Um.
@brkaus @E90alex @gsmith123 @flixden @Big Dog @Tronguy I've read your points and respectfully, none of that info is new info.
When using chains, the speed is almost always 20mph or less so the whole scenario of having the back end slide around while the car uncontrollably flies off into a ditch is very unlikely. In the 4wd Jeep, I had the back end slide completely around while going down a hill on completely iced over roads. It was fine. I just had to make a U-turn to continue where I was going. The front end was gripping so of course I'm not going to continue going backwards or anything. Contrast that to having no steering control whatsoever, and I would much rather have the risk of the back end slide around than have no steering control. If I had no steering control, as would be the case on ice with chains on the rear, I wouldn't be able to go anywhere since I would have no steering.
That same mentality is applied to the AWD Model Y. If I can only go back and forward, but not turn, that's no good. I think a lot of you have used chains in mixed conditions where you had intermittent traction, which meant you still had some steering, so you didn't really experience the full penalty of that decision.
Um. I learned to drive back in the early 70's up in Massachusetts, back when double-week long stints of below freezing weather and 8" snow storms once or twice a week were common. So, driving on ice/snow-compacted/slushy roads was something that myself and a zillion other people in the area did on a daily basis.
First rule: NASCAR and F1 drivers zipping around curvy courses got nothing on experienced local drivers in snowy environs. We're not just talking 18-year olds, but 50 year old grandmas with frosty hair doing four-wheel drifts around corners,
all the blinking time. Admittedly, they're doing it at 15-20 mph, not at 150 mph, but, still: The wheels go that way, the back end goes this way, and drifty around the corners we go.
Do it wrong and one hits a curb or another car. So, understeer and oversteer are well known. It wasn't unusual for a homeowner to throw a couple of 50-lb sacks of kitty litter in the trunk, not just to help one get out of a snowbank, but to put some weight back there so the car handled better.
Frankly, you're the first person I've ever heard of who thought that putting chains on
two tires was a good idea. The best handling occurs when all four wheels have roughly the same traction; putting chains on two.. sounds like shooting oneself in the foot.
There was a study done a decade or so ago where, on a snowy track, the experimenters were putting snow tires on
just the fronts,
just the rears, all four, or none. With both front and rear wheel drive cars. If memory serves, best was all four with snows, followed by none with snows, followed distantly by the snows in front or the snows in rear. Checked Duck-Duck-Go.. too far back. So you'll have to take my word on it.
