Last weekend up in Northern Ontario I ended up getting my LR4 stuck trying to go up a nasty snow and icy hill. I have a good set of winter tires on but unfortunately they just weren't enough. Didn't have service and ended up having to wait about an hour until a guy in an old ford pickup came past who happily had tire chains and gave me a tow up.

So now I am back home and looking to get myself some chains and I'm confused by the working in the manual, it says "No traction devices should be fitted to the rear wheels."

Can tire chains only be put on the front tires of an LR4? Is there a reason? With the hills up North I'd be very worried about having the back end come out if I only had traction on my front tires not all four or just the rears. Has anyone put chains on just rears or on all 4 tires?

 

Pretty surprising to hear that. What tires are you running? Studded?

 

Unfortunately I can't run studded tires because I also go into Southern Ontario where they're not legal - so I am running Pirelli scorpion winters

 

You might consider a more extreme winter tire without studs like a Nokian Hakka R3 or Michelin xice. We've had Nokian's on ours (both the more all season oriented WRG4 and the snow/ice Hakka R( and never had an issue even in some pretty serious winter conditions.

As for chains I've heard the same, front axle only. Not sure if it would work but snow socks could also be an option for temporary use.

 

Using snow tires in ice and snow conditions is ill advised. I got Trak 4 x 4 XL chains as advised at LR Portland for snow and ice. They are very easy to apply and work at under 30 mph.

 

Not I'll advised at all. Don't offer the performance of chains at slow speed but most situations can be navigated with care.

 

what? that's what they're made for

Extreme siping for grip in loose snow conditions and a soft compound for ice

 

why is using snow tyres in snow and ice ill advised?
I thought the only reason to use snow tyres was for use in snow and ice, I spent several years in Germany where for lots of roads it was law that you had to have snow tyres fitted and if you were stopped and did not have them you would end up with a huge fine along with your insurance would be cancelled on other roads it was law to have chains fitted, out there they did not bother to even try clearing the roads what they did was to plough them flat and you were expected to be able to drive on the packed snow it was very seldom that roads were closed due to snow unlike here in the uk where as soon as it starts to snow roads are closed and huge traffic jams start (or should that be stop) even the trains end up stopped the excuse I heard once was they were ready for snow but this was the wrong type, once the trains were stopped and the excuse was there were leaves on the line it seems that they will use any excuse to stop running.