I am looking to buy snow chains for my 2006 H3, however, I've called GM, a local GM dealer and THULE and no one has been able to tell me what my clearance amount is for my front tires. I have 265 75R16 tires, does anyone know what my clearance is? Thanks!

 

Clearance is not stated in your manual but is does say to NOT use chains on LT285/75R16 tires that come on the Adventure Pkg. or the P265/65R18 that come on the X pkg. If you have 265/75R16's it should be okay. It is in your Owners Manual plus a lot of other useful information.

 

It might be possible that there was a liability issue with recommending chains. Also remember the same company that wrote that book also killed the Hummer! They probably would not approve of most of my mods but then that no longer matters.

I chose two kinds of chains. Heavy duty for mud and light weight easy mounting high speed chains. Well 25-30mph. The high speed chains are used by law enforcement for ease of installing and removal and they are smaller size links with a cross pattern. The have a plastic sleeved cable that goes around the back so they do not need as much clearance and are less likely to strike the abs lines than chains with links would flailing around. They work great on ice and refrozen packed snow.
In these pictures I had a set of 285 MT/MTZ and did not have any problems.
http://www.tirechain.com/CarChains.htm

 

Not that I plan on listening to the manual, but it says not to put chains on the front. If you put them on the rear only though, wouldn't it be bad, kinda like running different sizes tires? How long do they take to put on?

 

It takes maybe 10 minutes or less after you practice which I don't get much of here in Arkansas. I ran them out to the main roads that were bladed and salted and took them off but to get home I had to put them back on.
I have two sets I bought for a trip out west where they were required to be in a 4x4 vehicle if the signs were posted. Installing them was your choice if you wanted to get anywhere.
I tried them on the front so I aimed where I wanted to go and the back end followed. I would prefer them front and back for anything but a short distance. I also tried them just on the back like a regular 2 wd would have. It pushed the front end when I tried to turn as the front tires had very little traction.
As far as some sort of damage because of something different on the front I figure it was like running over rough terrain and all 4 tires are not all on the same type of surface all the time. I don't recommend anyone doing anything against what is in the book. Somewhere in that book I swear I read do not go over a curb it could cause damage. I will have to look for that.
It worked like an Oldsmobile Toronado or any front wheel drive vehicle with them on the front.

 

I bought a pair of square link chains off tirechains.com and have had no rubbing issues at all with them. I even have 295/75R16 BFG KM2s. The thing I did note though is that chains and this tire work well together, the crossbars (parts that runs across the tire and give you grip) fall into the lugs of the tread pattern, allowing them not to stick out far past the original tire design. When the wheels are at full lock, if they didn't they would rub on the swaybar. I just did a lot of research before buying. I use mine on the front. With 265/75R16 you should have problems at all.