Has Anyone Used Spikes Spiders?

[rkracketeer]

Thanks to all for replying. I have since ordered the Auto Sock as I only need additional traction in extreme conditions (like this past Friday in Westchester NY). I'll post a review once I have been able to use them.

BTW, I could not get the Smart up the driveway with about 1 inch of packed snow, about a 20 degree rise. Otherwise it is not bad with the stock tires. Still thinking about getting 4 snows.

[rkracketeer]

Thanks to all for replying. I have since ordered the Auto Sock as I only need additional traction in extreme conditions (like this past Friday in Westchester NY). I'll post a review once I have been able to use them.

BTW, I could not get the Smart up the driveway with about 1 inch of packed snow, about a 20 degree rise. Otherwise it is not bad with the stock tires. Still thinking about getting 4 snows.

[buellwinkle]

In So Cal mountains we get much worse snow than NYC and our streets are very winding and steep, last week we got 4' in 3 days and we get another foot for XMas. There are people with Spike Spiders and they do work well but they are very pricey, about $540 for my truck. I use a diamond pattern chain, fairly easy to install and that's what the plows and utility vehicles use in my area. Got them at Kragen for about $100 (truck size, smart size is likely less expensive). It's fun watching the fwd cars struggling to drive with chains on and I just zip right by them with 4wd on my truck with mud & snow tires and have yet to put chains on other than to test fit them. Here they mentally challanged locals shovel their driveway into the street and then that turns into rock hard ice that lasts all winter long. Another fun thing they do is only shovel half their driveway because they got tired and then stick out half way into the street.

[rkracketeer]

Got the Auto Socks from Tirerack, last week, had snow last night, but the roads were cleared before I could try them out. Next time ...

[rkracketeer]

After a couple of small snow falls, I have finally tested my auto socks. Installing the auto sock was not too hard, secured the top, rolled backward (could have been forward) secured the rest just like in the video. I then was able to drive up my unshoveled driveway (up hill) with out a hitch. Once on level ground, I simply removed the auto socks as in the video as well.

Mind you, I only drove about 100 ft, but on previous attempts to climb my snow covered drive way were unsuccessful. I inspected the tracks that the smart made on the previously untouched snow, and I think I could see the theory behind this product. Every 6 inches or so, a visible ridge across the tracks, almost like the fabric bunches up as traction is lost, then bites into the snow. I actually should have taken a photo and measured, but I had too many chores to do today.

So I am convinced that the auto socks do work as advertised, I'll have them ready for the next big snow storm in the NY metro area.

[unicycle]

I just used my Auto Socks for the first time. They're great! I got my wife a set for her minivan with the same happy results. We used them tonight. Phew!

I have a long path to my house (1/2 mile) from the road, and there are hilly parts where we just couldn't make it up the hill last winter.

I drove on the snowy main road yestreen and had no trouble except for the fact that I had to keep the car at about 25 mph, tops. Maybe I could have hit 30. It was nice having that much more traction.

[bigcritter]

Since my last post on 22 December, the road conditions (and my driveway :>( were in pretty bad shape, and I used the Autosocks on my wife's Aveo (X20 size works on Aveo or smart) for a number of days to get into & out of the sub-division where I live. The snowplows never came through a single time, so the roads were horrible. In all the years of driving in the midwest, and back & forth from Gary, IN to Ft. Rucker, AL......and in Germany......, I've NEVER experienced roads that were as bad as my neighborhood for about a one-week period that latter part of December. The Autosocks worked great....and kept me moving. I had tire chains on the back of my Mazda (2WD) pickup, with 200-lbs. of sand in the back and the rest of the bed filled with packed snow. Well, the truck barely made it through the neighborhood AND I ended up throwing a chain on the left rear! :>( The Autosocks, however, worked GREAT!! One morning, I even drove my wife to work (about 12 miles on snow & ice covered roads at 30 mph) with the Autosocks on the FWD Aveo, and I never had a problem. They would become uncentered in parking lots while turning at slow speeds, but would quickly recenter themselves once I returned to going straight for a couple hundred feet or so! I ALSO couldn't get up into my driveway WITHOUT them, but no trouble at ALL with them on. Also, there was a small article about a tire spray & the Autosocks in the latest Consumer Reports, and they reported very poorly on the spray, but they reported that the vehicle with the Autosocks "summited the hill many times!" They WORK.......plain & simple.....and they're a breeze to put on & take off. They are NOT approved for mountain passes or other areas where CHAINS are required, though!!! :>)