[pizza240]

Anyone have any experience with snow chains on an M2 or similar vehicle?
Any recommendations for brand, ease of install, etc.?
I was thinking of buying some from Porsche because of their low clearance but those will take a while to ship to me and I'd rather go with something a bit less expensive for the limited use.

I gotta get up and down a steep snowy/icy hill and I'm looking for options before installing a winch!

[COChris]

Are studded tires available in M2C sizing? If so I would look at something from Nokian.

[pizza240]

Originally Posted by COChris

Are studded tires available in M2C sizing? If so I would look at something from Nokian.

I had a look and found tires from Nokian. However, I will be driving on clear roads for 99.9% of the drive and I think studded tires are still illegal in Ontario.

Now I'm thinking of carrying a large plastic container full of sand in the trunk & a small shovel. It may take a bit longer to prep the hill relative to the time it takes to put chains on but it should work.

[5.M0NSTER]

Nooooo. Good Nordic winters are the ticket

[VIERsr]

I highly recommend winter tires, anyway I don't use them since here very rarely the temperature drop below 10°C and almost never under 0°C (today it was 16°C) and I don't like how the car handle with winter tires (too floaty), so in case of emergency I have these in the trunk. They are pretty easy and fast to mount and perfectly fit.

[Acetech]

I've done it on a similar vehicle, trust me it's a bad idea.
First they are hell to install, chances are your on the side of the road by the time you need them and it's snowing and wheels are covered and wells are packed. Some how they will come loose or wrap against the fender and do unbelievable damage.
Snow tires will get you 90% of the places you need to go

[pizza240]

Originally Posted by 5.M0NSTER

Nooooo. Good Nordic winters are the ticket

Originally Posted by Acetech

I've done it on a similar vehicle, trust me it's a bad idea.
First they are hell to install, chances are your on the side of the road by the time you need them and it's snowing and wheels are covered and wells are packed. Some how they will come loose or wrap against the fender and do unbelievable damage.
Snow tires will get you 90% of the places you need to go

Originally Posted by _RS4_

I highly recommend winter tires, anyway I don't use them since here very rarely the temperature drop below 10°C and almost never under 0°C (today it was 16°C) and I don't like how the car handle with winter tires (too floaty), so in case of emergency I have these in the trunk. They are pretty easy and fast to mount and perfectly fit.

Sorry I should have been clearer:
I already have Pirelli Sottozero Serie ii winter tires, but they're not good enough to get up this hill. They're great in cold weather but not great on snow. I agree that running chains in the long run poses a number of risks.

Thanks _RS4_: I like this solution since it looks like it's it's a quick changeover! I was only looking at chains to get up and down this hill specifically. Hopefully I get have it shipped here.

[VIERsr]

In the box you will find a couple of snow socks for a temporary and short usage (e.g. to go up the ramp of a garage or a short climb), fast to wear but throwaway

[VIERsr]

Originally Posted by Acetech

I've done it on a similar vehicle, trust me it's a bad idea.
First they are hell to install, chances are your on the side of the road by the time you need them and it's snowing and wheels are covered and wells are packed. Some how they will come loose or wrap against the fender and do unbelievable damage.
Snow tires will get you 90% of the places you need to go

If you install them well there is no possibility of damage
To be honest I never needed them because I have another car to go on the snow, but in case of an emergency I am equipped.
Snow tires are the optimum in most cases, but for the remaining 10% you need snow chains especially in a RWD car, in crisis in the uphill starts.

[COChris]

Originally Posted by pizza240

Sorry I should have been clearer:
I already have Pirelli Sottozero Serie ii winter tires, but they're not good enough to get up this hill. They're great in cold weather but not great on snow. I agree that running chains in the long run poses a number of risks.

Thanks _RS4_: I like this solution since it looks like it's it's a quick changeover! I was only looking at chains to get up and down this hill specifically. Hopefully I get have it shipped here.

I have experience with the Pirellis you mentioned. Those are just about the sportiest snow tire available. Check out Nokian a little further. Even their non-studded options will blow the Pirellis away on snow and ice. Just food for thought!

[2020M2Competition]

Tire chains are a major PITA to deal with

Studded snows are the way to go in icy conditions

Very surprised to hear they might be illegal in Ontario

I would double check that

Where I used to live in Vermont (close to the border with Quebec) studded snows were a necessity

The only restrictions in their use was in the warmer months (around May to October)

Otherwise, look into the offerings from Nokian (as suggested)

Some of the Bridgestone Blizzaks are also good on ice, but only the ones with the "Nano Pro-Tech Multicell" compound and I think you will have difficulty finding them in a suitable size for a M2C with 2NH brakes

Most of the other Blizzaks are too biased towards higher performance in drier conditions

[Dav3]

Originally Posted by _RS4_

I highly recommend winter tires, anyway I don't use them since here very rarely the temperature drop below 10°C and almost never under 0°C (today it was 16°C) and I don't like how the car handle with winter tires (too floaty), so in case of emergency I have these in the trunk. They are pretty easy and fast to mount and perfectly fit.

