SCC 0155005 Auto-Trac Tire Traction Chain - Set of 2

TL;DR: This is one of those products that have exceeded expectations. Every time I use them I am more and more impressed. When they wear out I'll buy them again and feel just fine about it.PACKAGING: The heavy bag that they come in has held up well getting moved around from storage bins to trunks to floorboards, getting the chains taken in and out. Very convenient. Also the plastic sheet with instructions on it is a very thoughtful include in the package. I'm kneeling on the ground to get these on and off and this keeps me dry. It has held up as well.FIT: I used the manufacturer reference tables and bought the size indicated for my tire size on two different vehicles, a '19 Camry and '13 Smart (tiny tires). It was a perfect fit on both. Close enough that installation is a bit of a chore but with enough slack to make it doable. Once installed the fit is perfect, no slippage, no flopping.INSTALLATION: The process can be a bit of work but it isn't bad at all. When the chains are laid out flat they're designed vaguely like a ladder, with straight rails and chains webbed between the rails. The rail on one side is a plastic coated steel cable, with a hook on one end and a knob on the other that the hook will catch. (The other 'rail' is chain, reels, and steel cables between the reels and chains. See install drawing, lower panel.) Hold one end of the steel cable in my left hand so that the reels are face down on the ground as the chains are laid flat, draw back the other end of the steel cable with my right hand and then sling it under the car from aft of the tire. The free end wraps around the tire and comes out from under the car fore of the tire. (See my install drawing, upper panel.) Find the end of the cable that went under the car and wrapped around the tire and lift the two ends of the cable up to the top of the tire so the ends can be coupled together. This will mean that for the moment the cable is wrapped up tight against the suspension/axle. Once the steel cable is secured, drop it back behind the tire so it is off the suspension/axle and drape the chains over the tire so the reels are in front of it where you can get to them. Rotate things around so that the gap to be taken up by the reel/cable is at the bottom of the tire contact patch. (See my install drawing, lower panel.) Pull the cables from the reels with the locking handles flipped up so you can work with the slack and hook the ends of the cables to the chains, closing the gaps in the chains. Release the reels to take up the slack by folding the locking handles back down. Wiggle and work things around so that the amount of take-up is even between the two reels. That's it. Drive a few dozen feet and check to make sure everything is tight and take-up is still even. Adjust if needed. Good to go.REMOVAL: This one can be a pain. You never know where the coupler on the cable on the back side of the tire is. Pull slack from the reels, unhook from the chains on the outside of the tire. Grab the steel cable on the inside of the tire and pull it up or back or something till you can get the cable over the tire and find the coupler to release the main cable. Sometimes it's packed with ice and in an inconvenient spot. If you care enough to do this you could find out where it was at prior to starting the removal process and roll the car till it gets to a good spot. About half the time I can uncouple it with nothing more than some strategic shaking, a few times I've had to chip ice and thaw with my hot hands, most of the time it is somewhere in between. Once everything is unhooked lay the chains out flat on the ground and move the reels to a safe spot where they won't get run over, pull the car forward a couple feet to get off the chain so you can pick it up. Shake off the ice and water and lay out to dry before re-bagging.PERFORMANCE: I've used them through three winters now, driving on hard ice, grainy piled up sleet, wet packed snow, and deep dry powder. Total mileage is about 50mi, about 2/3 of it on hard ice with grainy sleet on top of it, the rest of it in snow and slush. Probably less than 2mi total on bare asphalt. Without the chains the poor rear wheel drive Smart car is nearly worthless. The dumb traction control uses braking instead of power vectoring and the result is it becomes immobile pretty quick in slick stuff, bogging down the motor with braking. With these chains on it drives almost as sure-footedly in the slick stuff as it does on dry pavement. (See the image from inside the car. That is hard ice with dry snow on top of it. The car drove as smooth, stable, and controlled on that stuff as it does on dry pavement.) It is actually very impressive, much better than I expected given the relatively small diameter of the chains. On really hard ice they will slip if I try to put too much power down or try climbing up a very steep hill, but if I am being careful at all they don't really slip much. Even when they don't feel like they're slipping they throw up a rooster-tail of ice behind me as I drive. Very grabby. On hard ice and pavement it is a very rough ride, but with a little bit of a soft surface from slush or powder they're very smooth. I can comfortably do 25-30mph on snow and grainy ice and feel like they would work well as traction beyond that but I don't want to stress them beyond their structural capacity. We live at the base of a hill that is steep enough that in ice and deep snow one we stand at the windows with our coffee and make bets on who's going to get up the hill and who's sliding backwards to try again and again. With these chains our cars zip right up that hill in those conditions.DURABILITY: I've been worried about this based on other posts but so far they've been great. No rust, no broken parts, reels still work well. The only issues I've had are minor things which have little to no bearing on performance and utility. One of the reel cables has a slight permanent bend in it, presumably from the cable being pulled at an extreme angle from the reel while in use. It doesn't affect the reel take-up or performance, it just looks like it might could become a problem some day if it happens more. The other thing is that the reels can occasionally be sticky, not wanting to take up the cable, as if there is some source of catch or drag internally. I solve it by fully extending the cables and taking them up again. Again, not really affecting much now but I could see whatever is going on inside could maybe become a problem. Despite these couple things I feel like I've more than gotten my money's worth so even when they finally do wear out I'll not feel bad about it.

