Tire Chains...

Given the low profile of the Prius, I'd not bother. If you need chains, you probably shouldn't be driving the Prius in it.

On that note, first "snow" with mine, and it did okay getting home, but couldn't make it up the drive (not surprised). The car generally stunk when it came to keeping the windshield clear. Even on full defrost the wipers and heat wasn't keeping the ice off the glass (like my pickup truck could).

 

Nice write up here.....

DIY: How to Install Snow Tire Chains On Your Prius | Balancing Act

 

I'd be nervous running chains on a Prius just because if they happened to break I think you could do so much damage to the wheel well and surrounding area.

However, I realize some people live and drive in environments where having chains available and using them is not really a matter of choice. And the OP does say "Requires Chains".

My question is it "Requires Chains"? or Requires Traction devices? Because I'm curious about Tire Socks, Sno-Claws, and some of the alternative traction devices available. I've done some looking online and some of the alternatives look interesting. I'd be curious if anyone has tried any of those alternative to chains.

If you are sold or forced to run chains, I don't think it being a Prius would really change the formula much. You want good quality ones, that fit the tires you are running, and you want to install them properly. Then be very, very careful.

I'm probably NOT a good person to attempt to answer this question, as even though I think I need to run snow tires, the winter environment I'm mostly driving in is NOT so extreme that I need chains. And I do think if it got to that level where I live, I'd simply be NOT driving the Prius.

 

I'd second the above, ARE chains mandatory in some places/conditions? Or is it chains OR winter tires? Don't know, and curious.

My guess would be chains are only necessity if you're driving across a spectrum of weather condition, don't want to end up driving snow tires through a desert, for example.

 

Things may have changed, but in the years when I was shopping for chains, I went with chains that had "ice bars" (Vs that bite into ice). For FWD cars, the only recommended "chains" were more like the cable used to make locking cable for bicycles. It would work LIKE a chain, but it was intended to work with the low-profile of most FWD cars. Nowhere near as effective as regular chains.

Doesn't snow bad enough around here to have snow tires on a vehicle.

 

Please add your location to your profile.

Give us a clue about where "around here" is.

 

Nope. I wouldn't recommend them for a Prius. If you can't get there with good winter tires, don't try.

 

Bristol, Virginia

"Bad" snow events (effects lasting a week or more) are something that happen maybe every 5-10 years. A nice snowing might happen every 2-3 years (something that buggers things for a day or two).

 

Yes, California sometimes requires tire chains when there's snow on the roads. Being originally from Wisconsin, I think the conditions where they start to require chains are silly - it's probably only because there are lots of people who drive through the mountains that don't live there, and so don't know how to drive in snow.

There are various requirements that they enforce as the snow gets worse - the first level is "snow tires or traction devices"; the second is "traction devices, or 4WD with snow tires"; the third is "traction devices, no exceptions". The definition of "snow tires" is pretty weak; 6/32 tread, and an M+S label on the sidewall - which even the OEM all-weather tires have. I don't live close enough to the Sierras to regularly have to drive in chain controlled areas, but I've heard that by the time conditions get bad enough to require traction devices on all vehicles, they often just close the road altogether.

And as I've implied, the law says traction devices, which includes chains, cable chains, and alternative devices - they list Spikes Spider as an example. I remember seeing tire socks a long time ago, and they were not approved then - more recently, it seems like they're probably approved, but still at the discretion of the person manning the chain checkpoint (if there is one), who might determine that only chains are sufficient and make you turn around.

I got a set of Thule K-Summit (which would probably fall under the "traction devices" category, since they're not plain chains) cheap from Amazon about 3 years ago - but given that the drought here has meant not much snow, I haven't had to drive through the mountains during a chain control since then. Still hoping for a big snow so we can keep drinking water next year, though...

Personally, I see no issue using low-profile cables or something similar on a Prius (though several friends of mine have torn cable chains to shreds after only a couple uses - maybe they'd last longer if they washed the salt off and thoroughly dried them afterwards, though). Heed the 30 mph speed limit, use care when driving, and it shouldn't be a problem.

 

Alberta is different than California. Law enforcement and highway departments have policies tuned to their particular latitudes and driver clientele. So conditions that might draw no notice in northern Alberta, may produce an officer with a gun standing in the middle of the road enforcing chain requirements on I80 in California.

 

"...an officer with a gun..."

"Put on your tire chains or I'll shoot!"

 

You do have another option: turn around and go back. That is what nearly everyone was doing at Donner Pass when the enforcer waved my old Subaru through the checkpoint. The DOT worker there didn't appear armed, but I've seen armed State Patrol and National Park officers doing the same job here in Washington.

I used to be somewhat facetious with that 'officer with a gun' bit. That was before the killing of NPS Ranger Margaret Anderson on Mount Rainier, by a suspect in a multiple shooting earlier than morning. The perp (an ex-soldier from nearby Joint Base Lewis-McChord, likely with untreated PTSD) blew through a chain checkpoint low on the mountain, then found himself trapped between two patrol vehicles higher up.

Many of my friends knew Margaret through our volunteer work in the Park. I didn't know her, but do know the officer who was staffing the checkpoint in question, and who chased and was also fired upon by the killer.

 

Nothing in real life could be as silly as that sounds.

 

I take it you haven't witnessed this multiple times in multiple places.

I have, though not on your side of the border.

 

This is straight from the Caltrans site..the picture is from the Donner Pass rest stop December 11, 2014.

If I have 4-wheel-drive, do I need to carry chains?

Yes. Even though weather conditions may not warrant the use of chains on 4-wheel-drive vehicles at a particular time, to enter a chain control area, you must have a set of chains (for one drive axle) for your vehicle in your possession. If conditions worsen or you have trouble controlling your vehicle, you must stop and install the chains.


If I have snow tires, do I need to carry chains?

Yes. Even though weather conditions may not warrant the use of chains on passenger vehicles equipped with snow tires at a particular time, to enter a chain control area, you must have a set of chains (one pair) for your vehicle in your possession. If conditions worsen or you have trouble controlling your vehicle, you must stop and install the chains.

 

I'm suspecting that Greg and many of his northern cohorts would not feel that chains are necessary in the particular conditions shown in that picture. And for most drivers in his region, that may well be true.

But down south here (including the coastal ranges of WA and OR too, not just CA), those conditions will catch many drivers flat-footed and bald-tired, more than enough of them to plug up and close the road for many hours while the police and DOT and tow trucks sort out the wreckage. Lather, rinse, and repeat several times per day. Hence the requirement to have chains, sometimes installed, sometimes just in possession when conditions may change rapidly. And sometimes enforced at checkpoints, by a law enforcement officer standing in or alongside the road, who of course has a gun on his/her hip.