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I have a '18 Audi A4 Quattro with a manual transmission. I'm heading to Tahoe sometime soon and there is chain control. I've gone up many times but not during chain control. It says that even AWD models should carry traction devices and with all the snowfall in the last few weeks, I feel it might be a good idea to have. When I got the car the dealer said that I shouldn't put chain on the tires. Do I get snow cables instead? Would I put it on just the front tires?
I happen to be skiing in Colorado this weekend. I'm driving my manual A4 quattro with winter tires, and my wife is driving a Silvercar A4 quattro with all season tires and good treads. The driveway of the property where we are staying isn't very steep but hasn't been plowed in a few days so there is about 3 inches of powder on it plus some drifts of about 6 inches. I am able to get up the driveway just fine with some tire spinning. The A4 with all seasons could only get part way up. We had to shovel the steepest part and use momentum for her car to get to the top.
I have four Autosocks - two for my car and two that we carry with us when renting Silvercars. I can't imagine any conditions when I would put them over my winter tires (they are just for showing to the Highway Patrol), but after our experience with all season tires, I could see them coming in handy in that case. If you only have two chains/cables/socks, put them on the front tires to help with steering and braking as well as traction.
By the way, the skiing is fantastic.
Here is where the A4 with all seasons came to a stop.
It it took us 16 hours to get here this weekend when the drive is usually 3-4 hours. CalTrans/CHP will check your tires to make sure they have chains/are in fact winter tires. Don’t try to get by with all-seasons on this one.
As much as I wanted to take the A4, we ended up taking the Silverado with chains and I am glad we did. The drive was pretty sketch.
I would recommend getting winter tires for your trip or auto socks. With either of those options you should be fine.
*Also - among the many sites I used to track weather during this storm, this one is the best w/ real-time updates: http://tahoeroads.info/ be safe
Last edited by majestictiger; 02-17-2019 at 05:01 AM.
It it took us 16 hours to get here this weekend when the drive is usually 3-4 hours. CalTrans/CHP will check your tires to make sure they have chains/are in fact winter tires. Don’t try to get by with all-seasons on this one.
As much as I wanted to take the A4, we ended up taking the Silverado with chains and I am glad we did. The drive was pretty sketch.
I would recommend getting winter tires for your trip or auto socks. With either of those options you should be fine.
Question - if both cars had chains and winter tires, would you still have preferred the Silverado?
If both cars had winter tires I would have taken the A4 because I know it would preform better hands down.
Looking back i’m still glad we took the Silverado because it was nice to be high-up for visibility since we were in gridlock for so long. There were also some gnarly pot holes that could have destroyed my audi’s wheels since I only have the 19s. I need to invest in winter wheels/tires. Thought I could get by with all seasons this year.
02-16-2019, 10:22 AM
Chain control and Snow chains for Audi A4?
