snow chains

[camelgas]

I just bought a set of the lidil chains today , For £20 they are a bargain .

3 year garuantee , german made, diamond type, in a carry case. for the odd couple to days a year they will be needed to get the car a mile out of the lanes and onto a treated main road they are spot on. testing them tomorrow am.

where are you chris ?, I am near stroud (ontop of a big hill)

[Leapy]

Originally Posted by Erin

Looks like a 126 to me. Very cool.

126. That's it. Rear engined. The 127 was front engined

[Chris]

Originally Posted by camelgas

I just bought a set of the lidil chains today , For £20 they are a bargain .

3 year garuantee , german made, diamond type, in a carry case. for the odd couple to days a year they will be needed to get the car a mile out of the lanes and onto a treated main road they are spot on. testing them tomorrow am.

where are you chris ?, I am near stroud (ontop of a big hill)

Perfect, will see if I can get a set. I live nr. Horsley BTW

Thanks !

[Anchorhandler]

Originally Posted by Leapy

126. That's it. Rear engined. The 127 was front engined

When i was 19 or 20 i bought one of those for a laugh...it was seriously fun. Little two cylinder engine in the rear which meant that when it was wet, and you slipped the clutch while negotiating a roundabout you could do a Jeremy Clarkson rally style drift pretty much all the way around....

Even rolled it onto its side once on a country lane...friend and i managed to get out, push it back onto its wheels and carried on driving home....

Think a lot of them were used as donor vehicles for those off-road go karts.


Simon

[camelgas]

chris, the cirencester lidl had all the sizes today except the smallest.
we are out in the backwoods beyond bisley , so they should prove very usefull .

[mister p]

Poly, if you want to get going then the idea is to keep going and not stop again to pick up stupid ramps.
Your idea of orange ramps to get you going is silly, almost nonsense.

[IanH]

Originally Posted by Leapy

126. That's it. Rear engined. The 127 was front engined

i had one many years ago on a holiday in Corfu. Decided to take it up a track to the highest peak - think I missed the bit about 'Unsuitable for cars'. Well it made it apart from last 100 yards.

On way down, I must have picked up a stone in rear axle as there was this whirring noise. It was a hire car and I could live with the noise. On way back to villa, suddenly I lost all power. The stone had ground through rear axle and sheared the drive shaft resulting in no drive. Thankfully the nearest house was not too far and occupied by someone who had learned his English from watching Americian movies - a most surreal experience listening to him littered with catch phrases from Hollywood blockbusters.

The car certainly performed above expectations even with the problem with rear axle.

[EnglishLes]

Originally Posted by mister p

Poly, if you want to get going then the idea is to keep going and not stop again to pick up stupid ramps.
Your idea of orange ramps to get you going is silly, almost nonsense.

The trick with these or car mats is to tie them to the back of the car so that they come with you until you are in a sensible place to stop theh put them in the boot and just drive on the tyres. Not quite so silly if used properly.

[SPR]

Originally Posted by EnglishLes

The trick with these or car mats is to tie them to the back of the car so that they come with you until you are in a sensible place to stop theh put them in the boot and just drive on the tyres. Not quite so silly if used properly.

+ 1 to that , and you can use these if stuck on beach or trailer stuck

try doing that in snow chains!

[mick]

Up in the peaks at moment camping done a few lanes today 2' snow drifts. In a Defender no problem

[Poly]

Originally Posted by mister p

Poly, if you want to get going then the idea is to keep going and not stop again to pick up stupid ramps.
Your idea of orange ramps to get you going is silly, almost nonsense.

Every time I've used my snow chains its been to get the car out of an untreated area onto a very nearby road. It would be much less hassle to go back and get the "ramps" than to stop and remove the chains. I can only remember twice in my life driving in this country on the sort of snow where chains were potentially useful for more than a few hundred meters. Both trips passed without incident on standard tyres and some common sense. Given that we get a bit more snow up here I think the chances of most people NEEDING chains down there is relatively low. The possibility that someone needs enough traction to get our a parking space or a few yards down a side street is however much higher.

[IanH]

Those ramps would have been very useful yesterday. Couldn't get out of the parking space thatthecar had been in since day before. Thankfully someone offered to push so I could get on the bit of road that had been cleared. An old sack would have worked equally well.

