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Snow Tire a must??

9K views 20 replies 13 participants last post by  tsberkey 
#1 ·
I live in Connecticut and wanted to know if snow tires are a must, and which ones are best.
 
#2 ·
I dont know what type of rims you have or what ammount of snow you get but two days ago I slid into a curb in a parking lot at low speed and my AMG rim disintigrated so i poped for snow tires the cost of the tires is what a rim cost just food for thought

I bought Artic Alpines and 15" mercedes steel rims i hope they dont break as easy as the AMG's Did

December is normally a bad snow month in canada
 
#3 ·
You didn't say which wheels/tires you have, but if you have the Sport package (225/45-17) tires, then I would definitely get snow tires, or leave the car parked until spring.

Personal experience led me to purchase snows, even though I'm only in it about 5-6 times per year. The stock, performance tires simply float on top of the snow, and provide no starting, stopping, or steering ability. Even with ESP/ABS, you're frequently beyond the limits of what would be considered safe driving.
 
#5 ·
Andrew said:
I dont know what type of rims you have or what ammount of snow you get but two days ago I slid into a curb in a parking lot at low speed and my AMG rim disintigrated so i poped for snow tires the cost of the tires is what a rim cost just food for thought

I bought Artic Alpines and 15" mercedes steel rims i hope they dont break as easy as the AMG's Did

December is normally a bad snow month in canada
This link may be of interest to you. It appears as if there is a class action suit aginast Mercedes regarding some of their AMG's. Check it out:

http://216.239.37.104/search?q=cach..."Class+action"+"Mercedes-benz"&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
 
#7 ·
C23Owner said:
I have the stock 16" wheels on Michelin tires. Would snow tires make much of a difference? Is so, which ones are best?
I think you have all season tires. While not great on snow they are much much better than the 225/45-17's. Whether you need a more aggessive snow tire depends on where you are.
 
#10 ·
C23Owner said:
I have the stock 16" wheels on Michelin tires. Would snow tires make much of a difference? Is so, which ones are best?
I have the same setup in SW lower Michigan and have had NO problems, whatsoever. My driveway has a slight incline that is no problem if you turn onto it and keep going, but if you stop on the incline, it can spin your tires pretty easy. Today, just for fun, I stopped at the beginning, just to see how much work it would take to go up the hill. I literally felt like I had AWD, it was that easy.

The way I look at it, drive what you have until you discover it doesn't work too well for your situation. Why spend an unnecessary $1000? You can send us all $100 each for our advice and you still come out ahead!

Tim 8)
 
#11 ·
C23Owner said:
I have the stock 16" wheels on Michelin tires. Would snow tires make much of a difference? Is so, which ones are best?
Your car would have come with all-season tires since you have the 16" wheels. If you want to get dedicated winter tires, I can recommend Dunlop Winter Sport M2 tires. Others use Blizzaks with a high level of satisfaction. There is a brand called Nokia which is supposed to to be the absolute best for winter drivng, but they can be hard to find in certain areas.

Let us know what you decide.
 
#14 ·
Snow TGires for the C230

Hi,

I recently drove my 2003 C230 through some snow and ice conditions, about 2-4 inches here and there. I have Pirelli P6 All Seasons. I had no problems with grip on the snow nor more than the odd slippy bit on the road. The ESP helps a lot too. Obviously, if you are in a snowy area each winter get winter tires like Blizzaks. On Vancouver Island it snows very seldom but when it does, we get it!. Cheers.

A: :)
 
#15 ·
Alright, I've been waiting for this one!!! Tuesday, we got hit with eight inches of snow while at work. After brushing off my car, my coupe (with stock wheels and stock all-season Michelins) came out of the unplowed parking lot without an ounce of trouble and made it all the way home on plowed and unplowed roads without even a hiccup. Other than the icy hills, the ESP light rarely even came on. I was very worried about this car in October, but now that the first major storm has hit, I am convinced it can handle anything that any of my previous FWD cars could have.

