Snow Chains 20"
 

I've got the 20" staggered wheel sets w. the Toyo Proxes, now I know it would be ideal to get 17's or 18's or even swap out the tires for some Pirelli Ice/Snow rubbers but living in socal you just don't need a dedicated set...only trouble is when I go up to the mountains once every few months but even then most of time it's only a thin layer of ice as the resorts maintain the roads consistently through heavy snow storms

So I talked to some auto stores and they told me since I have awd it would be smarter to install snow chains on the front rather than the rear? Is this true, even with AWD or 4WD drive suv's I always see the chains installed on the rear...now I did also find 315/35/20 chains from vulcan tire, http://www.vulcantire.com/chainz_c.htm <- if anyone has any reviews or has any other brands they can recommend please let me know

BTW just got back from the mtns(Mammoth)...and with a thin layer of ice man I felt my car kind of drift but luckily was still able to maintain control....all the X5's that I saw up there which were about 10+ all had snowchains so everyone kept asking me how mine performed..and dam those darn jeep cherokees, every single one were driving like 40mph+ on the ice

I have absolutely no experience putting tire chains on an X5, let alone one with 20" tires. However, lots of years in snow country taught me that on 4wd pickups and service trucks, the first set of chains always went on the front wheels. If that wasn't enough, you needed two sets of chains, but usually at that point driving wasn't such a good idea anyway. Steering and stopping were more important than going, basically.

I am not sure what the handling of the X5 would be like with chains on the front only.

I'm not sure that you can install snow-chains with 20' weels...

With my 18' weels I use TRAK 4x4 chains :

http://www.maggigroup.com/Files/06_Trak4x4_Data.htm

I think U can find it in the USA, very easy to install & remove, excellent efficiency, the best snow-chains I've ever had.

If you can't find them, try the RUD-comfort snow-chains wich are nearly the same by the conception, but I'm not sure that they have an agreement for 4WD :

http://www.autow.co.uk/snow_chains/r...t_centrax.html

Snow-chains should be installed to the front weels because of the steering and braking efficiency, but I install it on the back weels as it is written in the user manual p.140 because the car is still under waranty and it works perfectly.

;o) Stf.

I've never had experience with snow chains in my entire life but if it was just once in a few months I would just take a rental up there. JMO.

:dunno: The trouble with chains on 20" rims would probably be the chains gouging into the rims.($$$) I think that's why BMW recommends 17" rims if using chains. You really want a narrower tire for snow.

This was the thread I posted last year on the subject of chains on my 20" wheels..

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86802

:withstupi