes "It's better to have them and not need them than to need them and not have them"


+1 What he said! In other words .........both.


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## mikevanwilder (Nov 11, 2008)

Huge29 said:


> Assuming front wheel drive, all you need are two snow tires on the front, not all shops will sell you only two, like Costco. Chains are an absolute waste on a car speaking of damage done to the car, having to mess with them, etc.


I agree with chains being a waste. If you must have something snow cables are the way to go. They won't damage the car and for paved roads and some dirt roads work just as good as chains.


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