Tyre grip mats. (1 Viewer)

[Wurn]

Hi , anybody made any successful grip mats or similar for getting out of sticky situations? I see Fiamma make a grip system for £12.79 that dont look particularly good,but there must be a better home made system out there somewhere!
Cheers Paul.

 

[DESCO]

Hi

Best thing I have found is the bottom out of bread crates, not always easy to get hold of.
If you can get 4 cut sides off and park on them if you think you are going to slip, normally get off no problems.



Dave:thumb::thumb:

 

[dellwood33]

If you cannot get the bakers trays, you could try some Kampa Duralock Platic Tiles.

I got mine from our local caravan dealer. It's Rigid flooring that locks together. You get a pack of 4 and each tile is about 50 x 50 cm.
I think I paid about £14 for them.

I have them flat on the floor of the garage in the van so they take up very little room.



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[Rayb182]

I took 3 bread crates and cut the bottom of them then cut again in half so you have 6, about 9 in wide and 24in long then joined loosely together with cable ties and enough rope so that once moving you dont have to stop to pick them up until on solid ground and they drag behind, if you live in Essex I have a spare set.
Regards Ray and Geri

 

[JeanLuc]

This is not a cheap solution, but I have just bought a pair of 'sand ladders' as used by the off-road fraternity. 1.2 metres long by 30 cm wide. Very good quality and probably capable of bearing the MH's weight as a bridge - not that I'm in a rush to try that! Cost £63 delivered, but £17.25 of that was carriage. If you can get to Essex, you could collect.

Philip

http://www.duratread.co.uk/sand_bridging_ladders.html

p.s. I tried to get old / broken bread trays from the local bakery, but was told they take action against anyone they find in possession of their trays.

 

[pappajohn]

to repeat dave and ray's replies.....bread trays.

like ray i have three cut in half so making six mats.
small enough to bungee together and keep in a locker but big enough to lay end to end and get off the mud/snow.

if well stuck just drive over all three then put the back two up front again and continue til you're free.

the yellow plastic ones are crap unless you peg the down....they go a long way when they fly from under a spinning wheel.

dont forget...the trays are private property of the bakery so remove all traces of who they belonged too.

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[Spacerunner]

Try this site http://www.garlandproducts.com/

They make garden plastic paths. They resemble rolled out caterpillar tracks,are lightweight and quite tough. I carry a couple of sets on the bike rack.

Each pack is enough to make up two six foot lengths and cost about £20 per pack.

The trick is to lay them down when you first go onto a pitch. Although the track will sink into the surface of the grass they will provide a traction layer similar to the CC's plasticised pitches.

With two sets its possible to travel any distance over soft ground by placing each pair in front of the driven wheels in succession.

 

[imprint]

If you've got the Yellow Mats, you might try using tent pegs to hold them down. We converts from tenting probably have dozens sitting around begging to be left behind to some purpose.

It's not very well bred to pinch other people's trays...

 

[AuldCodger]

Hi Wurn,
I have a couple of sets of the fiamma grip system, brand new and never used - kindly replaced by a fellow motorhomer who replaced my originals after he borrowed them when he was in a spot. Verdict - worse than useless, the only thing they gripped was the tyre and as a result they shoot backwards at a vast rate of knots and if you tie them to the bodywork?:Angry:

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[squireh]

grip mats

Hi wurn I bought 2 rubber mats the type used outside/backdoor with holes in to scrape mud off bottom of shoes.Cut them length ways place just in front of wheels then run onto them works for me.Buy them at Wilkinsons about 3 quid each.

 

[geoff1947]

Hi , anybody made any successful grip mats or similar for getting out of sticky situations? I see Fiamma make a grip system for £12.79 that dont look particularly good,but there must be a better home made system out there somewhere!
Cheers Paul.

I think you get the answer. Bread trays if they are available (I found mine in a skip so don't feel guilty)
A point also if bogged in in soft ground! Everyone wants to help and we've seen them all facing the van and trying to push it out. Usually they fail and get covered in mud. As an ex Artillery man we here taught how to get bogged vehicle/guns out by the following method.
1. vehicles usually drive INTO trouble so if possible reverse OUT of it.
2. first dig out as much soil etc as possible from behind the drive wheels, usually the front in modern vans and lay tracking if avail.
3. lean your back against the front of the vehicle with feet apart at shoulder width. Remember your legs are much stronger than your arms
4. grip under the vehicle at a safe and strong point, legs will be bent by now.
5. using your legs, lift up the vehicle and push backwards and at the same time get the wife to reverse/drive off the mud.
6. don't try pushing as all you are doing is pushing the vehicle down further.
Never failed me! Yet but so far I've never been bogged in Famous last words

 

[Wurn]

Thanks to all your suggestions, it would be a good idea to be parked next to an Artillery barracks!!! Mind you I am near Colchester so soldiers would be no problem.I am heading Exmoor way on Tuesday and the problem I have at the moment is getting off our estate which has a very steep hill.The rock salt boxes top and bottom are empty already and it is difficult for cars to get up.Of course all the local DIYs have run out of rocksalt until tomorrow.I think I might phone the local council and see if they can grit it (fat chance I suspect:Angry ,perhaps they will let me have some rocksalt,so failing that we might spend Christmas in the driveway!!
Happy Christmas everyone,Paul and Barb.

