Traction Mats..........any advice (1 Viewer)

[Chockswahay]

Traction Mats..........any advice ?

My wife has been looking at Traction Mats to keep in the van for those 'wet slippy grass days'.

Has anyone used these type of things or have any advice to offer please?

 

[Bailey58]

Been discussed before but usually in the autumn/winter, from memory they don't get much of a write up. Best bet is the old bread trays with the sides cut off of course. On the odd occasion I've used mine they've worked well, even better with a steel peg holding them down so they don't skid away if you've a heavy foot.

 

[Mel]

I have a pair of fiamma mats.

Used once on mud and once on sand.

Rubish wast of time IMO

But I still carry them god knows why.

Mel

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[simbadog]

Don't get the Fiamma ones, about as much use as a chocolate teapot!

 

[PP Bear]

My wife has been looking at Traction Mats to keep in the van for those 'wet slippy grass days'.

Has anyone used these type of things or have any advice to offer please?

Had 2 sets that you could join together and I inherited them when I purchased my motorhome :thumb: I thought they'd be a good asset for some slippery day in the future, but in reality they were next to useless for me :Sad:

After last years down pours, I found myself slipping on wet grass on a slight slope, with no traction at all, so thought yeh, I've got my traction mats so lets get them out

Well at first the wheels just spun on them, then I managed to get grip and moved forward the distance of the Mats and then just span again, I'd have needed a set 400 meters long to have been any use at all oh:

Second attempt ended in one set spinning out from under the wheel, ricocheted off the body and disappeared across the field, much to everyone's amusement

I ended up getting pushed by a group of fellow campers and then returned the favour while their wheels slipped on the wet grass too

So I was that disappointed with them I left them there and haven't bothered since :thumb: think the only real answer to spinning wheels is chains as they become an integral part of the wheel and move along with you, until they're removed again :thumb: would I use chains on the grass......after spinning the tyres for long enough, you'd use anything to get yourself out of a situation, however they're expensive, heavy and not that easy to fit:thumb::thumb:

Hope this helps and safe motorhoming :thumb::thumb:

 

[Vlad The Impaler]

Just another thing you Think you need but Probabaly don't .


Vlad.

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[DP+JAY]

Sorry but I disagree, have 2 sets, they have got us going a few times including Peterborough 2012. Also use them when parking on grass to help us get moving/ stop sinking overnight.

 

[treetops1]

Get yourself 4 strips of old carpet ,works a treat .LOL:thumb:

 

[Chockswahay]

Thanks everyone for the replies so far, I sort of expected as much. Interesting comment about load spreading tho', I have wondered if they might be useful just to stop the tyres sinking into soft ground overnight and 'creating' a problem. oh:

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[Minxy]

We have 2 sets of cut down bread trays and some orange thick rubber gripper type mats (not the flimsy yellow Fiamma ones). We had parked up at Newark on the bread mats and tried to use the gripper mats in earnest to get off the wet slightly snowy field ... total and utter waste of bl**dy time and what a fl*aming mess afterward! In the end we got towed off by one of the tractor contraptions ... once we've found the towing eye which had been put 'somewhere safe' in the van!!!

Don't ask me why but hubby still insists we take the flipping mats with us! oh:

 

[Merle]

I would agree with the cut down bread trays....if you can find them, not quite as rare as rockin' horse poo but getting scarce.....also a good tow rope, try the kinetic (stretchy rubber) type from Halfords they work really well.

 

[Bailey58]

I would agree with the cut down bread trays....if you can find them, not quite as rare as rockin' horse poo but getting scarce.....also a good tow rope, try the kinetic (stretchy rubber) type from Halfords they work really well.

Last time this was discussed someone, GJH I think (Graham Hadfield), posted a link to some bread trays specifically made to meet this demand - probably sponsored by Sunblest and Wonderloaf. I'm watching Ice Cream Girls right now or I'd search for it. :Cool:

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[scottie]

traction mats

I looked long and hard into this one, didnt think much of what was available commercially from the motorhome/caravan sites. In the end i remembered the matting that local councils use when they want to create play areas, but still allow the grass to grow through. The mats are about 4 foot by 5 foot square. I managed to get one for free, cut it up into 4 sections and used at the Peterborough show. Looked around at what everyone else was using and this matting was much superior. I priced some up and it was £28.00 plus vat, this was from a local stables near Southampton. Hope this may help:thumb:

 

[Bailey58]

Well Ice Cream Girls was good.

Broken Link Removed
And Link Removed to the trays on Fleabay.

Oh, except they're not listed anymore. oh:

Will carry on looking.

