Tire chains or other alternatives for 2WD

Ok- to answer some questions-
Moved here 6 months ago. We caught the end of a storm when doing walk through back in March. Sign at gate said 4wd or chains required at upper elevations. We are in valley floor(on purpose) with a short level driveway to ease clearing drive to get out.
Snow is less & less every year (drought). Used to get big storms here that could drop 3-4 ft. Now a 12-18” storm is a big snow year.
Studded tires are not legal here.
We are at 4400 ft, some homes are over 8,000 ft elevation. It all gets snow.
We are retired so we can wait out the storms here that typically last only a few days. We are stocked up on food.
They plow the roads as soon as the snow stops except main road loop that they try & keep clear. Plows don’t deal with ice.
They do use something on roads for grip. It’s a brownish/red color. Getting it down at the right time is iffy.
When I bought my truck a year ago, we had no plans to move to mountains. so 2wd was ok. I don’t off road.
Truck is paid for so getting a 4wd is a last option. We told ourselves we would try a winter before buying anything.
We are on fixed income & while we have no payments inc house, a truck payment isn’t an option. It would have to be used & equal value.
The bladder is made by Suretrax & holds up to 300 lbs- my mistake. You can add less water & drain it when not needed. Lifting bags in & out of bed is something I’d like to avoid. It will handle water freezing & is baffled to minimize sloshing.

 

Tire shop & everything else is 45 minutes away.

 

4X4 won't help a thing on ice, nor will it stop you sooner, adding weight only means you hit the ditch harder. Chains or cables are the only thing that help on ice. Chains/cables AND 4X4 would be my choice. For black ice, or light snow cables work great. They are much lighter, cheaper, and easier to install plus if you have to drive short distances on clear pavement are better. Chains do a much better job in deep snow or mud, but will cause serious issues if used on clear pavement.

Snow is another story and not that hard to get around in, at least on fairly level ground. Good tires, some weight and careful driving will take you a lot of places

I have a similar problem. My house is on a dead end road on top of a ridge with a steep hill to the top of the ridge. It is only 1/2 mile from my driveway to level ground, but you can forget driving it when it ices or in less than 2" of snow. In deeper snow I can get enough traction to do it in 4X4 without the chains. Fortunately there is a hay field at the bottom of my hill and all of my neighbors park one vehicle near there and just walk until conditions improve. The county won't even try to plow our road. Last time they tried a road grader ended up being pulled out of a ditch.

I park one vehicle at the bottom and chain up my Tacoma when snow/ice is predicted. I shuttle neighbors up and down and leave the Taco at the bottom of the hill and drive another vehicle after I'm off the hill until things clear up. That may not be an option for the OP.

 

4x4 does help with ice, just not as much as you think. Given you're retired, I would be more concerned about being trapped during a storm than not. Just a suggestion of process:
- Find another truck that will trade straight or very close to what you have. Yotas hold value and prerunners and 4x4s are actually pretty close in cost for late models
- Get snow tires. Studded or siped. I had some blizzaks on an old BMW x5 and felt I could climb up a mountain. Even in ice. I have duratracks this year. Don;t know how they will do.
- The weight will help with these trucks because the backend is so light. You can use the bladder, but put some antifreeze or something in it. Alternatively get the 50lbs bags and put them right over the rear tires.
- Practice. Go to a safe place on the first snow and get rippin. Find out where your truck breaks. Left turns are more controllable in my experience over rights. Check braking distance and other things. Learn before you have to. Be safe for everyone.
- Always look for where you're going to ditch the truck when you are in bad conditions. The worst happens when you are not paying attention. Always have a plan when you drive. It could save your life.

Good luck this winter!

 

When you say you can't get in the gate, is like a rule and a security guard checks you or is just that without the extra traction you can't physically pull in because it's too slippery?

If it's just a guard at the gate checking people and otherwise you feel safe to drive, I never met a security guard who could tell a 4WD OR from a Pre-runner OR by just looking at it.

 

You get a window sticker every year from our police dept that is next to gate- that’s your gate pass. Triangle sticker is 2wd. Round sticker is AWD or 4WD. They inspect. All the gate personnel looks for is the round sticker on the snow days. Right past gate is the 1st climb in they call Domino Hill. Lots of cars & trucks inc 4wd have issues climbing that hill. It’s even worse coming down exiting the community. If a car slides off road, gate is closed until tow gets vehicle out of ditch. There’s 2 bad spots that seem to get pile-ups. Maybe that’s why they call it Domino Hill

 

Studded tire are illegal here.
They don’t recommend anti-freeze in bladder, says it’s designed to freeze, expand & then thaw.

 

My house is also on dead end street, it’s sorta steep & I’m at the end. They plow the street here so probably not as steep as yours.

 

Dedicatd snow tires. If you've never owned a set,you'll be amazed at how they perform. Or just buy an Outback and be done with it.

 

Snow tires won’t get you in the gate. Highly recommended but no special sticker for them. Pretty much anything Subaru is highly recommended here. Not sure why that particular manufacturer but they are very common here.

 

Well it looks like you have plenty of advice here you didn’t ask for. I like the looks of those Thule automatic chains over the other ones that are twice the price.

I would still get snow tires if I were you but I would get a stud less design. This is different than just not running studs. Some stud less tires were designed specifically to never be studded and have actually been tested to outperform studs. Acceleration aside these will help both in braking and steering on those icy surfaces and can easily be the difference between a close call or a disaster.

 

Buy some blizzak winter tires. I have them on a separate set of wheels on my truck. They work great on ice....that is what they are designed for. When the weather is 7 degrees or lower is when they are recommended to be put on. Our insurance company gives us a rebate if we have them. In other provinces here in canada they are mandatory

 

I've never used these, does anyone know if the emergency chains that go through your wheel and around the tire are any good? May be an option for OP?

 

Just a quick thought on those chains..... ice build up on the latches would throw out your wheel balance. I know they aren't intended for long term high speed travel. Just my quick observation. They look like they would be easy to install and perform well

 

OP, it doesn't sound like you guys drive a whole lot. another possible option, not sure if where you live is like a family type subdivision, but if you have a neighbor with a high school age son or something, maybe talk to them and see if their son would be willing to help you put on tire chains when a bad storm or freeze is coming. Give him like $20 or whatever for helping out.

Just thought about that because there's something's I can't lift anymore, our neighborhood has alot of college age kids, when I need something moved that I can't do, I'll give them a few dollars for a few minutes of their time and they are happy.

Just an idea, alot cheaper than a new truck.

 

I have a snow plow mounted to mine. Not one of those flimsy homeowner toys. A real commercial plow.

 

Well, you wouldn't be putting the sand bags in and out every day.
Set them in in November,
Take them out in May.

Too bad you can't do studs. Sounds like chains would be the only option.
But frankly, since you have been talking about them not even *allowing* 2WD vehicles through when its bad (triangle vs circle sticker), it would seem that you're going to be stuck in your driveway any time that you would actually need the extra traction anyway.

 

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I've used the spikes spiders on my volvo 850 in snow and ice and they worked great. You would need to run them on all 4 tires since it's rwd.

 

Not sure what your point is. Didn't you read the rest of OP's messages?