Question about Coquihalla and chain requirements
 

So i tried looking on transport Canada's webpage as well as province of BC's webpage, didn't get a lot of info.

When it snows, what are ( if there are any ) the requirements for passenger cars and tires?

All seasons?
Winter tires?
Chains?

TIA

i recall hearing you need winter tires or all seasons with chains.

i saw their "guide for chains"

on 2wd's, chains must go on the drive axle

for 4WD / AWD chains must go on ALL drive axles

i have a 4x4 with all seasons, so does that mean i need chains on all 4 tires? or cani get away with chains on only 2?

Err you just said it yourself, 4x4's need chains on all four..

Chains are relatively inexpensive....i bought a bunch a few years ago (or am i wrong?)...so it wouldn't be too expensive buying an extra set. It is a PITA to get them on though, especially in the kind of weather that requires it.

well it was a "guide" to chains, but not the actual requirements

i did find the answer today though, when it snows hard, RCMP will require chains on all drive axles, 4wd = chains on all wheels

I'm going to say that most 4x4 manuals say don't use chains on the front...

if they let a RWD car with 2 chains go though, but not a 4x4 with rear chains go through, that would be retarted

They don't require that you have the chains on the wheels at all times, just that you carry the chains with you in case you need to chain up.

If you're driving a 4x4, you can just slap the t-case into 2H if a cop stops you and tell him it's technically a 2x4 :) If you drive AWD, you're boned :p

I used to work at Canadian Tires Auto parts and they sell chains in pairs. I was told that you need to put them on your drive axles. If you have a 4x4 or an AWD, the chains would go on the rear axles.

except the power will go to the wheel with the least resistance, which would be the 2 without chains, so now the 2 wheels that do have chains are useless anyways

not on a real 4x4. they lock the front and rear. which is why you can't drive real trucks / SUV's in 4x4 on bare roads. you destroy things pretty fast.

Listen you numbskulls, the reason you need 4 chains on 4wd is because on a 2wd 4 chains wont do anything more than 2 chains. Hence if you have 4 wheels that are able to benifit from chains with traction,you'd be quite the idiot to only have 2.

that was what i was thinking
and if they really gave me a hard time i could say i had no front drive shaft :haha:

with my transfer case , 4 hi locks both front and rears spinning at the same speed, so chains at either axle should have the same effect

i'll go chain shopping tomorrow

the reason you arent supposed to have chains on only one set of axles on a 4x4 is the same reason you arent supposed to have different size tires front and rear on a 4x4 and to a more extreme extent, different gear ratios in your front and rear difs.

if you're on a road that really needed 4 chains all 4 will be spining at different speeds anyways. gear ratios only matter on dry / bare roads.

I stand corrected, in that case I'd stick the chains on the front to aide the steering as well, 4 chains would be better tho, moar grippy = moar betta

One very important thing to remember with chains is that they have pretty serious usage limits. DO NOT drive over 35-40km/h with them, and DO NOT drive on bare pavement with them unless you want to destroy your tires.

They're handy to get you out of a pinch, but winter/snow/ice tires are far preferable if you're going to do any serious amount of winter driving.

There's a great article comparing different types of "winter tires" here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...cialGlobeAuto/