My boss is giving away 2 pairs of snow chains that both fit my 84 300D. They are brand new Z-Chains. I took one pair. If she doesn't give away the other pair by wintertime should I take the other pair?

In other words: if chains were free, would we all have 2 pair?

I live in Portland, Oregon, where we get at most 4 days of snow per year. Last year was pretty bad (3 days of snow and freezing rain that turned to ice), and was the first time in the 8 years that I've been here that there was more than 1 inch of accumulation. I go skiing a lot, but usually not in my car. But if I wanted to take my car, I would need chains to get up the mountain.

Any thoughts?

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Aaron
'84 300D 267,000 - Running WVO - Rice Bran Oil - Mmmmmm, fishy...
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Maybe sell the extra set to someone on this forum. I'd take 'em but I'm not driving mine once the salt hits the pavement.

2 sets won't do you any good unless you got 4WD

Cheers,

Bill

Is she giving you a hint? No snow days off from work.

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85 300CD
83 300TD
78 240D (daughter)

Her exact words were "now you have no excuse."

Perhaps she forgets that I was one of only two people out of 50 who came to work during that storm. I ended up having to camp out here for 3 days because I couldn't get home!

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Aaron
'84 300D 267,000 - Running WVO - Rice Bran Oil - Mmmmmm, fishy...
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But back on topic:

I thought that while yes, you want your powered wheels to have chains, having chains in the front would help with braking and steering in a RWD car.

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Aaron
'84 300D 267,000 - Running WVO - Rice Bran Oil - Mmmmmm, fishy...
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4 will help you stop and steer. Also you will have 2 spare, they do break on ocasion, you'll need a spare fender too, they really make a mess when they break.

I live in newberg (20miles south of you)..that ice storm we had last winter was intense!
This year, if it gets nasty out...the VW shall prevail with its LT tires and the ability to leave the road
But then again...I'll take any excuse I can to not have to make the drive up there to portland daily to go to PSU
*sigh*

Certain kinds of chains yes, others no. Good ones do help in braking but those look more like a web not the flappers so to say.

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

This link tells it all, from the nice folks that make chains there in portland ( and very good ones, if you want the best traction, get a set of their Whitestar alloy chains, excellant traction and the links are darn near unbreakable. I ran the the truck version of those on a semi for years for extended periods of time and never broke a link, I have an emergency set for my cars in case a freak ice storm pops up before I have the snow tires mounted) They say four is best.

http://www.scc-chain.com/Pages%20Traction/Q%20and%20A/question%203.html


-----------Robert

if it is that bad why not actually make use of public trans?

Yeeeaaahhh.. about that... I didn't even have the mercedes then. The morning of that storm I tried to take my regular train in to work. But surprise surprise, they either didn't have a snowplow car or couldn't get enough of the snow and ice off of the tracks. I think they also had trouble with ice on the lines.

I ended up taking buses most of the way. It was really slow going. Then most of the bus services shut down or went to reduced schedules.

Moral of the story: in a city where it "never snows," be prepared for EVERYTHING to come to a dead stop when it does snow.

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Aaron
'84 300D 267,000 - Running WVO - Rice Bran Oil - Mmmmmm, fishy...
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2 link chains are better than 4 link chains. Or diamond as B.H. M.D. was saying http://www.tirechain.com/DIAMONDSTYLECARCHAINS.htm

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1999 E300DT (131,800) 154,000 Black on Black SOLD

2006 CLK 500 coupe Capri Blue on Grey (zoom,zoom)
47,000mi

04 VW TDI Passat 80,000mi
(Techno)

How to eliminate oil dependency through market-driven approaches.
“We could cut oil use in half by 2025, and by 2040, oil use could be zero,”
The Sound of Diesel Speed
Ode to MB

Go ahead and take the second set of chains to keep as spares, or for your second MB.

But as someone already mentioned, German steel melts in salt water.

Ken300D

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1982 300D at 351K miles
1984 300SD at 217K miles
1987 300D at 370K miles

Personally, I think that 1 pair would be sufficient. When you really need chains, you are driving slowly and carefully and any tiny advantage to steering or braking has to be weighed against what you are doing to the front suspension with them. Chains are really made for traction, and that's in the rear. Wish I had a nice pair

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'82 300SD - 361K mi - "Blue"

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

listen, look, .........and duck.

Haha....you'll have no excuse to leave work and go home.....based on your report of having to camp out at the last event....I'm a scavenger of sorts....sounds to me like the price is right....sell them and donate the money in your bosses name (smoochie smoochie) I'M KIDDING!!!!