Snow chains

[taybert]

Driving to France in January and know we need snow chains. Any recommendations? Anything special to look out for? Thanks!

Make sure they fit and read the instructions and practice before you leave.

If you are driving straight to resort and then leaving your car, I wouldn't worry too much as chances are the roads will be clear unless you are unlucky enough to arrive or leave in a snow storm.

However, if you are staying somewhere slightly out of resort and driving every day, I would consider looking at pewag ones with elastic as they are by far the easiest to put on.

Perhaps more importantly than snow chains, is the car fitted with winter tyres ( ones that grip the road at low temperatures). We live in central Europe, everyone has to have winter tyres here, so if you only have stAndard British tyres you might not realise that all the other cars on the road are much better equipped than you.

We do have chains, but they're a pita to install, and we find that winter tyres cope with most mountain roads.

Since I put winter tyres on the car have have rarely had to use chains, but you must have them and know how to use them.
The snow socks are easier to put on , but a bugger to get off, and you may find that gendarmes refuse to allow you up the mountain unless you have chains in the car.
Have had a few hair-raising incidents in the past in snow storms so practice in daylight is essential.
You can often buy them in Lidl cheaply.