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[Jaws]

Bread trays

saves you dough to !

 

[upmarkethippy]

matting???

Lynne has a set of rubber tracking from a conveyer belt with the chevron on. parked on when you arrive will save you sinking in enabling you to drive off.
I use fibre glass bridging ladders as i have 4x4 and do use for bridging too. Under no circumstance would i ever peg a slippery mat down, if the pegs fail you will have a lethal flying object, damage to vehicle or worse to human body.

safe travels

 

[pappajohn]

Under no circumstance would i ever peg a slippery mat down, if the pegs fail you will have a lethal flying object, damage to vehicle or worse to human body.

safe travels

i would normaly agree with you but i've seen these lethal weapons fly a long way when unpegged.

as you will be aware they have the bare minimum of raised grip and are totally useless for the purpose unless used properly and with caution.

some folks think just because you're on them you can floor the gas.....no you cant....the tyres will grip the mat but the mat wont grip the wet grass.
at least with pegs theres more chance of them staying put and if the pegs do fail then the results are pretty much the same as unpegged...high speed flying plastic

i'd sooner pass behind one that is pegged than one that isnt.

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[dencol]

Hi wurn I bought 2 rubber mats the type used outside/backdoor with holes in to scrape mud off bottom of shoes.Cut them length ways place just in front of wheels then run onto them works for me.Buy them at Wilkinsons about 3 quid each.

I would agree with the use of these rubber mats. Only have a small van so no room for the bread tray base. I leave the mats inside by the doors and in the passenger well to protect the carpet when out and about. Then outside the door when on site to stop walking mud into the van.

Have only needed to use them once and set them as close as possible the the drive wheels then rocked the van until it settled on the mats, the holes in the mats filled with mud this held them in place and the rubber then gave enough grip to drive off the pitch:thumb:

colin

 

[wireman]

having been bogged down just the once and taking 2 days to extricate the vehicle (three people at it most of the time with me just doing the driving bit cos I'm disabled) I have wondered about this.

My question is; would snow chains make any difference in soft mud?. The real problem in our case was that the drivers side was deep into the mud (nearly but not quite up to bottom suspension link) and the back wheel nearly the same but the other side was on fairly firm ground. I had to turn of the anti lock stuff to get any drive at all. Being in the middle of rural France and not speaking much of the lingo doesn't help either.

In the end we dug and jacked our way out destroying a trolley jack in the process but I wonder if snow chains would have given us enough grip just to have driven out backwards...(which is the direction we came out anyway)

I am also thinking seriously of having a tow bar fitted, not for towing but for having something to fix to to be able to pull/winch vehicle out of a similar situation. We had access to a winch which would have done the job but nowhere on the van to fix it to at the rear.


The other thought I have had is to carry a electric winch and land anchor for such scenarios. I certainly need to equip myself with a decent jack as the supplied one is worse than a chocolate fireguard and the bottle jack I purchased is too tall to get under the chassis if the tyre is flat. So I'm looking for a compact 4 ton trolley jack but I am acutely aware of weight penalties of such a beast and not sure if a 2 ton aluminium one is up to the job....it was a 2 ton one we destroyed even though we were only lifting one corner.

 

[pappajohn]

having been bogged down just the once and taking 2 days to extricate the vehicle (three people at it most of the time with me just doing the driving bit cos I'm disabled) I have wondered about this.

My question is; would snow chains make any difference in soft mud?. The real problem in our case was that the drivers side was deep into the mud (nearly but not quite up to bottom suspension link) and the back wheel nearly the same but the other side was on fairly firm ground. I had to turn of the anti lock stuff to get any drive at all. Being in the middle of rural France and not speaking much of the lingo doesn't help either.

In the end we dug and jacked our way out destroying a trolley jack in the process but I wonder if snow chains would have given us enough grip just to have driven out backwards...(which is the direction we came out anyway)

I am also thinking seriously of having a tow bar fitted, not for towing but for having something to fix to to be able to pull/winch vehicle out of a similar situation. We had access to a winch which would have done the job but nowhere on the van to fix it to at the rear.


The other thought I have had is to carry a electric winch and land anchor for such scenarios. I certainly need to equip myself with a decent jack as the supplied one is worse than a chocolate fireguard and the bottle jack I purchased is too tall to get under the chassis if the tyre is flat. So I'm looking for a compact 4 ton trolley jack but I am acutely aware of weight penalties of such a beast and not sure if a 2 ton aluminium one is up to the job....it was a 2 ton one we destroyed even though we were only lifting one corner.

if the ground was really soft then chains would, in my opinion, make matters worse.
the chains would act as mini scoops and just shave even more soil/mud from underneath as the wheel spun until they found something solid enough to grip onto.

as posted further back in the thread theres no substitute for bread tray bottoms.
if the grounds suspect then drive onto them when you pitch so you have something reasonably solid to set off on later plus they will spread the weight while pitched so wont sink as deep.

electric winch and anchor (in particular) would need to be pretty big and heavy to pull a 3500kg+ dead weight from sticky mud and would take a chunk of your payload allowance for the use it would actually get.

a better winch would be a manual hand winch and steel rope. more effort but much lighter.

this ones rated at 4000lbs with a 6ft pull

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[RogerIvy]

electric winch and anchor (in particular) would need to be pretty big and heavy to pull a 3500kg+ dead weight from sticky mud and would take a chunk of your payload allowance for the use it would actually get.

