Snow chains volvo v70 awd

RobFord

Hello anyone had issues fitting snow chains to the V70? Manual says fit to front but there is nowhere near enough room between the wheel and suspension, can fit them to the back but still very tight.

Philia_Bear

What size wheels?

They fit easily over 15's but frequently not wife 17 or 18's

RobFord

Thanks Philia-Bear glad to see you are still out there, long time no speak. Mine are standard 18inch that came with the car. The strange thing is I have previously owned 2 x XC70's that have a higher ride height and the chains wouldn't fit on the front of those either, even though manual says fit to front. Maybe in Sweden the Volvos come with the narrower tyres?

Philia_Bear

Yeah... they expect you to be running narrow (7" wife) 17's with winter tyres in winter and add In the chains on top if needed

They give another 15mm+ of clearance between the rim and suspension strut

jamesinc

Yeah I've fitted chains to the front of my old 850R which has even less clearance, the trick is: it's very fiddly

PS if you are going into an alpine area where chains are mandatory, they have to be on the driven wheels.

ICEDVOVO

Do you technically need chains if its an AWD vehicle?

jamesinc

@ICEDVOVO I'm not sure about Victoria but in NSW, AWD and 4WD vehicles are not required to carry/fit chains in alpine areas.

If you're planning to be up at the ski resorts I'd consider bringing chains anyway (you'd want them on the front wheels). If you are sticking to the main roads into/out of the alpine areas, you likely won't have any trouble. If you're going off into the smaller roads, or parking up the mountain overnight, or needing to arrive/depart those areas early in the morning (before the sun has softened the cover and before the snow plows have been over the main roads) then you might get stuck.

If the chains you have are too difficult to fit with small clearance, there are other types of snow chain that might work better.

Philia_Bear

Snow socks are amazing