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Which Snow-Chain are you using with your Model S?

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It would, but that won't change the clearance with the control arm OR stay up if you go over 25mph. Air system was programmed by a child (Elon) who thinks low riders with "stance" are cool. That's why these things eat tires unless you fix them with aftermarket parts.
 
I’ve read on other forums some MS owners only put on the rear… others on all four. I only carry one set.
You technically only need one set. And they go on the rears according to the tesla manual. I however live with a boatload of snow so there have been times where I’ve needed more than the two. Just a couple of times. Better safe than sorry and since they take a few days to source better to have extra.
 
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Probably emits some substance known to the state of California to cause cancer - if you were to eat 4500 lbs of that substance in a single day.

There is being eco-minded and liberal and green... Then there is California, who could find a way to suck the fun out of a sunny day.
 
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Probably emits some substance known to the state of California to cause cancer - if you were to eat 4500 lbs of that substance in a single day.

There is being eco-minded and liberal and green... Then there is California, who could find a way to suck the fun out of a sunny day.
The k summit works even with a single wheel installed 😂. The story in my side is that I keep worrying they would fall off, and they did multiple times. I have tried to follow every steps in the video but without any luck. Somehow one of them keeps falling off, which is kind of dangerous. I was wondering if any of you guys experienced the same problem? Is there any trick to install the chains?
 
Instead of chains which may or may not fit. Then even when you get them on there’s a very good chance they will snap, and take out some very expensive suspension components (happens all the time on teslas) look at auto socks. I use them on both my teslas. They’re easy on. Easy off and they won’t hurt anything on your vehicle when they wear out. I’ve had the same set in my S for 4 years and have had to use them a handful of times.

And yes they count as legal “chains” when it’s required to carry them in all 50 states.
 
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Instead of chains or any other crap just go the other route and get a second set of wheels and tires for snow tires. Yes its obviously more expensive but its sooooooo much more convenient to just drive right past the chain control areas and smile at the folks out there in the cold putting on their chains while I'm in my nice heated car.
I drive to the snowy areas in CA and NV every month during winter so every month on Tuesday before my drive i swap out the tires and then on wed afternoon i head up, and on the following Monday i put my summer tires back on till the next month and i change them again.

But if you don't drive in the snow very often or hardly ever then its a easy choice to just get some standard chains and put the suspension in high and go. But no matter where you get the chains you need to make sure they will not **** with the fenders while you drive so ensure they are the right size and put them on in your driveway at home a couple times and get the hang of it and ensure the slack is all taken out.
 
Instead of chains or any other crap just go the other route and get a second set of wheels and tires for snow tires. Yes its obviously more expensive but its sooooooo much more convenient to just drive right past the chain control areas and smile at the folks out there in the cold putting on their chains while I'm in my nice heated car.
I drive to the snowy areas in CA and NV every month during winter so every month on Tuesday before my drive i swap out the tires and then on wed afternoon i head up, and on the following Monday i put my summer tires back on till the next month and i change them again.

But if you don't drive in the snow very often or hardly ever then it’s an easy choice to just get some standard chains and put the suspension in high and go. But no matter where you get the chains you need to make sure they will not **** with the fenders while you drive so ensure they are the right size and put them on in your driveway at home a couple times and get the hang of it and ensure the slack is all taken out.
Snow tire is definitely a good option. For people live in Bay Area like me and drive to Tahoe for some weekends, it’s kind of tricky to make the decision. Every time when I am thinking of using snow tires, it always come to me many questions like. Do I want to use snow tire / wheel on the weekdays to sacrifice the performance of plaid in winter season? Do I want to switch the wheel before every time I go or just do it once before the winter starts? Should I do the change at home or let the tire shop handle it? I am curious about how you made your decision.
 
Should I do the change at home or let the tire shop handle it? I am curious about how you made your decision.
I have lived in Buffalo NY (four years in my 30's), and CA bay area (currently and most of my life). If you own a second set of wheels for the snow tires, then it's much easier and cheaper to put them on/off yourself, assuming you have a good jack and flat driveway to do the work. If all you have are the tires, then you're gonna want to have them mounted and balanced at a shop at the beginning of the season and leave them on.

