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Depends on what you're looking to get from them and also what you're willing to pay. Cables with the little steel sleeves seem to work fine in light snow and thin ice, some fire/rescue companies around here have been using them for several years with long life and good traction. Standard chains, those without cleats, wear rapidly if used on a paved surface no matter what the conditions however they are the cheapest. For mud/snow conditions off road, they hold up decent. Cleated chains, those with the additional pads on the links facing away from the tire, hold up better on paved surfaces and also give excellent traction in most all conditions including thick ice. Cost is higher. Twisted chain with cleats holds up very well because they are less likely to move around on the tire, normal style link chain will often roll and allow the cleats to face the tire rather than the road surface... chain will wear as opposed to the cleats. Twisted chain is usually easier to install since it will tend to lay as it should naturally. Higher cost yet on these. Bonded double twist cleated or chain within chain, are by far the best for durability, strength and traction however, they are hard on your wallet and tires. They are hard on tires simply beacuse they are about 2 times larger in diameter than a standard chain because you have on wrapped around the other and welded to it. I have never seen these used outside of emergency service vehicles in very remote areas where heavy snow is normal and clearing is slow, most commonly seen on off road equipment. A few years back, I got a flier in the main selling "track chains". These had four times the number of cross links as standard chains that nearly encased the whole tread area of the tire. The cleats were large and attached two cross links together to form on semi-solid cross link. Cost for these was extremely high and I have heard any more of them. Then you have ring chains, used to see lots of these used on farm equipment around here. Standard chain used around the circufrence of the tire sidewall with a single round circle of steel used as the cross link. I know they work for the farmers in the mud but have never seen them used on highway at all. Not fond of square link chain at all. Every time I've seen these used, on and off road, they chewed the tires up in a short time. If you're looking for chains to use only when needed on highway, take a look at the automatic chains a/k/a "swing down" or "drop down". These come in air and electric powered and swing down from under the suspension and have a rubber coated wheel that hits the sidewall of the tire. As the tire rotates, short sections of standard chain are thrown under the tread area. Flip of a switch or valve and you have chain on or off. We have them on several of our emergency vehicles here and they do work well even at low speeds to get you out of snow/ice. A bit on the costly side to install the first time but cheap to replace the chain sections as we use common 3/8" proof coil.
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