Cooper Tires

Review by Amazon Supporter "Bruce" : Use with Care!

When I received these snow chains, I tried them on my tires to confirm their fit and did not encounter any difficulties. I thought the design was clever and packed them away for my trip to Lake Tahoe. After arrival, a blizzard hit, so I tried to install these snow chains. I futzed around with them for over than an hour and could not get them to fit around my tires! Eventually, I figured out that they needed to be restored to their original factory state before installation. It is not enough to use the quick removal feature when you are through with them. You must unhook the red links and remove the cables from their pulleys (this will make more sense when you have the snow chains in front of you). Once installed, these snow chains worked well. However, I knocked off a star since the owner's manual makes no mention of how to uninstall them in a manner that makes it possible to reinstall them later. Hopefully, this review will save others from having to slush around in the ice and snow like I did!

Review by J. Couture : On and off is what it's all about.

I got these to drive up into the mountains and snow shoe. A day after they arrived, Seattle got whacked with a brutal 7 day storm. These things are expensive, but they work as advertised. In particular, they are very easy to get on and, especially, off. Since the highways here are clear and the side streets are ice, I've been having to put these on to leave the house, pop them off near the freeway, and then put them on again once I exit the freeway. I've never used normal chains before, so I can't say if these are faster to mount or un-mount, but they do go on in about a minute per tire and off in about 30 seconds. However, you will have to add time to back off them, since they always end up under the tire the way toast ends up falling butter down. I have them on a base 2008 Honda Fit in case anyone cares. Front wheel drive and these mean I can go wherever I want. Excellent traction, but I'm more of a sucker for the ease.

Review by Paul Starrs : Great Chains -- when you need them ...

While it took two tries to get the sizing right (the chart originally linked to by the Amazon site didn't list my tire size, when I made a first order -- these were chains for a 2009 car, so they simply hadn't updated it), but when I realized that the chains originally ordered didn't fit, Amazon made the return incredibly easy. And the return shipping was free. So I reordered the correct size (based on the new sizing chart that appeared in the intervening month), and the chains came. Look, tire chains are a necessary evil -- when my small SUV which I'd owned for ten years was rear-ended, and totaled out by my insurance co, I downsized to a small Honda. But that means using chains, sometimes, when I cross the Sierra Nevada of California-Nevada, which I do regularly. Sure enough, a month after I got the chains, I had to use them. I'd fitted them at home (good idea to do that), and it was relatively easy to do on the road. Even in the slush, it took a couple of minutes each, and then, as Thule promises, they self-adjusted once I started driving. Superb traction once you hit snow & ice, and they are quiet, with no slapping or dinging, when driving on concrete or asphalt (CalTrans always makes you chain up and drive on bare highway for a dozen miles or so before the snow-ice starts). These are expensive chains, and I can't speak to longevity. But right now (2009), the chain monkeys want $30 to put the chains on, and $15 to remove -- so if chains are easy enough to install that you can do it yourself, that means you pay for these chains in three uses. They come with a repair kit (you provide the pliers), and the design is ingenious: They're set up so you install the chains without having to drive forward or back onto them. There are others that do likewise -- but I've been told these are the best. I like 'em, anyway.

Review by R. Huffman : Easy, even in the snow

I'd never been a fan of traditional tire chains. You only put them on in the snow, but doing so while wearing gloves is near impossible, and I ended up with cuts and bruises more than once. After my traditional chains broke last year 30 miles from home, I decided to make sure we had good chains before the snow fell this year. I hunted around for recommendations before settling on these Thule chains. The installation is ridiculously easy in comparison. There is very little tugging and pulling on the chains to get them into position, like with regular chains. They come with a convenient, hand-held hook for the single step that requires tugging - slipping the tension cable through a locking mechanism - and everything else is done while the chains are loose and easy to work with. Once you've got the tension cable attached properly (the "eye" of the steel cable has to be completely through the locking mechanism), the whole thing tightens up and centers on its own. My girlfriend and I put these on in the middle of the night, by the light of my headlights, in about 5 minutes - and that was our first time ever, while reading the instructions.

Review by R. Watson : Great!! I can now make it to my house on a hill in the worst conditions!

Simple fast install. Great for when it's cold and dark and you just want to go home! I live on a steep gravel road in upstate New York and have had to walk up the hill many times before I owned the chains.