In all my years of driving 4WD/AWDs I've never once been asked to chain-up, but figured I'd finally appease my wife and carry them for our occasional trips to the snow. I called two dealers today and one quoted me $450 and the other just over $500 for the factory chains! Seems a bit steep especially since I highly doubt I'll ever need them. They don't appear to be anything special either.

In fact the tensioning looks similar to the Konig/Thule chains, but have a z-pattern rather than the standard diamond pattern. The Thules are ~$130. I've read the manual and of course Volvo pushes their factory accessories. Anybody have any experience with the Thule, Konig, or factory chains?

Thanks in advance.