petercyeh

Ok, going up for the weekend and wanted to get some chains just in case. But, I remember the Acura dealership saying something about not using chains. What do we use instead?
And if you use chains, do you recommend a particular one. Thanks guys. BTW I love how this car drives compared to my old b6 A4, but now that its snowboarding season...

ChrismanTSX

Where are you? I wouldn't recommend chains, as they're a pain in the @ss to put on and remove, and, unless you're going in the middle of freaking nowhere, they're probably not required.

I'm in Montreal, and have gone skiing up in the Laurentians, and my TSX got me where I wanted, when I wanted...

However, if you insist on chains, here is an excerpt from the Canadian Acura TSX manual:

FBPaCCord

you shouldnt get the traditional chains, get the cables, which work well but are a lower profile so they can clear lower cars

jaehshim

how does the driving different to B6 A4 ?

just wanna know...
i've driven B7 A4 2.0T, felt heavy and not-so clean engine sound due to turbo and all, but that's about it...it was a short test drive.

petercyeh

Thansk for all the help. I am going to Bear Mountain, and most of the time they don't require chains, but decided to bring it up because it rained here in Socal yesterday.

As to Jaeshim's question.
The A4 is very sluggish. I had mine chipped, and modded the exhaust, and it always felt slow. It is a very heavy car. I think with Quattro and the all time 4-wheel drive you are looking at close to 4000lbs. In addition it was a pig. I would get on average 19 miles to the gallon, which included mostly highway miles. It has good pickup on the lower end, but nothing really substantial starting off. I had sport suspension and its much stiffer then the TSX, however this was about 2 grand more. And am certain that with 2 grand I can do a lot more with the TSX.
Overall I was only impressed with the car when it was clean and when it was raining. It is by far the safest car I have driven in the rain. Even with 19"s and low profiles you could feel that the car stuck to the ground in all that water.
Overall I really enjoyed the car, but was unhappy with its resale value, slow 60 time, and its service costs.
German cars cost about $100 for someone to just look at the engine. About an average of $60 for a synthetic oil change. BTW I sold my 2002 A4 for 13k, about 1/3 of what I paid. Considering it only had about 50K miles I was very disappointed.
Japanese is the way to go when you are commuting. And when you have the money to really go fast then I would go German.

dalieu

hey! i was up in bear mountain 2 weeks ago.

i didn't drive my tsx tho, my friend drove his all wheel drive pilot. just in case, we did pick up chains at autozone (kept them in the trunk, didn't use them, and returned them after the trip). last week one of my co-workers went, and he said chains were required and it took an extra 3 hours getting there due to checking for chains.

swirlie

Yep, the manual states "S type" chains, which are cable chains. They're lower profile and so can clear the brakes/wheel well/etc and not damage the rims. As an added measure, also get some short bungie cords to tighten the chains on the outside. I've got a set just in case, as I did with my old car. And as with my old car, they've never been used.

Chrismas, since you're in Montreal, I'm going to assume you have winter tires, right? petercyeh's in Cali... I'd be very surprised if he did.

ChrismanTSX

I wouldn't be stupid enough to drive on anything but real winters over here... between all the snow we normally get (this year has been a slow start), and the very cold temperature, all-season tires are really worth sh!t. My Pirellis are doing just fine, even in the deep stuff (7 inches earlier this week, got out before they plowed the side streets, and no problem at all!)

I guess that for petercyeh, chains might be a nice way of getting traction while keeping his summer tires. I keep forgetting that a couple of hours gets those Cali guys some snow... that's really the way to go: nice and warm at home, a couple of hours to go skiing!

rugbybrado

i just got back from breck and i didnt need anything on my car, they typically keep the roads there in pretty decent shape and it was comming down the entire time was there

swirlie

If I could justify winter tires over here, I'd get them in a snap. But we don't get enough snow for that. Usually we almost have snow once or twice a year.. and that lasts for a good hour or two. This winter has been strange, as we've had 3 "big" (big for Victoria = up to 15cm... ) snows this year, whereas most of Eastern Canada hasn't even had winter yet. So chains it is. $50 and you have a little more traction that'll get you home if needed. petercyeh, just drive slowly if you need to use the chains.