Chevy Once Sold The Camaro With ‘Liquid Tire Chain’ Cannons You Fired Via Pushbutton … And It Actually Worked

Driving in snowy and icy conditions can be treacherous at the best of times. Winter tires and chains are the standard solution for these conditions. Back in the chemical-crazed 1960s, though? GM and Big Chemistry had other ideas. What if a can of goo could get you out of a slippery spot?

Liquid tire chain promised to be a more futuristic solution for winter driving. No longer would you have to change tires or wrestle with ungainly chains every time the snows came down. Instead, at the push of a button, you could douse your tires in a highly-toxic chemical and drive on at your leisure.

Thankfully for the environment, this idea never really caught on. Regardless, let’s explore how this wacky out-of-the-box idea helped motorists deal with slippery winter conditions.

The concept was so simple it was almost like something out of a cartoon. In the 1960s, Dow Chemical had developed a chemical solution that could add grip to your tires with the spray of an aerosol can. It called the material “Liquid Tire Chain” and noted that it replaced “ashes, rock salt, shovels, sand, and strong men pushing.” It was effectively a spray-on traction improver that you could stash in your glovebox until you needed it.

The cans of liquid tire chain contained styrene butadiene latex dissolved in methanol. If you’re unfamiliar with the former chemical, it’s actually one of the more popular forms of synthetic rubber, used for tires and all sorts of other applications. In this case, spraying the chemical mixture onto tires effectively made them stickier and improved grip, which was particularly useful in cold, icy conditions.

Spraying the fluid on by hand was all well and good, but GM had an even better idea. It had AC (later AC Delco) license the idea from Dow Chemical. It then created applicator cans that could be used by hand, and also be fired by an actuation mechanism. If you were lucky enough to have purchased just about any new Chevrolet in 1969, you could specify option V75 for $23.20, which saw Chevy mount a can of liquid tire chain in each of the rear wheel wells. At the push of a button, a small actuator running off engine vacuum would cause the cans to spray on both rear tires, coating them in the sticky fluid.

No matter the application method, the instructions for use were fundamentally the same. Users were instructed to spray the fluid on the driving tires, and then to “momentarily spin wheels slowly” to distribute it around the whole tire. Basically, you were supposed to spin the drive wheels in place while you sat in place, preparing to leave your icy parking space.  After then waiting a further minute, the car could be driven away slowly with its new-found grip.

Remember when we said this stuff was toxic? The first aid instructions on this stuff are appropriately brutal. These days, most chemical containers advise you not to induce vomiting, but this was 1969. If you swallowed the stuff, the cans manufactured by AC (later AC Delco) advised you to keep drinking warm salt water until you eventually vomited clear fluid. Then, you were to follow this with a solution of water and baking soda while protecting your eyes from light, while calling a doctor. Given the methanol content alone, you absolutely don’t want this stuff in your body, but modern treatment would probably look a little different than the old-school spew-and-soda.

The liquid tire chain option did not last long at GM. According to Hagerty, only 2,600 cars were ever fitted with the push-button spray option, most of which were models from Chevrolet’s full-size range. All of those were built for the 1969 model year, with the option cancelled for 1970 and beyond.

It’s perhaps no surprise that liquid tire chains didn’t catch on. The idea of push-button grip just sounds fanciful, like something out of a James Bond – even if it did work to some degree. It’s also a relatively fussy solution. You’d have to spray your tires on the regular, spinning them up and waiting each time. Perhaps every day on your commute if the snow stuck around for a while. Contrast this to tire chains, which you can fit and leave on with only periodic inspections required.

There’s also the concern about longevity. You’d have to replace the cans of fluid as they ran out, and there was really no way of knowing until it happened. This could easily leave you stranded. Meanwhile, GM’s applicator setup put the spray cans in the trunk, with holes for the nozzles cut into the rear wheel wells. If you lived somewhere snowy, such an install would be like laying out the red carpet for rust.

Broader Use

The concept is most closely associated with GM and Dow Chemical. However, other brands did fuss around with liquid tire chain in the 1960s. You can find cans of the stuff with Ford branding, too, and Shell to boot.

However, don’t get too excited about those listings of “new old stock” cans of AC liquid tire chains from the 1960s. The chances of them working after fifty-plus years in storage are slim to none, with the contents long ago having turned to sludge.

Even if you did find a 1969 Chevrolet with the system still fitted, you’re not going to find a set of cans to slot into the tire well dispensers. However, you can still buy spray-on traction compounds to this day. In recent years, companies like Bare Ground and Bluecol have released such products.

Bluecol also sold a similar product known as “Snow Grip.”

Ultimately, though, liquid tire chains have never been particularly popular. While the concept is largely sound, motorists have tended to stick to more tried-and-true solutions. It’s hard to beat real tire chains, winter tires, and studs when you need winter traction you can rely on.

The benefit of these traditional solutions are that they tend to last a lot longer. Spray-on traction compounds are at best are good for maybe 50 miles or so at maximum before they need reapplication. Imagine making a winter road trip and having to get out to spray your tires down every 50 miles. You’d get sick of that pretty quickly.

Liquid tire chain will forever remain a chemical curiosity that few motorists ever actually wanted to use. As much as Dow Chemical might have believed in traction-in-a-can, the practicalities meant it simply wasn’t something the average driver ever took an interest in.

Image credits: GM, 2040 Parts, Bare Ground, Dow Chemical