Forget Tire Chains, Try Tire Socks – Video
You can buy just about anything nowadays. Ralph Lauren sells dog sweaters embroidered with the Polo logo, chihuahuas dare not venture into the snow without their booties and now you can buy socks… for your car. Is this consumerism run amok?
Maybe not, there’s a new safety product aiming to replace snow chains and it’s called the WeissSock. Essentially it’s a cover that slips over a car tire, kind of like the shower caps your aunt Bertha used…
Here’s the idea: drivers living in areas where snowfall can be sporadic but heavy might find this product to be useful and more convenient than slipping chains around their wheels during nasty weather. The WeissSock is made by Italian company Wiessenfels and uses a material that helps tires stick in dry snow conditions, allowing tires greater grip.
WiessSocks cost about $84 each, which works out to roughly the same cost as a set of chains. Much the same as the traditional equipment it competes with, you can’t drive fast or stomp on the brakes without damaging them. We haven’t had a chance to test the product ourselves, but they seem to work based on videos of actual use posted online. You can watch one of them below, and we apologize in advance for the elevator music. It’s terrible, we know.
Luke is an energetic automotive journalist who spends his time covering industry news and crawling the internet for the latest breaking story. When he isn't in the office, Luke can be found obsessively browsing used car listings, drinking scotch at his favorite bar and dreaming of what to drive next, though the list grows a lot faster than his bank account. He's always on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> looking for a good car conversation. Find Luke on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> and <A title="Luke on Google+" href="http://plus.google.com/112531385961538774338?rel=author">Google+</A>.
More by Luke Vandezande
Comments
Join the conversation