In Toronto, the temperatures reached a balmy 10°C on Wednesday will drop to -10°C this weekend. Mid-week, some gearheads were thinking about bolting on the summer tires. Makes a motorist wish they had more flexibility.
While today’s vehicles are often equipped with all-wheel drive and traction control, back in 1969 those featured were unheard of on passenger cars. Many motorists in Canada and the northern US logically ran snow tires in the winter. For drivers unwilling to invest in a set of Michelin X-Ice tires, General Motors developed a middle ground. All 1969 Chevrolet models included option V75, the Liquid Tire Chain Traction Dispenser system.
At the flick of a switch on the dashboard, the system would spray a space-age polymer from aerosol cans mounted in the trunk. Each can was positioned above a rear tire and would spray an adhesion promoter onto the tread of each tire as it rolled along.
The solvent in the Liquid Tire Chain made the tread more pliable, like a snow tire. Combined with the polymer (similar to PJ1 used at drag strips) Liquid Tire Chain helped get these heavy rear-wheel drive cars out of slippery situations. No telling what it did to the ozone layer.
GM sold over one million Chevrolet cars in 1969, but only 2,500 buyers chose option V75, and by 1970 the Liquid Tire Chain option was scrapped. Too bad that development of the system was killed in its infancy, because with advancements in chemistry, the Liquid Tire Chains could have been revolutionary.
Thats so cool! I wonder if it will ever come back, but in a more environmentally friendly format?!
I’ve lived in northern Manitoba more than half my life and the previous half in central Manitoba but never had snow tires til about four years ago. Will never ever go without! I’ll sell my kidneys to keep studded tires on in winter months. Plus I have AWD…I can get through anything, the traction is amazing. Actually even with my Civic and no AWD, it was shocking what kind of snow I could get through with those studded tires! A god send!
Lucky lady! Studfed snow tires are not legal in southern Ontatio (because they chew up the asphalt on public roads), and there isn’t enough need for them. But I can see how helpful they could be in an FWD car like a Civic. Just clawing at the snow, dragging the car along.
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With so many motorists driving AWD crossovers, people believe the need for dedicated snow tires is diminished. That’s not true!
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So maybe there is a place for a traction adder product jn cars today… even if it was made up of ground up peanut shells instead of solvents and polymers.
Great idea, but too far ahead of the demand at the time.
Drivers in the North bought snow tires. Drivers in the South didn’t need them. This spray stuff was for such a limited group ‘in the middle’ that it just didn’t sell well. Id love to try it out though!