FIND THE SIZE OF THE TIRE
You will be able to find numbers and characters on the side of the tires. You will see on most modern tires the size shown like this: P165/70R13, this one says that the tire is 165mm wide, the aspect ratio is 70% and the wheel diameter is 13 inches. Understanding these numbers are especially important for you to find the suitable safety chains for your tires.
WHICH TIRES TO CHAIN UP
Usually you should choose the drive tires to chain up with tire chains. On front-wheel drive cars you should chain up two front tires, of course if you have rear wheel drive vehicle you only need to chain up two rear tires. If you’re not sure which type of drive system you have, you only have to check out the vehicle manual. Now if your vehicle is all wheel or four wheel drive, you are only going to have two tires chained up, which axle should be chained up should be determined by the owner’s manual of your vehicle. To stay on safe side and retain as much of the normal handling characteristics of your AWD as possible, install traction devices on all tires.
If you drive your vehicle under regular condition, the traction on all wheels are about the same, making you feel normal when asserting brake, acceleration and cornering. If you’re driving on the snow and ice you won’t find the balance under normal condition. If only front tires get chained up, the rear of the vehicle can swing during braking and driving. If only the rear tires have the car snow chain on, you will have limited steering ability of vehicle. To restore the balance, the vehicle should be completely equipped with snow chains. In most cases the snow chains on the market are sold in pairs, if all tires need to have snow chains on, you will have to get two pairs. Don’t forget there are truck tire chains and passenger car tire chain , usually the truck tire chains are much more expensive than car tire chains.
