Select the most suggested Professional snow chains

The König Professional snow chain assortment includes a large variety of product options and features: let’s see together how to select the most suitable snow chains for the vehicle and usage as starting point towards success.

For Professionals working on winter roads, snow chains are one of the best allies to improve efficiency in winter driving and snow clearing activities.

As the destination vehicles and the working purposes are pretty much variegated on the market, König has become through the years the leading company in supplying Professionals with large variety of solution for their winter traction needs.

The better understanding of the product segmentation and the different features available is the starting point for successful winter services.

Selecting your Professional snow chains according to your vehicle

Generally speaking, products in the Professional snow chains assortment are segmented according to the vehicle application in the following categories:

• Off-road snow chains: 4×4, Tout-terrain vehicles, Vans
• Bus snow chains: City, Regional, Tourism busses
• Heavy Truck snow chains: Trucks and trailers up to 44t
• Snow remover snow chains: Trucks, Wheel Loaders, Agricolture
• Agricolture snow chains: Agricoltural machinery
• Special vehicles snow chains: Forklifts, Gardening

According to this classification, the vehicle segmentation indicates the most suggested products by taking in account the technical requirements of the vehicle and its tyres and the type of usage.

Selecting your Professional snow chains according to the fitting system

König assortment includes different fitting systems which are available according to the needs in the different applications. If we consider the fitting system as categorization criteria, we can classify König Professional products in:

The availability of the different fitting systems allows the Professional to select according to their needs and preferences.

As indicated in the matrix, the most of the options are available for the Bus and Truck vehicle categories: in fact such vehicles are used in wide variety of conditions (i.e. transporting people on short trips and long trips, trasporting goods, snow clearing activities), each of them benefiting of different product advantages.

Busses whose drivers are requested to fit and remove snow chains quite often, the external fitting brings the advantage to get this done without working behind the wheel (External fitting) or moving the vehicle (External fitting and Rigid Arch fitting) for further tensioning operations.

On the other side a Truck involved in mountain passes which drives with snow chains for prolonged time would benefit more of traditional fitting system which is still the most efficient in such conditions.

Snow chains for the other vehicle categories feature exclusively the Traditional fitting system this is the most reliable under extreme stresses and prolonged working sessions.

Selecting your Professional snow chains according the cross-section design / mesh

When it comes to cross-section designs, the König Professional Snow chains assortment includes a solid variety of solutions tailored to the vehicle type, tyre and usage.

In fact different cross-section designs offer different performance and product life-time: the choice of the right cross-section is fundamental to obtain the preferred performance and reliability which the application requires.

König Professional snow chains are segmented according to the cross-section design in the following types:

• König Single diamond: The most used for general driving and transportation conditions. This chain design does not allow a central hook for the cross-sections final connection, meaning that there’s a no-chain area on the tyre tread.
• König Double diamond: The most used for snow clearing operations on all sized machines. The cross-sections final connection is guaranteed by one central hook, meaning the cross-section is continuous all over the tyre tread.
• König Triple diamond: The most suggested for snow clearing operations on big machines. The cross-sections final connection is guaranteed by two central hooks, meaning the cross-section is continuous all over the tyre tread.
• König Net design: The most suggested for the most extreme conditions. The cross-sections final connection is guaranteed by three central hooks, meaning the cross-section is continuous all over the tyre tread.

With a richer the cross-section, forces and stresses are distributed over a larger number of chain links. Additionally richer cross-sections include more diagonal elements which offer superior side handling under load.

Selecting your Professional snow chains according the Link Configuration

Another important aspect involved in the selection of the most indicated Professional snow chains is the link configuration. With this term, we define how’s the design of the cross-section links appointed as traction provider in dynamic conditions.

As we all know, a chain section is a sequence of a vertical and an horizontal link. The first enter in contact with the ground and create friction (=traction), while the second work as connections between the vertical links. But that’s not all, there are more options out there.

An accurate snow chain selection process takes in consideration also the different options that König offers as link configuration:

• König Simple Link configuration: Simple sequence of vertical and horizontal links with no additional elements to increase traction and durability, this the classical link design. Used in lower demanding situation, being them driving in moderate snowy conditions, mild slope grades, when weight-reduction is a must and/or with wheelhouse clearance limitations.
• König Ice-Breaker configuration: Looking at the links sequence, the horizontal links at the center of the cross-section present “over-links” with an higher thickness than the vertical links. Used in heavier duty conditions, the Ice-breaker configuration provides an increased number of touch-points between snow chain and ground, improving vehicle handling side handling.
• König Ice-Breaker + Welder Bar configuration: The horizontal links at the center of the cross-section present “over-links” with an higher thickness than the vertical links, plus square bars welded on top of links. Used in the most extreme conditions, the welded bars increase the available wear volume of the most stressed chain links on the cross-section, enhancing performances and ensuring the longest product lifetime.

The different links configurations also require some different type of maintenance to maximize the product durability.

The Ice-Breaker + Welded Bar configuration is the one which provides the highest additional wear volume. With such potential, this link configuration requires periodical checks to ensure chains are reverted time to time according to tyre rotation.

Selecting your Professional snow chains according the Link wire diameter

Additionally Professional snow chains are also selected according to the different wire diameters available. As the logic suggests, the bigger the vehicle is, the bigger the wheel will be.

And Professional snow chains just stick to this logic:

Offroad	Busses	Trucks	Snow remover
			Small size	Medium size	Big size
D-Shape 4.50mm and 5.50mm mainly	Round-shaped 6.00mm	D-Shape 5.50mm and 7.00mm mainly	D-Shape 4.50mm, 5.50mm	D-Shape 7.00 and 8.00 wire links	D-Shape 8.00 and 10.00mm wire links
7.00mm wire links for HD		D-Shape 8.00mm wire links for HD	D-Shape 7.00mm wire links for HD

Considering the width and depth of the snow chain assortment, König has in place direct dedicated customer services in the main markets to ensure our customers get a complete assistance from the product selection to the after-sales and usage support.

Find out more complete and detailed product information into our Products section.