If you know how to drive in snow and have a gentle right foot, taking traction/stability control off makes a big difference in keeping the momentum going without the power being cut before you can get going. Not her fault, but my wife left the car right at the base of our slope so there was no chance to get momentum up - we couldn't reverse as someone had parked behind. Once you have the momentum, the rest of the hill was easy, even though some of it was still uncleared. So having something to get you going is very useful.

I had a landrover defender once. 4 wheel skid in that is far more scary than in a car. The cab had so much metal around you that even a slow speed sudden stop is going to hurt bad. Think people rely on 4 wheel drive too much and don't drive realising that 4 wheel drive is no better under braking than 2 wheel drive driven properly. The safety of any vehicle is in the level of grip that the 4 tyres offer (dictated by tyres and driving style) not how many wheels are driving. Learned that the hard way in LR by getting into 4 wheel skid on pure ice. Thankfully I didn't hit anything as I overshot the junction.

[camelgas]

test report for those interested.

vw transporter 2.5 tdi lwb, fwd, lots of weight in the back.

6" of snow on a graded track to get to a untreated country road that the local farmer has ploughed the worst off, but left a compacted layer that froze overnight.

chains easy to get on and off, drove slowly (2nd gear) and it was fantastic, went everywhere I tried (even a steepish hill), and I just wish I got a set years ago.

googleing around shows a specialist snowchain supplier selling what appears to be an identical set for £120 !.

[mick]

[Anchorhandler]

Originally Posted by IanH

Those ramps would have been very useful yesterday. Couldn't get out of the parking space thatthecar had been in since day before. Thankfully someone offered to push so I could get on the bit of road that had been cleared. An old sack would have worked equally well.

If you know how to drive in snow and have a gentle right foot, taking traction/stability control off makes a big difference in keeping the momentum going without the power being cut before you can get going. Not her fault, but my wife left the car right at the base of our slope so there was no chance to get momentum up - we couldn't reverse as someone had parked behind. Once you have the momentum, the rest of the hill was easy, even though some of it was still uncleared. So having something to get you going is very useful.

I had a landrover defender once. 4 wheel skid in that is far more scary than in a car. The cab had so much metal around you that even a slow speed sudden stop is going to hurt bad. Think people rely on 4 wheel drive too much and don't drive realising that 4 wheel drive is no better under braking than 2 wheel drive driven properly. The safety of any vehicle is in the level of grip that the 4 tyres offer (dictated by tyres and driving style) not how many wheels are driving. Learned that the hard way in LR by getting into 4 wheel skid on pure ice. Thankfully I didn't hit anything as I overshot the junction.

Its a good point... Many people are lulled into a false sense of security thinking that all four wheels of their 4x4 will be driving when in most cases its actually only one wheel at the front and one at the rear doing any work.... Its only the people who understand about about diff locking who fully utilise the potential of their four wheel drive ( and even then not all 4x4's will drive ALL wheels unless they can independently lock the front and rear axles)

Simon

Sent from my iPhone using Rib.net

[Chris]

Dont bother. they are a complete waste of time. They worked ok for the first trip out then on the way back they disintegrated on both sides. So went and swapped them, same again. All at low speed as well.

Complete fucking waste of time and could be considered quite dangerous.

It just confirms what I always thought LIDL and all their products are complete and utter shit.

[bedajim]

Originally Posted by Chris

Dont bother. they are a complete waste of time. They worked ok for the first trip out then on the way back they disintegrated on both sides. So went and swapped them, same again. All at low speed as well.

Complete fucking waste of time and could be considered quite dangerous.

It just confirms what I always thought LIDL and all their products are complete and utter shit.

Just get an old land rover or jap 4x4
Limited mileage insurance etc and use it as a work truck for garden crap or house rubbish, going to the builders merchant
And for the two snowy days of the year

[Chris]

Originally Posted by bedajim

Just get an old land rover or jap 4x4
Limited mileage insurance etc and use it as a work truck for garden crap or house rubbish, going to the builders merchant
And for the two snowy days of the year

Indeed.. !

[camelgas]

been using my chains today and no problems, time will tell no doubt.......

[DGR]

LR Disco 2 in Wales - Snow socks. Brilliant!!