You guys got there before me - they're out of stock now More stock due in November - I just hope the weather holds out...

Bob.

Ordered some yesterday morning from Ebay link and they arrived today £47.45, Size G suitable for 225/45x17, 225/40x18 and too many other wheel/tyre sizes to list if that helps at all.

Rear tired do very little stopping of the car anyway. Unless your in deep snow rear tires on haldex shouldn't come often, and TC will cut power anyway unless you disable it

That's not addressing the issue -- sometimes even 5 mph is too quick on ice -- and we should be more interested whether the rear tyres will have enough grip to stop the car spinning.

Imagine you are going downhill on a bend and the road is extremely slippery with a thin layer of frozen snow over a layer of ice. You've followed much of the internet advice to only have snow chains on the front wheels, so the rear wheels have much less grip than the fronts. You realise you need to slow down, brake lightly, and then what? Are you saying that the normal laws of physics are suspended and the back doesn't slew around?

Edited 27 October, 201015 yr by AnotherGareth

Ordered some yesterday morning from Ebay link and they arrived today £47.45, Size G suitable for 225/45x17, 225/40x18 and too many other wheel/tyre sizes to list if that helps at all.

Don't worry - buy the ones from Roofbox - they appear to be better quality anyway IMHO.

My first set were from ebay and looked similar to these - ie no reinforcing "bands".

Roofbox is where I got mine from, I would buy from them again.

With socks, if the car is FWD they say you only need one pair, but for RWD and 4x4 you need 2 pairs. my Toyota was RWD so I have 2 pairs. I will find out what difference it makes this year, my new Grandis is FWD.

The instruction manual also tells you that they will wear out rapidly on a cleared road, so blame a typical BMW asswipe for ignoring the manual!!!

The socks work on ice as well as snow.

Just ordered a pair from Ebay as I got stuck last year & don't fancy getting the bus again! Have done quite a lot of research and the positive reviews far outweigh the negatives. For the sake of £47 I'm willing to give it a go, only time will tell if it was a worthwhile buy.

only thing that bothers me about "socks" is how do you fit/remove them. do you have to jack the car up or what ?

I debated the same thing, Socks or Chains.

Went for Chains. £37 I think.

Longer to put on but more robust than socks.

I debated the same thing, Socks or Chains.

Went for Chains. £37 I think.

Longer to put on but more robust than socks.

What wheels will you be using them on?

You can't use chains on the standard vRS wheels...

only thing that bothers me about "socks" is how do you fit/remove them. do you have to jack the car up or what ?

Have a look with this link Socks removal.

Two days ago my snow socks arrived - today 4" of snow arrived. My previous 1.9td Octavia did ok in snow but I had read on this forum how bad my new L&K 1.8TSI DSG Estate might be in snow. So before my first journey in snow I fitted the snow socks in the luxury of a dry car port. They were slightly tricky to fit but I got there ok. I think newness/ stiffness added to the difficulty - might be easier next time round. All went well - we have a steep pull out from our lane on to the main road - all snow covered and all went ok. In fact the car drove as normal under all conditions - obviously at less than 30mph. I started off using manual changes but found I could not hear the engine and was all over the place compared with what gear I should have been in - too busy watching the road to study the rev counter. Back to auto mode and all was well. I did several hill starts with zero problems. On one hill start the back end was swaying all over and I wondered what the esp was not doing. Alarms started to bleep at me and I found I had not released the hand brake. So the snow socks gave me enough traction to pull away on an hill dragging my locked rear wheels.

So Yes - I think they are ok. If used a lot the wear problem may or may not be significant - will have to see.

For the first time in my 35 years of driving I was beat getting up Drumrammer Brae!

Those fexking useless Bridgestone Turnanza ****e summer ****e tyres.

This on a FWD Octavia.................................cos I left the Steyr Puch dogs *******s of a 4by at home.............................hey its only a wee bit of snow..............................and it was only a wee bit but it froze.

Absolutly bloody useless, the Octavia was, the brother had to tow me up the hill, with a big tractor, Hi Sur.

This 11 years I have been running Hankooks and other bog standard Van tyres on the ould Galaxy, & never been beat yet.

Same roads and I would say no worse conditions and Gerrrrrrrrrrrr, dammit I was beat!!!!!

It will hopefully only have cost me a tail-light from where she somewhat ungracefully slid backwards downhill into the hedge.

So i "tink" my putitive Yeti WILL NOW BE 4WD! ( with Snow tyres forby)

Edited 27 November, 201015 yr by dieseldogg

I know it won't suit everyone, but if we get snow like last winter, the car stays put in the drive.

Far too many idiots who cannot drive in snow and ice to risk it. Sock, or not.

For those interested, roofbox.co.uk seem to have the 205/55-16 in stock (not showing as out of stock...)

Doesn't say how many they have, but I bet they won't last long.

Snow Chains are NOT legal in the UK

Snow Chains are NOT legal in the UK

Show me the legislation that outlaws snow chains and I will believe you.

There is no specific law against them, however, you can be prosecuted if your use of chains causes damage to the road surface...

Would like to see them prove it though as most of the roads are fall apart in cold weather anyway, potholes anyone?

see this forum thread:

http://www.policespecials.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=102619

Well i was told by a copper that you cannot drive on roads with no snow or slushy roads as the chains will damage the road surface and that it is ILLEGAL to do so. This means that as soon as yoy reach a road that does NOT have SNOW on it you have to remove them, also they are a liability on normal roads or slush or a thin scattering of snow. Snow socks are probably the best way to go, apparently very easy to fit and remove and if you buy reasonable ones they will last a fair while.

At the beginning of the year I saw a Brighton & Hove coach with chains on his rear wheels. I can't see the driver taking them off and putting them on every time he gets to a dry bit, can you?

@ the OP.

snow socks and chains are in the opposite ends of the scale. chains are for use when snow tyres etc are of no more use becuase the roads are literally that bad. for example in the Harz mountains outside hannover in germany, there are certain routes were they insist that you are not allowed up without chains. however below that winter/snow tyres will suffice.

now snow socks are a level down from winter tyres and are a last resort, for when your summer tyres have got youstuck, you pul out your socks and get yourself out of the situation