That said, I personally would never bother with snow tires for occasional trips to Tahoe from the bay area. 90% of the miles for that trip are on dry roads, and 90% of the time the remaining 10% are dry anyway because Tahoe gets plowed very well / frequently and has infrequent snow storms typically (present season is an exception). If your Tesla has AWD / dual-motor, you really are fine with standard M+S tires most of the time, assuming you have decent tread wear left. Keep some tire socks in the frunk just in case. We go up for 2 one-week trips per year, plus a couple of weekend trips. Total maybe 5-7 trips to Tahoe each ski season. We have a 2007 Sequoia which is awesome up there with standard M+S all season SUV tires. Never felt the need for chains. I've taken my Model S (2WD) up there once, and it was fine everywhere except in the neighborhood where the rental house was, which was packed/icy snow on the roads. I drove carefully and never got stuck, but had tire socks in the frunk just in case (they are still there unused).

Everyone's situation is different though. I have friends who do a long-term rental every ski season up there, and they work remotely for days at a time and spend a lot of time up there. He puts snow tires on his AWD Cayenne for the season. They do not put them on their Suburban though, as the all-season truck tires +4x4 are sufficient.
 
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Snow tire is definitely a good option. For people live in Bay Area like me and drive to Tahoe for some weekends, it’s kind of tricky to make the decision. Every time when I am thinking of using snow tires, it always come to me many questions like. Do I want to use snow tire / wheel on the weekdays to sacrifice the performance of plaid in winter season? Do I want to switch the wheel before every time I go or just do it once before the winter starts? Should I do the change at home or let the tire shop handle it? I am curious about how you made your decision.
Never have someone do something you can do yourself. Even when i was using a star wrench to take off the lugnuts i'd never consider paying a shop to do the swap. But now i use an old impact gun so its like 15 min to swap all 4 tires out.
For my decision making to buy snow tires it was just an obvious choice since i had AWD and 2 sets of rims anyway. Also i haven't used chains since i was in high school, and driving to school in CA was annoying because i'd have to leave earlier and then stop about 20 miles later and remove the chains. I said I'd never use chains if i didn't have to.

I have lived in Buffalo NY (four years in my 30's), and CA bay area (currently and most of my life). If you own a second set of wheels for the snow tires, then it's much easier and cheaper to put them on/off yourself, assuming you have a good jack and flat driveway to do the work. If all you have are the tires, then you're gonna want to have them mounted and balanced at a shop at the beginning of the season and leave them on.

That said, I personally would never bother with snow tires for occasional trips to Tahoe from the bay area. 90% of the miles for that trip are on dry roads, and 90% of the time the remaining 10% are dry anyway because Tahoe gets plowed very well / frequently and has infrequent snow storms typically (present season is an exception). If your Tesla has AWD / dual-motor, you really are fine with standard M+S tires most of the time, assuming you have decent tread wear left. Keep some tire socks in the frunk just in case. We go up for 2 one-week trips per year, plus a couple of weekend trips. Total maybe 5-7 trips to Tahoe each ski season. We have a 2007 Sequoia which is awesome up there with standard M+S all season SUV tires. Never felt the need for chains. I've taken my Model S (2WD) up there once, and it was fine everywhere except in the neighborhood where the rental house was, which was packed/icy snow on the roads. I drove carefully and never got stuck, but had tire socks in the frunk just in case (they are still there unused).

Everyone's situation is different though. I have friends who do a long-term rental every ski season up there, and they work remotely for days at a time and spend a lot of time up there. He puts snow tires on his AWD Cayenne for the season. They do not put them on their Suburban though, as the all-season truck tires +4x4 are sufficient.
I will drive on 88 and 395 most of the time and many times they aren't plowed very well and also i tend to go just for snowboarding and not nice weather days because there is less tourists when the weather is bad so no lines on the lifts. Also last year or the year before the day i was going to go home all the roads were closed. 395, 88, 50, and even 80 were closed for snow. Luckily i was able to find a open road around and head out to Hawthorne and then back to bishop so i could be at work the next day. But if i didn't have my snow tires on id not even been able to do that.

Another reason why snow tires are better is i can drive faster. I grew up in the CA snow and learned how to drive and how to stay out of the ditch and turn right to go left fun. Also after living in AK for 4 years i learned about dry snow and remember seeing a car in the ditch and APD out there helping and i was just drifting by sideways waving and grinning. In AK the damn road gets ruts in it and when you go to change lanes sometimes the front will turn but the rear will stay in those ruts so ya gotta learn to goose the throttle and pop out of there sometimes.

So when you're in chains you can only do like 20-30 mph, but in my snow tires i can easily do 40-50. also ya know how there are clear patches and then it goes back to a crap road again? well in chains you're stuck going 25 but i can go 70 or whatever speed i deem to be safe for the conditions. But i don't recommend flatlanders (bay area and LA people) drive faster without training, because y'all are the ones i was pulling out of the ditch on the weekends as a kid with my dads truck to make extra money.
 
