Anyone have snow chains yet?

[adioz]

I have managed to get an orphaned 162TSI Highline order and hope to pick it up within the month and will be using it at Hotham immediately after.

Of course, you are required to carry snow chains and they must be traditional over the tyre type with diamond chain design.

The owners manual specifies 9mm chains for 17x7 rims which makes sourcing chains rather difficutt. I thought I would have to find 17x6.5 rims so I can go up to 13mm chain thickness as 10mm seems to be the most readily available.

snowchains.co.uk list Wessenfels RTS-109 Clack and Go SUV chains as fitting 235/55R18 which would be perfect as these are standard on the 162TSI Highline. At 13mm chain thickness this appears to heavily contradict the manual.

Again on snowchains.co.uk 215/65R17 (no mention on wheel width 6.5 or 7") Thule/Konig CU9-240 Easy-fit SUV 10mm chain thickness.

Thule/Konig CU9-240 Easy-fit SUV should be easy to get in OZ as would 17x7" wheels. 17x6.5 is another matter.

So if anyone has actually proved a package of wheels, tyres and chains suitable for Hotham please share here.

cheers
adiOz

[IsDon]

Just avoid Hotham. Go to a snow field that doesn't have the ridiculous requirements that don't apply anywhere else on the planet.

[adioz]

Thanks for the advise... just have to sell the lodge as well.

Fitting snow chains to an SUV also falls into "your" ridiculous requirements category it appears.

[wiredless]

I'm interested in getting some snow chains too.

I bought the 132 TSI comfortline and then loaded it up with the packs so I could have the AID, luxury pack and I also end up with the smaller rims.

Personally I think the 132 TSI performance is pretty decent. The downside is I don't have the front LEDs.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[adioz]

Update: I swapped my 18x7 ET43 235/55R18s for Comfortline 17x7 ET40 215/65R17s which the manual says I can fit 9mm chains.

Change in rim offset from ET43 to 40 gains 3mm clearance on the inside. The 215/65R17s give an extra 10mm clearance on the inside. So, 13mm additional clearance overall and I'm allowed to fit 9mm chains.

215/65R17 is an odd size and the only chains I'm happy to fit are Konig XG-12 Pro which is a 12mm chain. The manual states that I'd need 215/65R17 tyres on 17x6.5 ET38 rims to fit these. Not a wheel size available in Oz I think.

Instead, I have fitted 3mm spacers to the front to give me the additional space for the 12mm chains.

The chains arrive next week so I'll update after a test fit.

[Hillbilly]

"Instead, I have fitted 3mm spacers to the front to give me the additional space for the 12mm chains".

So you have effectively made your vehicle unroadworthy and possibly voided your insurance as well.

As per here from a question the the TMR. Same for other states

Can an engineer overule the regs and certify a car to use spacers.
A wheel spacer cannot be engineered in Queensland. The only way to have a spacer/adaptor is if it was released from the manufacture.

Adapters which are different to spacers are not mentioned. They are bolted to the hub and have different studs for the rim to attach with They also have a center hub to locate the wheel that spacers generally don’t have.
Adaptors are treated the same as spaces even though they bolt to the hub they still result in spacing the wheel face from the hub. Therefore, if they are fitted or mounted to the original manufactures rotor they would not be acceptable.

[adioz]

I managed to get a set of discontinued Thule CS-10 Size 104 chains and are only 10mm. I have test fitted them and they have plenty of room without spacers.

The manual states "Only fine-linked snow chains that add no more than about 9mm".

10mm is about 9mm and there is plenty of room so I'm happy.