If you're really in trouble and only have a light winch then you need at least one very strong cable that you can attach one end to the vehicle and the other to a tree or anchor of some sort. Pull it as tight as you can. Then attach your winch cable to the middle of the first cable and pull in perpendicular direction. I don't know all the correct engineering terms, but I do know that you can exert an immense force on the vehicle. The tighter your strong cable, the more force you can exert on the vehicle for that first critical meter.

For an anchor you can use two or three strong poles. Drive the first into the ground as far as you can, then anchor it with the second a few meters further away. For extra strength use a third pole. In this way the only thing that can really go wrong is if the pole rips the ground out completely or breaks.

Sounds excessive but if you're in a very remote place you may want to be able to get unstuck.

 

[Smeagol]

Could this be a viable solution, or are they ex-mod for a reason?
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[pappajohn]

Could this be a viable solution, or are they ex-mod for a reason?
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they certainly look better than the yellow fiamma things with a better grip depth but just what is very lightweight ??

throw them in the back of a 6X6wd truck and you wouldnt even now they were there...ex mod wont be that light.

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[derekfaeberwick]

Hi , anybody made any successful grip mats or similar for getting out of sticky situations? I see Fiamma make a grip system for £12.79 that dont look particularly good,but there must be a better home made system out there somewhere!
Cheers Paul.

Am I alone in seeing a pee take?

 

[JohnM]

tyre grip mats

dident read this post till after our xmas hols.
but now have a set of bread tray mats.thankyou funsters sound advice.
check our photo album to see why. JohnM

 

[JayDee]

they certainly look better than the yellow fiamma things with a better grip depth but just what is very lightweight ??

throw them in the back of a 6X6wd truck and you wouldnt even now they were there...ex mod wont be that light.

Just phoned the firm and asked for some details....

He reckons that two strips weigh in a less than 2 kg
The surface is extremely rough, hence the good grip
One 3 metre strip costs £25 unless you buy more than 10, in which case you'll get a discount.
Still got them in stock.


John

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[JayDee]

Just phoned the firm and asked for some details....

He reckons that two strips weigh in a less than 2 kg
The surface is extremely rough, hence the good grip
One 3 metre strip costs £25 unless you buy more than 10, in which case you'll get a discount.
Still got them in stock.


John

Looking at the web page again that price seems to exclude VAT and P&P.


John

 

[pappajohn]

If you're really in trouble and only have a light winch then you need at least one very strong cable that you can attach one end to the vehicle and the other to a tree or anchor of some sort. Pull it as tight as you can. Then attach your winch cable to the middle of the first cable and pull in perpendicular direction..

seeing as how the threads been resurected.....

cant quite get me head around this one...if the wire is fixed to the vehicle AND a tree etc then how can you pull from the center of the first wire rope ?
unless you mean a manual rachet winch ?

a more effective way is to attach the winch to the vehicle, attach the rope to the winch, take the rope around a secure anchor..tree etc...and return to the vehicle. fix rope to vehicle itself...not the winch.

this has the effect of making the tree a 'snatch block' and will double the pulling power of the winch and reduce the physical effort in using the winch.
the downside is it also reduces the distance pulled.

this method is usualy refered to as a double pull.....half the speed, twice the torque.

a triple pull, vehicle to tree back to vehicle and back to tree again will give 3 times the pull at 1/3rd the speed and so on.

and yes, it will cut a nice groove in the tree as the wire slides around it.

i've lifted a complete engine AND gearbox out using this method with 3/16th inch nylon rope and a pair of nylon 5 wheel pulley blocks, with very little effort on my part.

 

[wireman]

according to my man (land rover instructor and knows about recovering bogged down vehicles) the best way is a KERR rope (attached to a cross strap and jate plates) and a winch in the middle then to a tree or other anchor point and bobs you uncle. The KERR rope means you can do it all yourself and although still a dangerous occupation makes it a little safer.

All I need to do nbow is to find out where I can attach jate plates to the chassis (particulary the Al-Ko bit) and I'll feel a lot happier..

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[barnybg]

Stuck ??

I have used old carpet in the past and has worked on sand and mud,stair carpet is perfect,as for cable pulling or towing,a good idea is to fit a towball on the front and rear maybe a bit agricultural unless semi hidden,make sure these and any cable/rope is up to the job as i have seen many a windscreen or other damage caused by whiplash of snapping/coming away parts.

 

[Peter JohnsCross MH]

We have those interlocking Kampa tile mats and Cosco at one time were selling them, can't remember the price but I bought a load for the restaurants kitchen floor.

Peter