Are Tire Chains allow on unpaved road in Northeast?

Hi,
After the fatal accident happened to James Kim in OR and a minor struggle driving my car up an icy slope few weeks ago, I have been looking into getting a pair of tire chains to keep in my trunk for emergency. The guy at Firestone Tires told me it is illegal to use on paved road here in MA, but I wonder if it is allow on unpaved road.

Thanks in advance.

p/s: While I was searching for tire chains , I came across shoe chains ( Big brother of Yaktrax)

7summits said:

After the fatal accident happened to James Kim in OR

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Kim was lost and didn't know the way out. Getting stuck isn't life threatening if you can get out to or phone for help. (Generally, not too hard in the NE.)

and a minor struggle driving my car up an icy slope few weeks ago, I have been looking into getting a pair of tire chains to keep in my trunk for emergency. The guy at Firestone Tires told me it is illegal to use on paved road here in MA, but I wonder if it is allow on unpaved road.

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I had chains for a previous (2-wheel drive) car. They were occasionally helpful for a steep slow-to-be-plowed access road to my parking lot. I now have all-wheel drive... (and a flat access to my parking spot ).

Chains damage pavement. If you only use them for short sections of heavy snow or ice, I doubt that you will get into trouble. You can also just lay them down on ice for very short sections. A shovel and/or some kitty litter is usually adequate and much more convienient. (I carry a steel-bladed garden shovel in my car--it can break out hard water ice if needed.)

You might also consider snow tires, possibly studded. (Last I knew, studs were legal in MA in winter.) Just take them off in the spring.

Doug

7summits said:

Hi,
After the fatal accident happened to James Kim in OR and a minor struggle driving my car up an icy slope few weeks ago, I have been looking into getting a pair of tire chains to keep in my trunk for emergency. ( Big brother of Yaktrax)

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I'm thinking....what would it hurt to carry them and if you were in a very bad situation i.e. VT rural roads that go on for miles, no phone service, no one in site, and you think you might have appendicitis, they would be there to help you out of a nasty, and possibly life threatening situation. You know what the scouts say...BE PREPARED!
In the past I have used chains in VT but have not had to for a number of years now. I have major snow tires and 4WD on my Tacoma.
I have never gotten into anything that low four wheel did not get me out of.
You might want to put 4 studded snow tires on your vehicle. I have been told that 4 is overkill but I do it anyway. I have even been told I "don't need" the killer snow tires I have on my truck.
I know a vet in VT and she definitely uses studs on all four wheels.
BTW...I got home (50) miles, in the middle of the night, in a Datsun B 210, in the height of the blizzard of "78". Four studded snow tires.
It was scary and awesome.(No front, all wheel, or 4WD) I encountered only one other vehicle on the road and they were in a ditch.
If I had to describe the roads, I think I would have to say "impassable".
I 90 was shut down. There were banks of snow left everywhere. I had to back around the rotary in Waltham to get out to RT20.
Studs do make a difference!

I am fairly sure that tire "cables" are legal and are available at most Autozone type stores. They are not as damaging as chains (and presumably not as effective) and you see them quite often on 2WD police cars.

DougPaul said:

You might also consider snow tires, possibly studded. (Last I knew, studs were legal in MA in winter.)

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Ayup, they're legal from 11/1 to 4/30.

If you are already stuck, you won't be able to put on tire chains. You need to be able to drive the car forward onto the chains. They are great things to have when they are needed, but for the most part in New England a set of 4 snow tires are way more practical and useful.

If snow tires (or studded snows) aren't enough, I'd look at something like Spikes-Spiders which are much easier to put on and safer for all involved.

-dave-

David Metsky said:

If you are already stuck, you won't be able to put on tire chains. You need to be able to drive the car forward onto the chains.

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Not necessarily. Driving onto the chains is easier and faster, but you can also jack up the tire and put them on in place. Particularly handy if you have skidded into a snowbank. (Of course, you might need that steel-bladed shovel to dig out enough space around the tire... And a scissors or hydraulic jack wll be much safer than the typical jack which comes with many cars.)

Doug

Mud hooks do not cover the whole wheel circumference and can be put on after a wheel spins, I have used them to get out of short slippery spots.

AFAIK, studs & chains are legal in NH, on paved roads too. Note that it is not a good idea to drive very fast or very far on bare roads with chains as if they come loose they can damage various parts of your car. Studs make an annoying noise on bare roads and damage them too.

You can get far more stuck with 4wd than without, because you get farther before getting stuck.

Check your car's owner's manual before even trying chains. Subaru, for example, warns that using them can destroy the AWD transmission.

Also, make sure that you have enough clearance in your wheel wells!

Re Jasonst: The last time I put tire "chains" on--required to enter Yosemite, early '90's--they were, in fact, tire cables, which were much easier to install than the old chains were and did a g-r-e-a-t job on a rear 2WD vehicle with summer tires. They're also cheaper but probably break more readily. 4WD with studded snows or AWD is much more common here now, but doesn't work on glare ice. Maybe tire cables do.

