pontiac awd And snow chains: 2 sets or 1 set?

[pointbob]

Hey all. I have a pontiac AWD 2006. I have 1 set of snowchains (cable style). Must I purchase another set to use it on the AWD so that all 4 wheels have chains; or is it safe enough for just the 2 front wheels?

thanks

[MrWhoopee]

As long as your tires are rated M+S (mud & snow), you probably won't need any chains. It's very rare that conditions are so bad that chains are required on 4WD with snow tires. If you must mount chains, put them on both front and back to prevent damage to the viscous coupler. If you live where this is a regular issue, get a second set of rims with real snow tires.

[BenWA]

If you put snow chains/cables on AWD/4WD, you must have them on all 4 wheels. If you have much better traction on only 2 wheels, the car will have to try to compensate by spinning the other two faster to catch up, possibly causing loss of control. It might even overheat of the transmission or caused excessive wear, if half of it is going slow and half of it is going fast for an extended period of time.

An extra $50 from O'Reilly for cables + rubber tensioners is worth it vs trying to skimp and run an AWD with only half equipped. It'll cost you a lot more than $50 if you wreck or blow your transmission. You'd be better off with NO chains than only half of what's required.

2WD always gets the chains on the drive wheels only. FWD gets them on the front / RWD gets them on the rear.

[kumquat]

You need them at all 4 corners. If your front wheels are gripping and the rear wheels aren't, your rear end is going to slide out behind you, perhaps right into oncoming traffic.