Often there are situations when, to overcome a certain section of the road, the capabilities of the vehicle are not enough. We are talking about steep, icy climbs, areas with deep mud, and a snowy road. You can get out of such situations by buying or making your own anti-skid bracelets. Even an ordinary tire, which is necessary for driving on asphalt, with the help of such a device will receive excellent qualities characteristic of SUVs.
Chain Benefits
Using such devices, the driver will get excellent cross in deep snow. Significantly improved grip. Accordingly, controllability will increase in icy areas. In addition, it will be possible to successfully overcome the mud areas. Many motorists love to travel on the roads of Russia, off-road. They often post photos and videos on a variety of resources, with which you can see how effective anti-skid bracelets are. With your own hands, in addition, it is not difficult to make them.
Negative features of bracelets
Naturally, chains also have disadvantages that can limit their use. Attention should be paid to them in order to avoid unpleasant situations.
- First of all, it will be necessary to take into account that the steering suspension will be subjected to increased loads. Accordingly, along with high traffic, enhanced wear will be obtained. The steering rack will be especially affected if chains are mounted on the front wheels.
- Another important factor is that tire wear will increase . Accordingly, the period of their service will be greatly reduced.
- DIY anti-skid bracelets made will lead to wear on the gearbox.
- The speed of movement will be limited to 50 km / h.
- We should not forget about the acoustics - the circuit is capable of emitting quite a lot of noise.
Using soft chains
You can resort to a more gentle option, with which you can increase the patency of your vehicle. It is about using rubber or plastic chains. Do-it-yourself bracelets made in this situation will have weaker off-road parameters. However, fatal tire wear, suspension, transmission can be avoided. In addition, the speed of movement will increase (up to 90 km / h), which is also an important factor.
Wheel anti-skid bracelets can be divided into two categories. They can be soft and hard. Both options are longitudinal cables or chains (in the amount of two pieces) that are pulled around the circumference of the wheel. Between them you should tighten the cross chains or lugs made of plastic or rubber.
What can be chains?
Crossbars can be made in the form of a short flight of stairs, a rhombus or honeycombs. Each of these options has positive and negative points. The short flight of stairs is characterized by improved rowing capabilities. It is better to resort to it if it is required to overcome the mud section of the road. However, you should be aware that such anti-skid bracelets lead to the fact that the wheel may “bury”. Therefore, the ride should be "pull". The driver may encounter other problems. The car will have poor lateral stability. Tires will wear out faster. Steering gearbox will become more impacted.
Wheel anti-skid bracelets with a honeycomb pattern will cause less damage to the main components of the vehicle. Tires will also last longer. Compared to a ladder, such patterns can provide better lateral stability. Permanent contact with the surface will also be obtained.
Features of hard and soft snow chains
Definitely it will not be possible to answer which particular chains are preferable. Each has its own advantages in certain conditions. Therefore, a universal option is not available. Rigid chains are best suited for complete off-roading. Due to more pronounced rowing abilities, they will make it possible to overcome a difficult area, having encountered less difficulties.
If you decide to make soft anti-skid bracelets with your own hands (photos of such structures can be seen in the course of reading the review), then you should understand that you cannot storm off-road with their help. But such systems will help overcome difficult areas. The advantages of this option are that plastic or rubber chains can be removed as soon as a difficult section has been passed. Accordingly, further movement will occur at a higher speed, without risk of harming the tires or transmission with steering.
When choosing rigid chains, attention should be paid to the size and cross section of the links. The larger they are, the better rowing opportunities will be. But the wear of tires, gearbox and steering will increase significantly. Links with a square section also contribute to improving rowing qualities.
How to make chains with your own hands?
Since the cost of such designs is quite high, you can make do-it-yourself anti-skid bracelets for VAZ, Gazelle, Niva or other vehicles. The process is not difficult. All necessary items can be found in hardware stores. It should be understood that home-made designs will cost less, and their quality will in no way be inferior to purchased options. Yes, and finding benefits is quite simple.
The most simple do-it-yourself ladder. To do this, measure out two segments of the chain so that they are slightly shorter in length than the length characteristic of the circumference of the wheel. Using S-shaped hooks, between them it is necessary to fix transverse segments. They should be of equal length, which will slightly exceed the width of the tire.
When making anti-skid bracelets with your own hands on a Gazelle or other vehicle, it is necessary to connect longitudinal segments to each other. To do this, use carbines. In the middle of each longitudinal section it is necessary to fix the tension device. Its other end is attached to the carabiner with a hook. This device will help to securely fasten the made anti-skid bracelets with your own hands (to the Niva, VAZ or other vehicle) on wheels.
Diamond-shaped chains are much more difficult to make. But such a task can be dealt with if there is a desire and perseverance.
Wheel chain
Installation in no way depends on what kind of chains it is planned to put on the wheels of the car - homemade or factory. There are several ways to install bracelets. The machine must be jacked so that the wheel becomes suspended. After that, you need to wear a bracelet on it. This installation method is simple. However, more time will have to be spent.
Second mounting option
The second method is faster. However, experience and certain skills are needed. Arrange chains with bracelets on the ground, carefully straightening them. After that, they will need to be run over so that about 30 cm remains to the end. Then this long part of the bracelets must be put on the wheel. From the inside, the chain will need to be fastened using a hook. All links must be straightened. Outsides will also need to be bonded. After that, the bracelet is pulled together with an adjusting cable. This method is optimal if you need to mount the made anti-skid bracelets with your own hands on trucks.
Optional bracelets on all wheels
Before you start to storm an off-road, drive for about 50 meters and retighten the chains. Due to this, you will extend the durability of the tires. It should be noted that wearing bracelets on all wheels is not recommended if the vehicle is not all-wheel drive. If the car is ordinary, then just put chains on the drive wheels.
Conclusion
This review examined how to make your own anti-skid bracelets on a vehicle. This is nothing complicated. Simplicity differs and their installation. Therefore, with a little effort, you can achieve your goals. And off-road scare will not. The difficult section of the road will be overcome quickly and successfully.