I drove for years in NH in my escort without getting stuck and only had all-season tires. (note: wife's had snow tires) I always had some sand (small bucket) in the back in case I lost traction on icey roads, just through some under the tires and bingo! Usally the problems with ice were at the bottom of my driveway (steep and long) or at the bottom of my road (very rural).

I carry a pair of these, just in case I need extra traction: http://www.pierredupuy.qc.ca/visiteur/images/traction_aid.jpg

Fish

I have 4 wheel drive and never needed anything more. I do carry a cumalong (I hope I spelt that right) That way if I do get stuck the cumalong will get me out of the hole. It is just like a winch but you use hand power to pull the cable rather than a motor, like a winch. Then yet a winch is even better, if you can afford one. I would say that is your best bet. Always carry an emergency kit in your car. Like extra cloths, sleeping bag, flashlight, food like MRE's ect... Lets face it in the northeast if you get stuck someone will find you soon. Unless you end up in a ravine or something. Its not like out west. Besides you should not be driving in blizzards.

I made a set of truck chains for my Samurai , and asked the Maine State Police about running them on the road. They said tire chains are legal to run on all roads in Maine and are treated as studded tires, thus they have the same time restriction. I frequent my woodlot, used to enjoy four wheeling occasionally, and would be completely stuck without chains in the winter, even though I have a winch on the front and some of the most aggressive tires on the planet (Swampers). A hand winch, which I also have, is a "comealong", and quite frequently its limitation is the 30' or so of cable it has attached to it.

I have cables for the minivan, which has just all-season tires but is all wheel drive, and snow tires for the Trooper. I have not needed to use the the cables, but they're there just in case. The comealong travels with whatever vehicle I'm taking in the winter, and I usually carry my recovery bag, which has 100' of 3/8 cable, 60' of snap straps, clevis', tree straps, and small shovel. I have had to put chains on while stuck and although it can take some time, it's certainly do-able. A number of years ago I slid my BMW off into a ditch and had to put them on. Despite the glare ice the car backed out of the ditch without hardly slipping a tire.

One of the most useful things I have, despite all the rest of my recovery gear, is a pair of raised steel expanded metal grates . They're 12"x30", about 1/4" thick, and double in the summer as campfire grates. They're quite heavy duty, easy to move around, and most of the time allow just enough momentum to get unstuck.

I would keep chains in the car, just in case, along with the usual winter survival gear, which I leave in a duffle.

I have used studs on many tires, and while they may help some, their scratching on ice isn't enough to get you out of a hole if you're stuck. I akin it to having long fingernails while rock climbing. I do not doubt that they help some, but would not only rely on them when on a backroad.

Studs on all four

If you have a front wheel drive car and want to use studded snow tires, then you must have them on all four wheels. Here's why; when decelerating, the engine braking will cause the front wheels to slow the car's motion. If there is more traction available (thus decelerative braking force) on the front wheels the rear of the car will try to pass the front end and that's not too good unless you want to impress or scare your friends and other motorists.

On the humorous side - put on your chains without ever leaving the driver's seat!

If you have a big enough truck to mount them, you could always use OnSpot Automatic Tire Chains. They're usually found on ambulances, fire trucks, and school buses. They operate via a switch on the dashboard so you use them "on the fly" but they make an awful racket (and can cause damage) if you retract them at speeds of more than 10 mph.

Smitty

Tire Chains

While we all try to stay with in the legal limits of the Law- sometimes we must go uotside of these limits. That said...

When travelling in the winter back country I always have chains for my tires as part of my winter emergency gear. 'Cause- sometimes you just gotta have them and laws be dammed. I also carry a saw- just in case a tree falls across the road (summer or winter- this is a good thing to have in your vehicle).

I remember one time coming home from the Adirondacks we got stuck in an ice storm- we were stuck for hours on the side of the northway waiting for the road conditions to change. Even emergency vehicles were sliding off the road. We did not even trust that chains would help.

My gf has studded tires on all 4 wheels and I'd say it makes a difference on a small car such as her's. It makes it about as good as my old buick without studs.

Here's a link for state-by-state restrictions on chains/studded tires.

Also, thanks to a recent trip to the garage for an alignment, I learned that a lot of places will not install only 2 studded tires except on certain rear wheel drive vehicles.

I've had 2WD pickup trucks ( Dodge and Chevy ) for years . The main road up the hill (NJ mountain ) is about a 14 percent grade with a few tight turns . I have used SCC's "Z" cables on both vehicles and found them to work great and the best part is they take less than 5 minutes to put on . Many companys sell them but you can find the best deals on Ebay .I picked both pairs up for less than $30 each , brand new.


LAWN SALE : Nice ride !!! A alot of guys near me have Sidekicks set up similar to yours . The kid across the street just put a home made plow on his .

Smitty's right! We have On-spots on our ambulances and fire trucks. They're great! The ambulances (Ford E450) don't have much ground clearance, so they have trays that the chains sit on when they're up. Noisy! My boss still makes us put real chains on the fire trucks when the roads are snow-covered, which seems like overkill. It also means we have to drive 25 mph around town, which is a real bummer if the road isn't snow-covered.