As has probably been mentioned, whether or not you will be required to put on chains may come down to the officer at the checkpoint. I'm originally from California and when heading up to the mountains in the winter, I always had tire chains with me, but never had to use. And I went up to the mountains in the winter quite often. The one time I came across a checkpoint where the officer had people in cars putting chains on, he looked at my car and my tires, asked where I was headed, and waved me on, and never asked if I had chains with me. And at the time I was driving a p38 on Cooper discover ht plus tires.

 

Thanks for the reply and advice. My purpose for chains is to ensure maximum traction for off road or steep unimproved road conditions. While the Defender is good, its heavy and has failed to advance uphill when I needed it the most and it has side slipped on packed ice trail (as to be expected).

 

If you have good snow tires, you are less likely to need chains unless you are in an extreme environment. I always put snow tires on all 4 wheels and keep a snow spare tire as well on my Defender during the winter.

 

As me mentioned previously I have some serious chains primarily for off road use. A few interesting things I have noted.

The rover has some impressive traction control which has in impact when off road and your front doesn’t have traction but the rear does (because you can’t properly chain all four corners). I noticed on ice that the individual rear wheel braking was trying to correct for front end side slip on an off camber icy section. This helped keep the front end from sliding sideways to an extent.

I have heavy ladder bar chains. These don’t tangle as easily as some but they are not as good for side hill traction. For my situation the ease of mounting since they don’t tangle as bad and the durability outvote this issue but a cross pattern would be better for a side hill by far I suspect.

The inside of the wheel has very little space—I would recommend either trimming the extra links or carring some bailing wire to keep extra links from swinging around as there is zero extra room on the inside with air lines being of particular concern.

In my experience chains plus winter tires means you get ice grip plus the aggressive digging capability of an aggressive mud terrain. When It’s needed or useful it’s absolutely amazing… but you are limited to 15-20mph so it’s definitely a small niche. Personally I love it for my uses. I know if it gets real bad I can pull out the big guns and get through. If we are going some where sketchy I send the other guy in first since I can most likely pull him back out of the drift or hole thanks to the extra grip from the chains.

 

@pinion - I got a laugh reading that. I can totally relate to "....send the other guy in first..." I used to grouse hunt a lot in the Appalachians. I LOVED when it snowed. I would drive the forest roads to where I thought it was good habitat to turn loose the dogs. I would frequently get to some stream crossing of unknown depth because of snow melt. Out came the dogs. If they swam to the other side, I'd take a different road!

 

It's important to understand that everyone's situation is different.

When I lived in AK I had a 2nd set of wheels with studded snow tires that went on in October and came off in April or May (after breakup). I kept chains in the vehicle as well for icy conditions. Didn't happen often, but when it did, it was the difference between a night in a warm cabin and a night in a frozen river.

I live in Western WA now. I don't drive in snow often enough to justify a second set of tires, and would wear out a good set of winter tires quickly. For me a set of chains for the times I do need to get into the snow is the right solution.