expressvanman

Hey everyone,

Hoping someone can help me here. I have to take my 2009 2500 Express Van with a trailer to the mountains this February and I want to buy some tire chains. But when I went to this site www.vulcantirechains.com/chain_.htm and started to browse around I came across this link on the site:
Vulcan Tire Sales - Tires, Tire Chains and More... Falken - Goodyear - Pirelli - Roadmaster - Avon

At the bottom of the Q&A it talks about "class S" clearances. That made me get out my manual on the van to see what if anything it had to say. Sure enough there is a blurb about tire chains. It says if your vehicle has dualies or P245/70R17 or LT245/75R16 (I have the LT245/75R16) do not use tire chains because there is not enough clearance and they can damage the vehicle yada yada yada...

So I run out to the van and there sure don't look like there would be a problem running them but I'm kinda nervous after reading this. The closest thing to the rubber is the E brake cable on the Driver side and there is a good 21/4" clearance and if I bent the bracket holding the cable a bit i can get at least 2.5" if not more. The passenger side E cable bends out of the way and does not even protude out past the edge of the rim.

Do I have anything to worry about here guys? Anyone running chains on a 2009 and have any problems?

With that said anyone have any suggestions on a good tire to run for snow on these trucks? I have 60K on the originals and it's time for hoops anyhow so I figured I would buy a good snow tire if I am going out that way.

Thanks in advance for any advice or input to the topic!

canucklehead

For the life of me I cannot see what the chain people are talking about.....I have the same tires and I cannot see how chains would have a clearance issue at all.
As for tires....
Any good mud and snow tire that has the mountain snowflake symbol....
I run motomaster winter tread all terrains.
If you don't use actual snow tires....you are taking a risk.

expressvanman

Canucklehead thanks for the reply. it's not just the chain people it's in the manual is well that's why I was kind of concerned. I don't get it because it sure looks like there's plenty of clearance to me. Yeah I was thinking a full blown snow tire but I don't know if any place local here where I live in the Midwest will carry them. seems like everything here is all season radials. I may have to order them from Tire Rack or something. I will have quite a bit of weight in the van and the weight of the tongue from the trailer as well.
Are you running those tires on a cargo van? And are you running them on all 4 corners? Reason I ask is I'm only going to need these for 1 week and then I'll be back home where I really don't need a full blown snow tire. I'm kind of up the air on what to do for tires.

senf

I have 245/75 R16 Goodyear SRA and have purchased "AutoSock" to satify State highway regulations "Carry winter chains". AutoSock is approved for use in Colorado by the State Highway Department - do you need a better endorsement? We travel the continent west to east in the spring and back again in the fall. But we haven't had to use them yet, even in four inches of snow.

spaceblonde

any tire shop should be able to order the tires for you. Temps under 50 or 40 snow tires give better traction!! I personally would go to the junk yard and get a set of rims that way can swap when you need them