It's especially busy for a Monday morning at Les Schwab Tire Center in Ballard as a steady stream of drivers need their flats fixed after the winter storm.

The culprits are small pieces of metal from improperly installed or used tire chains that break apart and become sharp, pointed objects that easily puncture most tires, according to manager Neil Skutley.

"You're only supposed to use them on compact snow and ice, but most people just leave them on even when they don't need them and they blow up," says Skutley.

It happened to Seattle's Morning News co-host Linda Thomas and dozens of other drivers. When she finally got to the tire store on Saturday, there were 37 cars in front of her (at least that's what the guy told her) all with flat tires caused by the small shards of steel or other metal.

"We fixed hundreds over the weekend," says Skutley. Les Schwab could have made a small fortune, but the company offers free flat fixes even if people didn't buy their tires there."

He keeps a jar on the counter where they put the hook-like fragments they remove from the damaged tires and he says they filled it up again in just four hours Monday morning.

The Washington State Department of Transportation has been trying to clear as much of the metal debris as it can. Road crews have staged rolling slow downs on the major freeways, with incident response teams following behind state patrol troopers picking up broken chains wherever they could.

Crews are also using street sweepers to clean smaller debris wherever possible, according to Bart Treece, public information officer.

So when is the right time to use chains? It's only when there's actual compact snow and ice and no other time, according to Skutley.

"You know, to get up the hill and there's ice on it, use it. But then take them off."

Josh Kerns, MyNorthwest.com Reporter