with winter looming, ive been looking at getting some snow chains for the van, but i'm a bit concerned about the possibility of damaging the alloys. anyone got any thoughts on this? im also looking hard at winter tyres and wondering if they're really that much different to a bog standard tyre (especially at the bottom end of the range)
appreciate your thoughts

my thought is dont use them..they cause more damge then anything...get snow tires.or just call off work.lol

Ah, the joys of being self employed means that I've got to get out if a can. Just not sure how much of a difference winter tyres will make on a hiace hauling 3/4 of a ton

Hey bud is use Winter tyres on my 2 wd kuga and have never let me down in the snow

Good to know bud, what make do you use?

Continental ms bud,lots of ppl in our road got stuck not me kuga straight out and moving

Splendid

Get some winter tyres on some steels. I've popped some Michelin Alpin A4s onto steels for my Mrs. My car is too low for use in snow, so it sits at the side of the road for a couple of weeks over winter.

ive also been looking at these new fangled next generation snow grips that look like bits of klingon armour strung together. they just go around the tyre, so no danger to the rims, but they're asking £295 a set (which is still over a ton cheaper than a set of tyres), and ive no idea if theyre really any good, or just a new gimmick.

I've recently replaced my back two tyres, I wanted to put Snow/Winter tyres on but after speaking to the tyre fitter he said no matter what I put on my car it still aint gonna move in the snow (BMW 330 coupe Auto )

Beemers seem to be notoriously bad in the snow. My neighbour couldn't get his off the drive last winter, and it slopes toward the road!

haha yeah mine was crap last year, ended up going everywhere in the girlfriends Fiesta, that was a little pocket rocket in the snow.

In praise of winter tyres:

My BMW (Alpina) has 265/35 snow shoes on the rear! The year before last, I got it down our road OK but couldn't get it back up as it's a slight slope. It was parked at the bottom for two weeks! Last year fitted Michelin Alpins and no such trouble. Couldn't believe the difference. Beware - they don't make you invincible. But it's not just snow. The softer compound gives better grip in wet and dry conditions when the temperature is below 7deg.

Michelin Alpin on the convertible this winter - fingers crossed.
My 9-5 is to low to be of any use in snow over about 4" deep. When it snows, that gets left at the side of the road.

Just had something called hi-fly winter tyres put on the wagon. They're bloody awful to drive on, it's like trying to corner a sack of puss! Won't be doing that again.