 

[Gromett]

I have been fulltiming for a couple of days over 4 years now and don't carry such things...

I live by a simple rule. If I doubt my or my vehicles ability to get off a pitch without help I don't drive onto it... End of story....

As with any rule there are exceptions. So far Peterborough which provides tractors on tap is the only one where I will risk it.

PS: Thanks Maz for being the exception to the exception to the rule

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[june123]

mats

We use old mats too. Work well unless you're up to your hubcaps!

 

[motomike]

Used the flimmsy Fiamma mats to get off a soft verge. The flexibility of the flimmsy mat was useful as it allowed me to force it under the wheel...anything stiffer would have meant digging under the wheel or trying to lift the van. Still took some doing, moving forward 2 foot at a time, then placing another mat to drive onto, and lifting the other to re use. This was in the March snow fall that made Northern France sliver to a halt. Van kept going as long as I had momentum...ok till cars stopped on an incline for no apparant reason! Hence the sideways drift onto the soft verge. Grrrr.
So, Fiamma mats not best quality, but better than nothing, and easy to stow. But as someone else mentioned, they can be ejected a long way at some pace, if the wheel grips then flings it away...bystanders ankles beware!

 

[JJ]

Rear Wheel Drive... a must for frequent, non tarmac campers... imo.

JJ :Cool:

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[maz]

After last years down pours, I found myself slipping on wet grass on a slight slope, with no traction at all, so thought yeh, I've got my traction mats so lets get them out

Think the idea is to park on them beforehand rather than bring them out once you're struggling.

after [HI]spinning the tyres[/HI] for long enough, you'd use anything to get yourself out of a situation

Popular with site owners then.

 

[maz]

I have been fulltiming for a couple of days over 4 years now and don't carry such things...

I live by a simple rule. If I doubt my or my vehicles ability to get off a pitch without help I don't drive onto it... End of story....

As with any rule there are exceptions. So far Peterborough which provides tractors on tap is the only one where I will risk it.

PS: Thanks Maz for being the exception to the exception to the rule

I do actually have a pair of Milenco traction mats - but have only used them once, on a THS with an over-enthusiastic steward. Ironically I didn't use them at Peterborough last year - think I'd forgotten all about them by then.

I find a very light touch on the accelerator works best. If I'm not making any progress forward, I'll stick it in reverse and rock gently backwards then make my escape forwards again. So far tractors have been kept at bay - but I do know where my towing eye is kept!

BTW Karl, I was waving not gloating!

 

[rangi]

I carry a couple of "mats" made out of 25mm squares, wire mesh, when on grass I park on them as soon as I arrive. They were in a past life the bottom of a Cage Birds Cage. We had a heap lying around the Farm unused so I bandicooted a couple and cut them to size

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[Phill D]

the Fiamma one are useless .... pic one below

the grip ladder is excellent but not cheap :thumb: pic 2 below

 

[icantremember]

I have tried all the usual "Traction" mats and found all to be pretty useless ... I now have a pair of 4' sand Ladders, as used by the Land Rover boys, a bit heavy and not cheap but the only thing I have found successful. Two pairs would be ideal but space & weight have to be considered.

 

[jonandshell]

Rear Wheel Drive... a must for frequent, non tarmac campers... imo.

JJ :Cool:

Well said JJ!

An example of how motorhoming issues can find common ground across even the most divided political opinion!

I say have your drive wheels in the right place before you venture off road too!

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[bungy]

Rear wheel drive pfft....had to dig one out at the chester meet

so...will a RWD van get stuck if its reversing...and will a FWD one not?:Wacko:

 

[Taran_Las]

Rear wheel drive pfft....had to dig one out at the chester meet

so...will a RWD van get stuck if its reversing...and will a FWD one not?:Wacko:

That Sir is thinking at either end of the box (not just outside):thumb:

 

[bungy]

That Sir is thinking at either end of the box (not just outside):thumb:

just using the ole grey matter...whilst i have some

it is the Carmarthen meet in 5ish days after all....ill have less of it after that

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[mitzimad]

theory tells us having the weight above the wheels is better for traction so fwd should be better

 

[Peter & Elaine]

When stuck I just send for a Norfolk taxi saves all that huffing and puffing

 

[JJ]

theory tells us having the weight above the wheels is better for traction so fwd should be better

If this theory is correct then I guess the weight over the rear axle of many motorhomes must exceed that of the engine in the front for I know, without any doubt what so ever, that rear wheel driven motorhomes do not get stuck on wet or loose surfaces as easily or as often as front wheel driven ones.

JJ :Cool:

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