Video Transcript for Installation: Titan Chain Tire Chains w/ Cams on a 2019 Kia Sorento

Hey, everyone. It's Evangeline here at etrailer. And today, we're taking a look at the Titan Chain twist link snow tire chains with cams here on our 2019 Kia Sorento. Well, there's a lot of different options for tire chains and the main thing is what type of situation are you gonna be in So, these are gonna be good for really deep snow and if you want almost instant tension with these cam tighteners. Now, they are a little tricky to install compared to others. And if you're expecting more ice than snow, these won't give you as much of that biting traction.

You might wanna take a look at the square link version or the V-bar studs version instead. But for those muddy situations or those deep snowy situations, this might be the one for you and I'll show you how to install it later in this video. So, these are gonna be your ladder style chains and they got their pros and cons. They are the traditional style chain, they're more affordable, but they have a bit of a ka-thunk, ka-thunk as you drive around. Fortunately, these are twist style so they're less jarring compared to those square links, but you are gonna have to reach around and underneath the tire in order to make those connections so it's a little tricky to do.

The links are made of a low carbon steel material. So, there's different options for your link material. Some use a manganese nickel alloy, which focus on corrosion resistance. Some use a titanium alloy. Your more affordable chains use the low carbon steel.

They're great for durability for like rocks, and ice, and things like that. But if you wanna use them for multiple seasons, I highly recommend just taking a look at them the next year before you put them on to make sure everything still looks good. You can get these exact same chains with this exact same size without the cam tensioners. I prefer the cam tensioners. You can also get this as a square link or as twist links with V-bar studs for extra traction.

So, they all work the same, look the same. Either way, I recommend getting these extra tensioners as well just to keep them in line. Your Kia Sorento has multiple tire sizes so double check yours. You can find it printed on the side wall. Ours is 235/65R17. This number is very important because tire chains fit differently on different tire sizes. You can use that number here at etrailer.com's fit guide to get the right fit for you. And this specific tire size can be a little tricky. Some are a little loose, some are a little tight on it. My opinion of the fitment here is it is on the tighter side, but it fits very well, especially with the cam tensioners. Remember what I said about low carbon steel and how it's not really good for multiple seasons Well, you can see that in the bag as well. It's just gonna be a canvas bag. It's nice if like you're going through a place that requires that you keep chains on you at all times because this is very easy to store inside your vehicle. It's also easy to put the chains right back in, although I recommend getting a cable tie or maybe a rubber band to secure the top. With this bag, you're also going to get this little tool to tighten down those cams. Some extra things I recommend storing with this bag are maybe gloves as well as a tire chain safety install kit that has a rubber mat and some lights to keep you safe as you install these chains. So, I've installed a bunch of different chains on the Sorento and my personal thoughts about these are that they are ideal for the deep snow. They give okay traction in ice and they are less jarring compared to the square link version of these. But with pretty much any ladder style chain, you're gonna have to make some tight adjustments or reach into tight spaces in order to secure these chains. And if that's gonna be an issue for you, you may want something that's more diamond pattern. Maybe the Titan Chain diamond alloy would be a better fit for you in those cases. But other than that, definitely a solid chain and it's affordable too. So, let's take a look at that install process. When you first get your tire chains, I highly recommend just taking them out of their package, laying them out on your garage floor, and just looking at them, just seeing if everything looks good, getting rid of all those tangles. But also, getting familiar with the process of installing your chains. That way, you know what to do before you're stranded by the side of the road. So here, everything looks good, everything looks secure here. You also wanna make sure that it's facing the right way. So, we have these cams and we want them towards the front of our tire. And then in the back of our tire, we have these hooks. So, these need be sitting up top because you want the flat portion of the hook touching the tire. The hook portion, not touching the tire. Once everything looks good, you're ready to install them. And there's different methods of installing them. Like for tire chains, some people like to drive over them. I like to just lift them onto a tire like this. This method is preferred if you are stuck somewhere or if you're parked in your garage and you just need to figure out the fit. So, get it where it's evenly distributed on each side. We have more chain on the right so I'm gonna shift them over to the left. So, here we are in the back and it is a tight fit then you want your hook to be connected to one of the links. Now, we have room for adjustments. I'm just gonna get it to the loosest link cause that's all I can reach. We're gonna come back to the front. So, here we are in the front and the connection here is gonna look a little different. You're gonna wanna get your link. See how that's open. We'll get that link through this hook. It's just gonna fit through and then the hook is gonna rotate to get tension. So here, we don't have enough tension so we're gonna switch over to the third. So, depending how you make your first connection, your second connection may look the same or a little different. Once you've figured out your tension, just secure it with this tab here and then we're gonna go over to the cams. So, I like the version that has the cams because see, even after all that work, we still have a little bit of looseness there. So, get your included tool, put that into the cam tightener, and then you're gonna rotate, and you can see how it pulls everything together. So, you have multiple cams so rotate as many as you need to to get that tension in. So, most people stop right there because you have a lot of tension in those chains. Those are staying on the tire. But what I like to do is I still like to get the separate rubber tensioner. It's not sold with the tire chain but you can get it added on. And I like to add this just because as I drive around and I hit ice or wax, things like that, there may be a little bit of shifting of the chains. And this will shift with those chains and maintain constant tension. So, it's a good add on to your tire chain. And just like that, you have your tire chain installed. Do the exact same thing on the passenger's side. Afterwards, I recommend rolling forward a couple or like rolling backward a couple feet, and then double check that everything is still in place. If it is, congratulations, you're able to install your tire chains, you're ready to hit the road. And that was a look at our Titan Chain snow tire chains with twist links and cams here on our 2019 Kia Sorento..