I liked your first reply, not so much the second one.

Where are you going to ski? I assumed you would be coming to CO to ski, based on your Texas location.

My advice is based on living at the top of the rockies along I70. I have never seen an instance where I70 was open to chained 4wd passenger vehicles, it's either 4wd or chains, or they close it completely.

Last Thanksgiving, chains were required on all vehicles going to (and in) Big Bear. No exceptions. It does happen.

As others have noted, ice is the problem. I have had to chain up to go uphill due to ice. With 4wd, and snow-rated tires in great shape. Ice is a b!tch. Carry chains.

Those are top-quality chains, I don't see any plastic.

Don't have a lot of experience with chains. I live in Louisiana and drive to Colorado several times a year. I bought chains to get me through west Texas and northern New Mexico in the winter. I have a set of chains in Colorado and another set to keep in the 4R. I have never had to use them in the 12 years I've had them.

Forty years of driving in the Sierra, carrying chains as required. Only once did I have to put them on my 4R to satisfy the CHP, although they weren’t really needed.

Please do your research before you start spreading Fake News. You assumed it was plastic?

I would suggest You look at these via the Pwag- Brenta-C 4x4 website.
Or go to the Etrailer.com/tire chains/toyota/4runner. website.
It gives a full detail of these chains and what they are made of.
You Must be referring to the colored chain. This is a titanium alloy.
These are not a cheap snow chain at $200 plus.

You got all your information from one photo?

Not even close to a "5th gen" But I love tire chains for winter wheelin. The traction and confidence they add over a non chained tire is incredible.

I have these on my 92, I made them from old plow chains we had laying around. 1/2 the cross pieces are studded, 1/2 are v bar. They did awesome and completely changed how I winter wheel. Currently sourcing new parts to build a set closer resembling skidder chains.

I suggest getting a plain and simple set of chains, they dont have to be fancy, and practice putting them on well before you need them. The worst part about chaining up is lying in the slush to put them on. Keeping a small tarp in the chain bag makes for a dryier place to lie down.

Yup, recommend a tarp and also some sleeved gloves that cover your forearm. Then you don't get your sweatshirt or jacket all wet and dirty as well.

Thank you all for feedback and suggestions.

For those who said I do not need tire\snow chains… here is a little story, first of all I am originally from Russia, that were I learned how to drive (snow driving included LOL), so I guess you can trust me when I say “I know how to drive on snow”. And in my 30 + years of driving I never had or needed tire chains…

I am planning to go to Red River, NM (and I have done that trip many times in the past)… but here is the twist: in one of those trips I drove into real snow blizzard (whiteout)… that storm hit hard and faster than Weather channel was originally predicting it… here is the article describing the fate of another family that were on the same road at the same time as me and my family (note: I have learned about it weeks later): Rescuers dig out Texas family buried in snow - US news - Life | NBC News …

In the middle that article, you can see following statement “Early on, the family could hear vehicles passing, so they tried honking the horn. That didn't work.” … Well… I am pretty sure that one of those vehicles was my 4Runner… but I could not hear anything, except the roar of the wind and snow… and I am almost certain I was the last vehicle leaving that road… because when we finally reached Springer, NM I had to move barricades setup by DPS as that road was closed… and we stopped not far from the exit to let kids out of the car (after almost 4 hours), rest a bit (and for me to clean the front of 4Runner- air flow to radiator was nonexistent)… snow was continuing to fall, but the storm was gone… we were there for at least 30-40 minutes and there were no cars coming from that road… I would say snow was at least 2 feet deep on that road…

And that is the story that pushes me into idea of having tire\snow chains… not planning on using them, but I feel like having them can make a difference in very ugly and hopefully rare (meaning never) situation.

Again, thanks for info! I will report back if I ended up getting tire chains.

I always carry chains in the snow, no reason not to, but they don't help too much for deep snow.

If you don't have an air compressor - I'd get one first and use low pressure over chains for deep snow if getting stuck is your primary concern. There are some situations where chains work pretty well as far as getting unstuck - but I've found them few and far between. I've never found a situation in deeper snow offroad where chains were equal to or better than low pressure. And I've never tried using chains on low pressure tires - but I assume it's probably not a good combo. There are a lot of different kinds of snow and ice conditions, so one size doesn't necessarily fit all conditions.

For something that I can't really get the benefit of low pressure - like a wheel loader or a skidder - then I'd run chains in snow/ice.

I looked into chains last winter and recall reading that chains will damage 4Runners. My reccollection is they hit the break line, but I could be wrong. I would love to get a set, but was turned away because of that article.

Has anyone used them on a 5th Gen? How about with 285/70/17's? If so, what kind?

From what I can tell having lived in California for 7 years.

1.) Most people can not drive. I can't understand how they passed the driving test.
2.) Almost all cars that are > 6 years old are very very poorly maintained. No brake pads left, bald tires. Shock absorbers that absorb exactly zero energy. Wheels that look like a plucked string vibrating around while going down the highway.

Take #1 and #2 for the average Californian deciding... oooOOOooo it snowed in the mountains, let's go see snow for the 1st time ever in their clapped out car without even working wipers means you have CHP/Caltrans doing a chain inspection points to prevent deaths.

Haha! You noticed that too?
Unlike other states that have a yearly auto safety inspection, CA has none. Except for smog every two years.
Sometimes govt regulations and enforcement are good.