The Winter season needs adequate preparation. When driving through snow, your tires require more traction. How do you increase your tires’ traction? Simple, all you need to do is to buy a set of new winter tires. Apart from winter tires, you will need tire chains for additional traction. 

What is a Tire Chain?

Tire chains secure your tire by taking advantage of the weight of your truck to dig into the snow and ice while driving. Digging deep into snow and ice increases traction and minimizes tire slide as you move through snow and ice. When installing the tire chains for the first time, you have to learn the entire process, and the more you do it, the easier it becomes. 

To understand how a tire chain works, let us compare it to weeding. When you try to pull a weed with smooth leaves barehanded, it might not come out because both your hands and the leaves are slippery. But when you try to uproot it using rough weeding gloves, it will come out smoothly because of the additional grip. 

Choosing a Tire Chain

Driving in winter is the best experience if only you do adequate preparations, but it can be very dangerous if you do not have the right equipment. Regular winter tires cannot adequately handle a road filled with snow and ice, which is where the tire chains will cheap in. 

You will have to fix the tire chain around your tires to increase the gripping capability of your tires. 

The tire chains dig deep into the snow to make your truck more stable and reduce slippage while driving. Installing them will boost your confidence while driving through deep and thick layers of snow and ice. 

When buying tire chains for the first time, you can’t just pick the first one you see. Tire chains are not the same. You must choose the one that will fit your tires properly. A few things can help you choose the right tire chain size for your wheels. 

What Size of Tire Chains Should I Use?

It is easy t choose the right size tire chain. You only have to know the size of your tires. To know the size of your tires, check the figures and letters on the sidewall of your tires.

The first three numbers at the sidewall of your tires have a letter P at the beginning. The P means passenger tire, and the digits that follow the letter P are the width of your tire in millimeters. A slash separates these digits and letters. After the slush, two numbers appear before the letter R. There are two digits after the letter R representing the diameter of your wheel. For example, P185/75R14.

Give your auto store these numbers to identify the right chains for your tires. If you are making an online purchase, compare the size of the chains to the measurements of your tires. 

Conclusion

Tire chains give an added advantage when driving through snow and ice. The chains work best if only you choose the right size depending on the size of the tires you use. Consider knowing your tire size while shopping for tire chains.