The Best Snow Chains

Snow chains are the only product on this site where buying the wrong one is not a disappointment but a repair bill. A chain that is too large for the wheel well contacts brake lines, struts or the inner fender at speed, and the damage happens in seconds. So this roundup is ordered by a checking sequence rather than by product, and the products come last.

Step one: what your owner manual says

Do this before anything else, because for a meaningful share of readers it ends the decision. Manufacturers publish one of three positions in the manual, usually in the wheels and tires section:

• Chains permitted, drive axle only. The common case. You buy a set of two.
• Chains permitted, low-profile or class S only. Also common on cars with tight wheel wells. Conventional link chains are ruled out and you need a chain that publishes a small clearance requirement.
• Chains not permitted on this vehicle. Happens, particularly on performance trims and some EVs with minimal wheel-arch space. If your manual says this, chains are off the table - use traction mats or proper winter tires instead.

Some manuals also specify all four wheels rather than the drive axle. That is unusual, but it is the reason a four-pack exists in this list.

Step two: clearance, the spec almost nobody publishes

Clearance is the gap between the tire sidewall and the nearest fixed part of the car. A chain adds thickness to the sidewall and to the tread. If the manual asks for a quarter of an inch of sidewall clearance and the chain needs more, it will rub.

Here is the frustrating part: most chain makers do not publish a clearance figure at all. They publish tire size compatibility, which tells you whether the chain will close around the tire - a completely different question from whether the chained tire fits inside the car. Of the four sets here, exactly one states a number.

That single published figure is why the Super Z6 leads this list. It is not necessarily the strongest chain here - it is the one you can actually verify against your manual before spending money.

Step three: your tire size, from the sidewall

Read it off the tire itself, not the door jamb sticker and not the manual. The sticker lists the size the car left the factory with; if anyone has ever fitted a different size, the sticker is now wrong and the chain will not fit.

The sidewall reads something like 225/65R17. All three numbers matter to a chain manufacturer's fitment chart, and being one step out in any of them is a chain that either will not close or hangs loose. Check all four tires - staggered fitments, where the rear tires are wider than the front, are common enough to catch people out.

Cable chains vs link chains

The genuine trade in this category, and it maps directly onto clearance.

• Cable chains use steel cable with alloy rollers across the tread. They are thinner, which is how the Super Z6 gets down to a quarter inch, and they ride more smoothly. They bite less in deep snow and wear faster on bare pavement.
• Link chains use chain across the tread. More bite, more durability, more noise, more thickness. If your car has the clearance, they are the better tool.

A Z-pattern link chain, like the Z547, runs the links diagonally so that there is metal resisting sideways slide as well as forward slip. On a cambered icy road that is a real difference. It is also thicker again.

Why self-tightening earns its price

The most common chain failure is not breakage, it is a chain fitted loose. A loose chain works its way off, and on the way it flails against the fender, the brake line and the paint. The classic instruction was to fit the chain, drive fifty feet, stop and retighten - which people skip in a blizzard on a shoulder.

Ratcheting and rubber-tensioner systems take up the slack themselves. Three of the four sets here have some form of it. Given that fitting happens with cold hands in poor light at the side of a road, that is the feature that most changes the odds of a good outcome.

Chains, mats, or neither

Chains and traction mats solve different problems and get confused constantly. Chains are for driving a snow-covered road; mats are for getting a stuck car out of one spot. The full comparison is here, and if your winter problem is a driveway rather than a mountain pass, mats are the cheaper and more likely correct answer.

If you have all-wheel drive and are wondering whether that changes the calculation, it mostly does not - AWD and snow chains covers why traction to move is a different thing from traction to stop.

Driving on chains

1. Observe the speed limit on the box. Chains have a low speed rating - typically well under highway speeds - and exceeding it is how they come apart.
2. No bare pavement. Chains on dry asphalt wear out fast, damage the road surface and ride horribly. When the road clears, stop and take them off.
3. Gentle inputs. Chains give you traction, not grip in the ordinary sense. Sharp steering or hard braking on chains still slides.
4. Re-check after the first stop. Even with self-tensioning, one look after a few minutes of driving costs nothing.

The short version

If your manual specifies a clearance figure, the Super Z6 is the only set here you can check against it, and that makes it the default recommendation. If you have an SUV or light truck with normal clearance, the Peerless Auto-Trac is a stronger chain that fits without jacking the vehicle. The car-sized Auto-Trac is the same idea for a sedan. The Z547 four-pack is worth buying only if your manual genuinely asks for four - otherwise it is double the money, double the bulk and double the time kneeling in the snow.