TIRE SOCKS PREVENT SKIDDING ON SNOW AND ICE
A new product, offered by two manufacturers, are socks for tires, made from woven materials, that prevent the tires from skidding on snow or ice, and thus creating unsafe situations for the passengers by loosing grip. The socks are an alternative for chains, and have the big advantage that they can be mounted very fast.
Within a couple of minutes they are mounted around the driven wheels of a vehicle.
There are two manufacturers of these socks, the Spanish manufacturer Isse and the Norwegian company Autosock.
The structure and composition of the socks improves the tyre grip capacity, and thus the vehicle stability. Both products are completely made from woven fabrics, which keeps them light and handy and, subsequently, very easy to mount, transport and store. The space needed on the vehicle is insignificant, compared to traditional tyre chains, and their malleability makes them adaptable to small spaces – even socks for buses can be put in a small stowing space within the diver’s working area. Textile tire socks do not cause vibration on steering nor wheels, minimising driving inconveniences. They also take up a minimum space between the tyre and the bodywork, so as to decrease the risk of touching some other element, such as an electronic safety device, ABS, EPS, brake parts, joints, dampers. Both products are made from synthetic fibres, which are very strong, avoiding its breakage when incidentally used on asphalt. Each manufacturer supplies these socks in suitable sizes for cars, van-based vehicles and heavier vehicles like trucks and buses.
Research organisations have assessed the dynamic performances of a front- and a rear-wheel-drive car on icy and snowy surfaces, when fitted with winter pneumatic tires, new anti-slip wheelsocks, and snow chains. In all three situations accelerations and the three angular velocities at the centre of gravity were measured, together with the angular speeds of all axles. The maximum traction force was also measured. Proper manoeuvres to investigate both longitudinal and lateral vehicle dynamic behaviour have been performed and a complete analysis of the collected data is presented. The results confirmed the observation that snow chains allow always the best performances on both icy and snowy surfaces, but that these socks are a perfect alternative for situations where one needs to cope with sudden snowfall or icy roads.
