Snow chains for €25????

Please Kill Me

Seen these advertised for Lidl next week

http://www.lidl.ie/cps/rde/xchg/SID-8E12EB5D-781FA682/lidl_ri_ie/hs.xsl/offerdate.htm?offerdate=26223

I've seen similar in Halfords for nearly €100. What do ye reckon, would the Lidl ones do the job or would I be better off getting the Halfords ones?

I know it's not snowing yet, but you know where I'm coming from - just in case and all that.

Alanstrainor

Are you living on the side of a mountain?

I really can't see the need for them...these will not help in black ice/icy situations, they're only for deep snow I would have thought.

Even if you do live on the side of mountain, once you get to any clearish road surface you'll have to take them all off again.

goz83

Same problem with the snow socks. Have to come off when you clear the snow/ice. WInter tyres are really the only way...that and a big 4x4 jeep attached to them.

LLU

Please Kill Me wrote: »

Seen these advertised for Lidl next week

http://www.lidl.ie/cps/rde/xchg/SID-8E12EB5D-781FA682/lidl_ri_ie/hs.xsl/offerdate.htm?offerdate=26223

I've seen similar in Halfords for nearly €100. What do ye reckon, would the Lidl ones do the job or would I be better off getting the Halfords ones?

I know it's not snowing yet, but you know where I'm coming from - just in case and all that.

One can disregard everything in the above paragraph except the bit I've bolded. The answer is always No!

All joking aside, they are an ok set of chains for that money. You can't keep chains on for any length unless you're on constant snow or ice, but thats true for all chains or snow socks. Snow socks are much easier to get on, but aren't great value because they wear out very quickly.

Please Kill Me

All valid points lads. I may just get the winter tyres instead so.

Thanks.

CiniO

Please Kill Me wrote: »

Seen these advertised for Lidl next week

http://www.lidl.ie/cps/rde/xchg/SID-8E12EB5D-781FA682/lidl_ri_ie/hs.xsl/offerdate.htm?offerdate=26223

I've seen similar in Halfords for nearly €100. What do ye reckon, would the Lidl ones do the job or would I be better off getting the Halfords ones?

I know it's not snowing yet, but you know where I'm coming from - just in case and all that.

I have no clue about the quality of halfords ones, but I suspect they are not top of the range.
Probably they only reason they are way more expensive, is that there are no places around selling them, so halfords might make a few quid on someone willing to get one.

Anyway - I got those LIDL ones last year.
They are not good quality. I'd risk saying they are bottom of the range of snow chains. They need to be tensioned manually, and retensioned after kilometre or two.

So if you are planning to drive in Alps couple hundred kilometres every week on the snow, then get a professional set (not LIDL or Halfords).
But if you want to have them in the boot just in case you get stock on a snowy or icy hill, those LIDL ones will be perfect to get you out of trouble.

I had them in my boot whole last winter, and while I didn't need to use them, I was comfortable that if I got stock somewhere, they will get me out.

They look like this:

CiniO

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Are you living on the side of a mountain?

I really can't see the need for them...these will not help in black ice/icy situations, they're only for deep snow I would have thought.

For driving on icy road - you are right - they won't really help.
But if you have to drive up the icy hill (even black ice) and it's impossible on your tyres, chains will help 100%.

Alanstrainor

CiniO wrote: »

For driving on icy road - you are right - they won't really help.
But if you have to drive up the icy hill (even black ice) and it's impossible on your tyres, chains will help 100%.

Im pretty sure sticking pretty much anything on your tires in those conditions would help.

You'd still be wrecking your tires and the road doing that though.

CiniO

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Im pretty sure sticking pretty much anything on your tires in those conditions would help.

You'd still be wrecking your tires and the road doing that though.

Road - probably yes, but why tyres?

CJhaughey

They work in any situation where you can't find grip, mud, ice and snow.
Chains make some difference and in a situation where you can't get up a hill with tyres, fitting chains won't damage the road any more than the freezing process would have done already.
It takes a lot of traffic with tyre chains to make any difference to a road surface.

odonnellcarey

Please Kill Me wrote: »

I've seen similar in Halfords for nearly €100. What do ye reckon, would the Lidl ones do the job or would I be better off getting the Halfords ones?

Before spending 4 times the price on Halford ones I suggest you read the reviews here.

I'm getting the Lidl ones on the understanding that they're not designed for constant use in snowy conditions, but as an emergency fix if I get stuck.
I swore I'd get some after the last "Big Snow" up here in Donegal but when the thaw came it got long fingered. :cool:

dahamsta

.....or ye could all just grow a pair and learn how to drive on the dinky little bit of snow and ice we get in Ireland.

Only problem I had last year was avoiding the idiots that couldn't -- booting along at silly speed in the icy lane on dual carriageways, and clustering together like spastics in traffic.

CiniO

dahamsta wrote: »

.....or ye could all just grow a pair and learn how to drive on the dinky little bit of snow and ice we get in Ireland.

Only problem I had last year was avoiding the idiots that couldn't -- booting along at silly speed in the icy lane on dual carriageways, and clustering together like spastics in traffic.

Steep incline on ice might not be possible to negotiate even on best winter tyres by best driver, while bad driver might make it on chains.

Intensive Care Bear

dahamsta wrote: »

.....or ye could all just grow a pair and learn how to drive on the dinky little bit of snow and ice we get in Ireland.

Only problem I had last year was avoiding the idiots that couldn't -- booting along at silly speed in the icy lane on dual carriageways, and clustering together like spastics in traffic.

Why is so hard to accept that some people might need them. I have family members that would be stuck in their house or prevented from going home for a few days every year if they didn't have snow chains.

ardmacha

Why is so hard to accept that some people might need them.

Some people like to imply that they are great and everyone else is not as great.
Such people are rarely correct in this assessment.

I have family members that would be stuck in their house

Precisely. If you live on a hill with a regular car and regular Irish tyres then you have a problem, no matter how good a driver you are.

I might buy these chains. Where I live I need them for the first 200m, after that I could probably remove them. Xmas Eve 2010 I made a journey where I needed something for the first 100m and the last 500m and had no problems on the main roads in between.

CJhaughey

dahamsta wrote: »

.....or ye could all just grow a pair and learn how to drive on the dinky little bit of snow and ice we get in Ireland.

Only problem I had last year was avoiding the idiots that couldn't -- booting along at silly speed in the icy lane on dual carriageways, and clustering together like spastics in traffic.

And believe it or not the world doesn't end in Dublin.
In some parts of the country its not dinky little snow and ice its actually pretty much alpine conditions, where tyre chains actually would be required in other countries if there was no snow plows.
I saw a thread posted here with photos of a road in Donegal with a couple of feet of snow on it, you can't call that dinky.
Fair enough if all your driving experience is in urban areas or motorways which get cleared but in rural areas you are on your own, Literally.