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I'd solve the problem this way - the best tires I've ever tried are the new Crossclimate2 from Michelin. I'm NOT a michelin fanboy by any means, I actually hate their tires most of the time. I'd say the same thing about most "all season" tires, that they suck equally in all seasons...... Not these.

Last year I was driving my VW in Ohio on a set of BFG all seasons and it was just getting into winter weather and I was in a heavy rainstorm, and I was all over the road fighting the traction control constantly. Like every 20-30 seconds, it was beeping at me and fighting me. I pulled up to a Costco and looked at what they had, the ONLY option in stock was the Crossclimate2. I wasn't thrilled about that, but the manager said that there was a 60 day return policy if I hated them, so I gave them a try.

While in the store it switched from rain to sleet and then to snow - the parking lot was a MESS when I came out. But driving on those tires..... It was like a summer day.

I took that same car to Oregon a couple weeks later, and coming back over the pass, they had the chain indicators flashing. Truckers were telling me that they were sliding all over the road - which had barely 1" of snow on it! - and they had to chain up to have traction on the ice. I didn't even know there was ice, b/c the traction was that good.

The Crossclimate2 aren't just a "m+s" tire, they are a mountain snowflake AND m+s rating. I was told on that trip that according to Oregon, this tire counts as a traction-aid tire, so you don't actually have to chain up unless it is personal preference. I don't know if that would be the same in California, so YMMV. I'm in Connecticut with my Tesla right now and was here during the last big snow just before Christmas, and decided to do a little practice driving in a parking lot that hadn't been cleared. There was a fair amount of ice / slick feel in this yard. With the traction control off, I was able to put it into a skid and then get it back under control myself - with only the tires and techniques to work with. Turn the traction control back on, and the car basically wouldn't allow more than a foot or two of traction loss before it forced me back in control, even when I was doing silly things like planting the brake while turning sharply. It just wouldn't let me have ANY fun. :)

For safe operation in all conditions AND especially winter..... Yeah. I'm a believer in these. I got them in 235/45/19 b/c I didn't want to spend $50 extra per tire just for 10mm of width... And that hasn't changed the performance in the slightest.
 
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Instead of chains or any other crap just go the other route and get a second set of wheels and tires for snow tires. Yes its obviously more expensive but its sooooooo much more convenient to just drive right past the chain control areas and smile at the folks out there in the cold putting on their chains while I'm in my nice heated car.
I drive to the snowy areas in CA and NV every month during winter so every month on Tuesday before my drive i swap out the tires and then on wed afternoon i head up, and on the following Monday i put my summer tires back on till the next month and i change them again.

But if you don't drive in the snow very often or hardly ever then its an easy choice to just get some standard chains and put the suspension in high and go. But no matter where you get the chains you need to make sure they will not **** with the fenders while you drive so ensure they are the right size and put them on in your driveway at home a couple times and get the hang of it and ensure the slack is all taken out.
I don’t know about Nevada but in cali even if you have snow tires on your car you are still required by law to carry chains Nov 1-March 31st in your vehicle when going over mountain passes. I know this law is in place in most states. (And many of them will ask to see them and proof they will fit your vehicle)
 
I don’t know about Nevada but in cali even if you have snow tires on your car you are still required by law to carry chains Nov 1-March 31st in your vehicle when going over mountain passes. I know this law is in place in most states. (And many of them will ask to see them and proof they will fit your vehicle)
I've spent most of my life in CA, going to Tahoe from the bay area almost every year, and driving myself there since the 1990's. I've never once been stopped for an inspection to see if I'm carrying chains in my 4WD vehicle with good (m+s all season usually) tires. They just wave me on by. Not saying it couldn't happen, but that's my anecdotal experience.
 
I don’t know about Nevada but in cali even if you have snow tires on your car you are still required by law to carry chains Nov 1-March 31st in your vehicle when going over mountain passes. I know this law is in place in most states. (And many of them will ask to see them and proof they will fit your vehicle)
Technically yeah you're supposed to carry chains even with snow tires but that is lower priority than having a front license plate, aka nobody cares.

I've been stopped many many many times over the years by cal trans (maybe 3 times tops by NDOT) and they just ask "4WD?" and then let ya go. I'd say about 1 in 6 times they will actually look at the tires. But not once have I ever been asked to show my chains (that I don't have) or even asked if I have chains.
 
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