Snow Chains on Prius??

The misleading part is this:

As fuzzy noted, there are indeed varying requirements such as R-1 (your 'if you have snow tires on'), and R-3 (your 'unless EVERYBODY has to'). But what you're missing from that statement is R-2 - all vehicles except 4WD require chains. In this condition, having snow tires on a Prius still requires you to install chains. And although I don't drive in the areas subject to chain requirements often, that has been the requirement that I hit the most. R-1 basically means there's snow in the forecast, and by the time they get to R-3, they just close the darn road.

Not in California. CalTrans likes to require chains shortly after the flurries start. More often than not, the roads I've been on during a chain requirement have been better described as wet or slushy than snow-covered or icy. Of course, some of my previous driving experience includes areas where the snowmobiles at a gas station far outnumber the cars - and none of them have chains. My theory is that CalTrans does this mainly because the snowy areas are mostly mountain passes, and are people passing through from one area where it doesn't snow to another area where it doesn't snow - and hence, they have no winter driving skills. Those of us who know how to drive in the snow find it enormously frustrating to drive on a wet road with chains.

 

Prius is not a 4WD vehicle. Discussion is about Prius, winter tires, chains.

 

Then perhaps your statement should have been "But if you have rated snow tires on, you do not have to be using chains unless EVERY PRIUS has to use chains." Or "But if you have rated snow tires on, you do not have to be using chains unless EVERY 2WD VEHICLE has to use chains."

Thus the confusion from the rest of the world about what you wrote.

That said, as far as I'm aware, every Prius, and most every passenger vehicle (or at least every car my friends drive), comes with all-season OEM tires that have the "M+S" (mud & snow) marking required by California to meet the "snow tire" spec. They're certainly not tires you'd buy for exclusive winter use, of course.

 

Oh my goodness...was the rest of the world confused over talk about Prius in chains? Talk about the butterfly effect..yikes!

 

The RUD dealer in US is out of the size for 205/65/15, the size of the snow tires I plan to buy.
RUD Compact Easy2Go - 4716949, Tire Chain Dealer

The do have the self tensioning chain for the standard tire, 195/65/15
RUD Compact Easy2Go - 4716948, Tire Chain Dealer

Same is true for the US made self tensioner from Peerless.
By Size

Is the difference in tire size really that great or can I get the RUD Easy2Go for the 195's? These would normally be going on Micheline Xi3 snows in extreme road conditions or if I got stuck in the ski resort parking lot. Only used in emergencies.

I would think the self tensioner on the chains would simply adjust to the difference. Hard to imagine the chains being to such fine tolerances as not fitting on the two nearly identical tires.

 

I would suggest going for the RUD chains with the specified tire size. A friend once tried to fit my chains on his tires. The difference seemed slight, but the fit didn't work. It's been too many years for me to remember the exact sizes involved (pre-Prius) but I do remember the tire sizes were pretty close.

There are volume / shape dimensions with RUDs that don't apply to (wouldn't be as critical with) the thicker military-style ladder chains.

Sorry...

 

If the size is critical, I'll probably go for the Peerless self tensioners since they have them in the 205/65/15 size that I plan to purchase (Xi3). If I get a flat and have to put on my 195/65/15 spare, I'll have to hope the chains fit. I'll give a try first.

 

Did you try to order off the RUD German website?

 

The RUD self-service link is under their RUD Portal tab on the right side of their home page:

RUD - RUDmatic CLASSIC

 

Here is a counterexample to the misleading post above. As I write this, Snoqualmie Pass, closed much of the evening, has just re-opened with a chain restriction for which all 2WDs must use chains regardless of tires, but AWD does not.

I was very glad to have my Subaru while crossing the other pass from Leavenworth this evening. While it didn't require chains, it was getting very close, and many skiers coming down from Stevens were chained up. The Prius would have been stuck in one of the several slow moving convoys, but the AWD easily got around them and into the very long no-traffic stretches in between.

Another thread recently had some discussion of Prius chain alternatives, but some of that was lost to another issue.

 

While the restriction may be in effect I've driven in very big storms over my many years living in Colorado, New Mexico & Washington. I've never needed chains to get anywhere I needed to. Interstates are a great example of them being packed snow to from all the traffic & attempts to keep it clear. The only issues I've ever had was when there was so much snow I was getting high centered. We had 62" of snow in 3 days at our cabin in Colorado. The back roads to the cabin were not plowed so my brother made a path with his Toyota 4x4 p/u. I had a heck of a time getting to the main road but once there I was fine on the snow packed roads. Even looking at the picture the road conditions are not that bad if a FWD car had good winter tires on it and a driver that knows how to drive in snow. Many times chains just give people a false sense of security just like having a 4WD does. People forget that 4WD won't help you stop any better.

 

A car with well-designed modern snow chains has more traction in the snow than a car without chains - tires and driver skills notwithstanding. Similarly, a car with an experienced competent driver is safer than a car with an inexperienced driver for the conditions. Whether snow tires or snow chains are better for particular conditions depends on the intensity of the conditions. All other things being equal, snow chains will give better traction in worse snow conditions than snow tires by themselves. Best combo: a competent experienced driver, available 4-wheel drive, snow tires and snow chains. Of course, that is also the highest-cost and highest-bother solution.

 

That is a major problem here. Many drivers -- possibly half, far more than needed to impede traffic flow -- don't have skills or tires adequate for the conditions. And before they are stuck or crashed and blocking traffic, the state has no effective way to separate them from the others who are adequately equipped.

The picture may not look all that bad. But six hours earlier, a tow trucker driver attending to one spun-out vehicle near the bottom of the pictured hill was struck and killed by another spun-out vehicle. There were enough other crashes that the road had to be closed to allow the DOT to regain control. And even shortly after reopening, another traction-related fatality occurred on the other side of this section.

On these Cascade passes, winter equipment is not just about what has enough traction. It is also about what equipment will be allowed through preemptive checkpoints, and/or what equipment has the stability and clearance to negotiate the crud needed to get around vehicles that will be very slowly crawling for the next 50-100 miles in the only semi-decent track.

 

will i have problems putting these on a lowered prius? i put and taken off chains off a old camry in cold, snowing slush. it wasn't fun.

 

its incomprehensible that they're out for the season. i guess that the us market isn't a big factor in inventory. how long will get a resupply?

 

Toyota recommends the SCC brand cable chains for tight clearance, the model is "Super Z6". If you Google "Super Z-6, the manufacturer's web site is the 3rd or 4th result. There is a tool where you put in the tire size, and it tells you which part number chain to buy.