AutoSocks

Pablo Escobar wrote:Ellistine, thankfully they allowed you to get about and cut all that hair :twisted:

Yeah alright. It is truly the most impractical car we could have bought. It can't carry skis and it can't tow our boat but on the up side, it only has two seats so we always get driven places and it's dead cheap to run. Besides, it's got heated seats which according to the wife is now a requirement for all our future cars.

ellistine wrote:Up them, down them and around them! We we're trying to get to a pub somewhere out in the sticks near Totness for a 40th Birthday meal.

I committed the immortal sin and fitted them on a hill (the hill I slid down). The car would only stay still in gear. The handbrake alone couldn't hold it. With them on though I did a quick reverse to see what they we're like before descending and shot back up the hill with all the grip you could want. The rest of the trip to the pub was a breeze.

You obviously wouldn't want to go particularly fast as obviously the rear still had no grip but I was very impressed.

Why do you ask? Have you heard of problems with hills?

I wondered if they slipped on hills.

I'm glad Pabs got the hairdresser pun in 1st. My fingers have been itching for hours :P

So without wishing to re-start those arguments of 2 years ago does anyone know of any further developments with acceptance by the police? Does anyone know of any countries where they are definitely either allowed or banned for roads where the police are restricting access only to those suitably equipped?

This is the 3rd result on Google if you type in 'autosocks' :shock:

KevinC wrote:So without wishing to re-start those arguments of 2 years ago does anyone know of any further developments with acceptance by the police? Does anyone know of any countries where they are definitely either allowed or banned for roads where the police are restricting access only to those suitably equipped?

I've never heard of them being banned from any countries but if I was driving in a country that required me to carry chains I would carry chains.

My 'Hair dressers' car isn't going anywhere near an alpine pass soon so for getting unstuck in the UK they are superb. Most of the 'blocked' roads I met in my 15 hour stuck in the snow adventure in December weren't actually that steep and these would have got me up them no trouble at all.

I think the more self sufficient British drivers can be the more chance the authorities will have to keep roads clear. After all, you can't get a gritter or plow down a road full of stuck cars.

Hm...for all their boasts then they still don't seem to be something you could rely on in the alps.

I'm left in a dilemma every year as to what to do. Don't like the thought of paying 60 euros every time I hire a car in Europe and I don't know if I'd be able to fit them - I can't practice because I'm never going to drive from England so don't own any. Yet if my flight had gone out on Saturday it seems it's highly likely something would have been required.

Helicopter transfer next year!

KevinC wrote:Hm...for all their boasts then they still don't seem to be something you could rely on in the alps.

I'm left in a dilemma every year as to what to do. Don't like the thought of paying 60 euros every time I hire a car in Europe and I don't know if I'd be able to fit them - I can't practice because I'm never going to drive from England so don't own any. Yet if my flight had gone out on Saturday it seems it's highly likely something would have been required.

Helicopter transfer next year!

If you're hiring cars then it's a no brainer - don't buy anything. Most chains, and even these Autosocks, are a bit wheel size specific. You're guaranteed to order 'something like a Golf' and up with a free upgrade to a Merc and they won't fit anyway )

Let us know how you get on with the helicopter transfer :D

The ironic thing is we're heading to Schladming in a couple of weeks and the valley looks greener than it does here.

ellistine wrote:
My 'Hair dressers' car isn't going anywhere near an alpine pass soon so for getting unstuck in the UK they are superb. Most of the blocked roads I met in my 15 hour stuck in the snow adventure weren't actually that steep and these would have got me up them no trouble at all.

The road outside my chalet isn't steep but it's around 50/50 if someone with autosocks on gets up, quite a few Belgians try it and quite a few end up sideways blocking the road. This can be irritating for the rest of us.

Hairdresser jokes aside, I'd have thought your car wasn't too unreasonable in the snow, front wheel drive, fairly sensible size wheels and so on, the additional traction you might need at times is going to be a lot less than some other cars. Watching the holidaymakers outside it's fairly predictable who's going to have trouble, rear-wheel drive, low profile tyres and autosocks aren't going to help like a BMW for example, small, front wheel drive, small tyres, shorter wheelbase like a Polo and autosocks might just add the 5% extra traction you need.

As for them being approved on mountain roads, no they aren't, even autosock can't sugar coat that one :

autosocks.co.uk wrote:Q6: Are they approved for use on roads where snow chains are mandatory?
A6: This is a grey area. It's better to be safe than sorry, so you should take snow chains for e.g. self-drive ski holidays to the Alps. In any event the tests show that snow chains are superior in hill starts - see Research & Development.