> > > I don't get it....I guess I'm the sort of ding-bat who would find nothing unusual about putting
> > > chains on the back wheels. :)
> >
> > The point being, I suspect, that you put the chains on the wheels so they grip better, which works better if you put them on the wheels that are attached to the engine.
> >
> > Pa"but then, I've never put chains on my wheels in my life, so I wouldn't know"ul
>
> There is a school of thought that front wheel drive cars should have them on all four wheels. If it gets so bad I need chains on my front wheel drive, (or even the pickup) I'll stay home and feed the birds.
> Howard

Um, what's wrong with snow chains?

I've tried it once, and I can't imagine Howards Toyota getting past without chains. It was in Norway. It was up a serpentine road, I guess there was an incline of 10-15 degrees (that makes it 30%, doesn't it), and of course, our Volvo (FWD) was heavily laden. First, we tried on just winter tyres, but after coming out of a corner at 15 kph, the wheels just slowly lost grip. After fitting chains (if two men fit two snow chains in 20 minutes, how long does it takes 100 men to catch 100 rats?), we just chugged our way to the top. I might add that the road had been perfectly cleared, but snow had been compressed, some places almost to ice.

The point with where to put the snow chains can be considered thus. A car has four wheels and an engine. On the majority (as long as it lasts, sigh..) of the worlds cars transfer the driving force produced by the engine to just two of those wheels in order to move. These two may be either the front pair (in which case the car is denoted "front-wheel driven", abbreviated FWD) or the rear ("rear-wheel driven", RWD. When is someone going to make a car driven by diagonally opposed wheels?). The remaining two wheels are only there to support the car. The reason for using snowchains is prevent wheels from spinning on a slippery surface (e.g. compressed snow), in which case they will not be able to transfer the driving force, immobilizing the car. Thus we arrive at the conclusion that it ain't so useful to put the chains on the wheels that don't spin, i.e. the driven wheels. On Howards FWD Toyota that would be the front wheels.

Jul"Could sell snowchains in Sahara"ian