absolutely fantastic! great grip, made us all feel super safe, and they are reasonably easy to put on. they look good, and while they do add to the noise of the car inside, from outside there is no noticeable change. we drove about 35, max, but hey, it is snowy/snowing! so far no rust, and i have bagged 'em safe for next year!

Nice that you can put these on while the car is parked, and you don’t have to drive onto them like a lot of other models. Difficult to take off if the weather has warmed up a bit and the snow is starting to melt/turn to ice, because the metal casing part that you first use to fit the chains around the tires has a lot of open space that water will collect in and freeze, making it impossible to remove the chains until that’s melted. Overall though, a lot easier to use than other chains I’ve tried.

These seem to be nice chains if they happen to fit your tires. Unfortunately, they don't necessarily fit even when the website says they should.My tires are 225/75R15s. According to the information on this page and on Peerless website, 0155305 is the correct size for my tires. However, the card attached to the bag containing the chains lists only some smaller tires. Unfortunately, I didn't notice, nor did I attempt to fit the chains while I still could return them. Now I am apparently stuck with chains that are too small for my tires.As you can see by one of my pictures, it is technically possible to put the chains on my tires, but it was extremely difficult and took several attempts and multiple hours do it. I even had to drive on the chains some, which you are not supposed to need to do while installing them. The self-tightening mechanisms don't actually do anything in my case because the chains were fully tight the moment I managed put them on; I had no slack to work with. Notices how far the cables are stretched out in my picture compared to the way they are supposed to look.If you do buy these chains, make sure they fit while you still have a chance to return them.EDIT: I complained on the website and received the following reply:Good Morning Eric,Please see response/recommendation from our traction technical team below:The 0155305 fits our tire okay but is at the limits so if this 225/75-15 tire is running a bit oversized, then it will require the 3” longer 0155505 Auto Trac chains. The lever on the tensioners needs to be lifted up during removal to disable the ratchet mechanism and allow the cables to extend freely.Thank you,[Employee name and contact information][end quote]And yes, it is very much at the limits of what will fit. They really need to have an in-between size to use.

I own 3 pairs of these, one for each car and they go on easy and do help maintain traction. I recommend getting a headlamp, some water proof pants, and some water proof gloves with these and keep them together in your car. Also, practice putting them on, nothing is worse than crossing an icy mountain pass during the middle of the night at around 14,000 feet and realizing the only way off this hellscape and safety down the mountain is to chain up and you haven’t done it before. They can be a little noisy, what do you expect from chains nailing pavement though. Works great on ice and deep snow (I live in the mountain of Colorado) so definitely snow safe. Love the design, have not tried them at high speed, usually if I am putting them on I am going slow after that.

Great product. Once I understood the process of how to put them on, they were able to be put on in less than 5 minutes. Able to do it while parked and not have to drive forward and back a bunch.