Any fellow A6 owners seen these before

[jouster74]

Was driving this morning and spotted these on the front wheels only. Never seen them before and after googling I'm still none the wiser.

Any of you fellow drivers got any idea what they are??

Thanks in advance for any light you can shed on this for me

 

[rassi]

For attaching snow chains

 

[Andykb675]

no idea but they need to be removed