Not quite sure which section this should be in - suggestions for a better (=wider audience) one welcome. It is, as you'll see, a very topical question!

I have, bought some 25 years ago for a Saab, a set of snowchains made by Temset AG of Zurich, CH, tradenamed 'Yeti'. Unlike most you cab get, they're made not of steel but are a lattice web--to fit over the tyre and clamped with a tensioner screw once in place--of Kevlar encased in strips of hard, square-section rubber, all held together with small hardened steel clips. Their advantages are (1) a decent running speed of 50 kph, (2) they don't judder your teeth out when on hardpackd snow or ice, (3) they're lighter than steel chains and far easier to fit, and (4) they're much kinder on any bare tarmac you meet.

Unfortunately, the ones I have are the wrong size for my new Fabia. Does anyone happen to know if they're still made and available in the UK? Or is there perhaps anyone here from Switzerland, who can say if they're still available there?

MTIA for any info.

Derry

I bought some in Switzerland last March, cost me a small fortune, but was only thing available and I got caught out with a snow storm on a road trip!

There are defo companies in the UK that sell them, as I was at the CV commercial vehicle show last year and there where a few stalls selling them for car, vans and trucks, they where about £60-70, which is about half what I paid...

I bought some in Switzerland last March, cost me a small fortune,....

Thanks a lot, Callum, for the lead that I can follow up; I'm glad to know that they're still made and available in the UK (enquiries in car accessory shops here have so far met universally with a blank look and shake of the head, and "never 'eard of 'em" ).

Intriguing to see that they cost less here than you had to pay in CH -- unless it was something to do with the exchange rate at the time, I find myself harbouring the uncharitable suspicion that as you were caught out by the snow and in dire straits, someone felt they had you over a barrel? As a lot of the Swiss spend a fair time on snow tyres/chains every year, you'd expect them to cost less there than here.

Thanks again

Derry

PS: I think back fondly to the days in the 1960s when I club-rallied my Mini and kept a full set of snow tyres each with 128 studs (now sadly illegal, thanks to lazy and inconsiderate drivers who carried on running on them when there was no snow or ice, ripped up the road surface, and--more dangerously -- overheated and threw studs)..

I have read a lot of praise for Auto-Socks. These are like covers for wheels and tyres and work well in heavy snow and can be driven on dryer roads. I don't the legal issues in places where snow chains are compulsory.

There you go fella:

AutoSock/Auto Sock.The Textile wheel cover for Driving in Ice and Snow.Auto Socks get you Home!

That is the one I saw at the show...

I have a pair of Yeti Swiss made (Temset AG) snow-chains as you describe, square rubber over Kevlar with stainless fittings. They were used only once "in anger" before I sold that car, since when they've been unused and stored in their original sack.

I can't find any indication of their size, but as I remember they were obtained to fit a 225 section tyre on a 17 inch rim.

I came across your e-mail while I was researching with the intention of e-baying them, but if you could use them, suggest a price and perhaps we can avoid that complication.

Alec Logan, 01880 760266

PA29 6YG

If anyone wants snow chains I'm pretty sure lidl or aldi are selling them

If anyone wants snow chains I'm pretty sure lidl or aldi are selling them

Lidl have them in at £19.99 a pair. Four sizes, TUV and supplied in box with extra links.

http://www.lidl.co.u...index_36482.htm

I bought a pair two years ago, when I left my chains at home. Doh :(

They work fine

Whatever you get - remember to keep them with you!

Lidl have them in at £19.99 a pair. Four sizes, TUV and supplied in box with extra links.

I bought a pair two years ago, when I left my chains at home. Doh :(

They work fine

Whatever you get - remember to keep them with you!

Thought I'd seen em

Thing that would bother me is you get one pair to fit them to the front so you get them the driving wheels, get up to 10MPH (whee hee) - start to slow down or touch the brakes ... and then does the front stop and the back of the car carry on ever so gracefully overtake the front...sideways - I'd love to know

If you ever do put them on to drive in or on snow you will soon be pleased to get them back off again,

they are not great to drive on and most are next to useless on ice.

Often the drive wheels are enough to fit them too, then stay off the brakes & use the gears.

Just as you would if you were not fitting chains.

Not often you see them on any vehicle in the UK,

& when they are fitted it is usually on a surface where some benefit is being achieved from them.

george

They are fine for crawling along in snow to the main road or if you run into a patch of snow on a hill. They are not designed for ice, but the square section chains are better than nothing.

As soon as you get to bare roadway, you need to take them off or they will wear out very quickly (and shake your fillings out).

In snow, chains are much better than snowsocks, but if it gets patchy, the reverse is true.