I'm on the same boat

Got these new Michelin ones instead

Hopefully will never need to use them

[KRT]

Every time I drove for skiing I used austrian Pewag Servomatic on 18” 235/40 and it worked perfect but I had a regular suspension in m2 lci. Quite easy to fit and there was no place I had to turn back. I successfully drove roads which subarus and real Quattros without chains didn’t even think to drive. Just offroaders, skidoos in full of snow backroads. And m2 Really good item. There is a new line from Pewag now called Servo-star which is better for lower m2c but I’m not sure if it is as effective as regular chains like Pewag servomatic. Unfortunetely non of Servostars fit my present year winter tires size which is quite strange - a regular summer offset 19 265/35 in the new m2c with big brakes kit. Probably I’ll move to Michelin fast grip 90 chains which fit the size and seem to be quite similar to Pewag servostar.

[grl.racr]

Studded tires are legal in Northern ON (Sudbury, Thunder Bay etc..). But not anywhere else. I have run them when I was traveling up to Barrie/Orillia often and never incurred any fines. Worst case scenario the ticket is $110 for "improper tires" I believe. I ordered Nokian Hakka 8 non-studded to try out this year. I think they are gonna be one of the best studless options out there.

[naitoon]

Today was the day. I went to Mount Rainier and they required chains for all 2WD cars from a certain point on, so I went there just to prove that I was able to chain up my M2C and get to the highest possible place. I succeeded and I feel so good .

The pictures are attached. My setup consists of the original 788M wheels with the Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4s, 245/35 front and 265/35 rear of course. The chains are KONIG CG-9 104, which I bought from Amazon here.

Regarding ease of install, some context first. This is my first time installing chains on a car, ever. I've actually never rode in a car with chains before and I didn't know what to expect. It was actually pretty difficult and at times I just wanted to make a U-turn and go home, but with some patience and staying rational I pulled it off and found out why the first attempts were difficult. One difficulty that doesn't go away is that the clearance between the tire and the fender is small and so you have to do some effort to attach the chain with your hands in that small space. Anyway, after a bit I found out how to work around the difficulties and installing the second chain felt relatively straightforward. Same thing when removing the chains.

Now, regarding driving with the chains, in this case there was not a lot of snow in the ground. There were patches with compressed snow and in those patches the chains were less noisy. But in general they are obviously noisy and going at 30 mph is already uncomfortable because of the vibration. I was doing 20-25 mph most of the time. I predict that with a centimeter of snow it would be reasonably comfortable. Traction was of course good, but obviously one needs to still be a bit careful with ice.

Anyway, I'm extremely happy that I did this and went with the M2C uphill. I felt freaking proud about not making compromises on the car I want to drive and the things I want to be able to do.

Cheers!

[toononame]

Originally Posted by naitoon

Today was the day. I went to Mount Rainier and they required chains for all 2WD cars from a certain point on, so I went there just to prove that I was able to chain up my M2C and get to the highest possible place. I succeeded and I feel so good .

I ended up buying those auto sock ones since it looked like chains were going to scrape the wheels. Did you have any issues with damage to the rims?

I was going through Snoqualmie when they switched to chains required. Really not too bad to put them on but I hear what you're saying about the wheel clearance. I had scrapes on my hands and bruises on my arms from working in there. Sadly one of the socks caught on something and ripped. I didn't see any damage but made me weary of ever trying again since they seemed to be installed just fine but wiggled around.

Also the chain off section is often very far away with no snow and running those on dry pavement is terrible. They get ripped up really quickly without snow. I had no traction issues with just winter tires so I wish washington wasn't so aggressive with the chain requirements.

I'll probably try to grab some of the michelin ones linked above for emergencies since I still like to travel across the mountains here.

[naitoon]

Originally Posted by toononame

I ended up buying those auto sock ones since it looked like chains were going to scrape the wheels. Did you have any issues with damage to the rims?

I took the car to the car wash today, and then took a pic of each rim. One of the rims had very light curb damage from before. The white stuff is something the chains left there, but looks cleanable with some effort. But I definitely think the chains did some cosmetic damage to the rims. Look at the first pic specially. That's the left rim, which has never touched the curb.

[Maynard]

You want the Nokkians, trust me. Chains might help you go, but what's going on for turning or stopping? And you can just kiss your wheel finish goodbye if you run them for even a few miles. This is my second winter on these, and they are incredible. The new tech studs retract on dry pavement, and to me the handling isn't any worse than a non-studded snow.

[toononame]

Here you still need to run chains if you have studded tires if they designate it so on the mountains. $500 ticket otherwise.