I dont recromend using tire chains or cables because it will ruin the shocks and turn your car from silent tomb to noisy rattle can spray paint. The constand vibrations will make every single plasitc trim in your car rattle in the summer.


May I suggest putting on dedicated winter tires on your car. AThe best winter tire I recromend is the Nokian Hakkapeliitta 8 or the Michelin X ice. I have lived and driven in Aspen and Vale colorado through many winters and never really needed tire chains or cable thanks to the Nokian tires and 4WD. If conditions require mandatory tire chains then its better just to stay home. Winter tires are amazing and will get you home safe everytime.

 

mine broke coming back from tahoe...

 

The Autosock won't damage anything and, in WA state, is accepted by law when chains are "required."

 

Last Christmas I did a caravan trip to Mammoth with friends. My 19-yo son and his 17-yo friend had never installed any kind of chain before, but after watching me start on the front driver side, they put on the passenger side in 2 minutes. De-chaining was even faster.

One car in our caravan broke their non-Z chains immediately after installation, and had to catch a ride into town to buy some Zs that then worked flawlessly.

Another car’s non-Z chains had a weird lever tensioning system that didn’t work at all, allowing the wheel to actually spin inside the chains! We added a tensioner, ironically borrowed from a set of Zs, to get her off the mountain.

During de-chaining, we were asked for help from a lady behind us whose non-Z chains were fastened with tiny metal clips that were incredibly difficult to remove while wearing gloves.

The more I see non-Z chains, the more I like my Zs!