Tim 8)
 
#16 ·
C230 in the snow

TESBERKEY, Sir,


I believe you have demonstrated that you know how to drive properly in winter. We old guys only had rear wheel drive cars and not always with snow tires either. We reduced the tire pressure to keep the tires a bit softer. and threw a bag a sand in the trunk. I find the C230 so well balanced and taught in the handling area that counter steering is easy and, as you note, the ESP seldom comes on. My old 300E would spin itself silly on anything except dry pavement, although I managed to survive on snowy roads.
Well done and enjoy your auto.

Al
:)
 
#17 ·
really? i was only going around 50-60 when my car just completley lost traction... it was icy rain, the salt trucks werent out, but there was no shuddering or anything, just a sudden loss of traction as i tried to slightly adjust my car right, and i slid into the wall... i had the 17's but previously the car would have tells that it was losing traction. i am not a good bad weather driver, first season in a coupe i only driven suvs previously, but i do have some experience. and it kind of worries me that it would lose traction w.o any esp warning and just drift foward...
 
#18 ·
change420 said:
really? i was only going around 50-60 when my car just completley lost traction... it was icy rain, the salt trucks werent out, but there was no shuddering or anything, just a sudden loss of traction as i tried to slightly adjust my car right, and i slid into the wall... i had the 17's but previously the car would have tells that it was losing traction. i am not a good bad weather driver, first season in a coupe i only driven suvs previously, but i do have some experience. and it kind of worries me that it would lose traction w.o any esp warning and just drift foward...
My guess is your car was on a curve when you hit the ice (?). If that's true, it barely matters what car you have. Once that tail goes sideways, you are at the mercy of the road. Fortunately for you, it sounds like you went into the wall instead of something potentially more dangerous.

I'm no expert on this, but everything that I've read says the 17's are really bad in the winter. They're great to look at and perform well, but there are tradeoffs, with winter driving being the main one.

Hope you and your car are OK!

Tim 8)
 
#19 ·
Well, I received my 2004 CLK-320 Coupe in early December last year. My plan is to use up the stock 16-inch all-season as much as possible so that I will get rid of them in the summer. I will upgrade to 17-inch performance tires in the summer and buy another set of winter tires for the winter.

For me, my MB with 16-inch stock tires performs quite bad in snow. I was stuck twice 2 weeks ago on icy road with slight inclines (upward). As a result of a few snow storms lately in Toronto, I did not drive my car for almost 2 weeks.

In my opinion, if you plan to keep the car for a few years, you should buy winter tires. Since the stock all-season tires will not last you a few years anyway, you will have to buy new tiires after probably 2 years anyway.

Furthermore, it's better safe than sorry.
 
#20 ·
change420 said:
really? i was only going around 50-60 when my car just completley lost traction... it was icy rain, the salt trucks werent out, but there was no shuddering or anything, just a sudden loss of traction as i tried to slightly adjust my car right, and i slid into the wall... i had the 17's but previously the car would have tells that it was losing traction. i am not a good bad weather driver, first season in a coupe i only driven suvs previously, but i do have some experience. and it kind of worries me that it would lose traction w.o any esp warning and just drift foward...
You note 17" wheels. If you had the C7 option, then they almost certainly came with summer tires. They are not meant, even in the smallest manner, to be used in any type of ice or snow condition. Yet, no matter what forum I happen to be reading, somebody is always surprised that their summer tires don't handle well in conditions for which they were never meant to be used.

Do yourself a favor, you may even save your life or somebody else's, if you have summer tires - invest in a decent pair of snow tires. If a twice yearly tire change is too much of a committment to make, get all seasons. Drive safely, but have some fun!
 
#21 ·
mis3 said:
For me, my MB with 16-inch stock tires performs quite bad in snow. I was stuck twice 2 weeks ago on icy road with slight inclines (upward). As a result of a few snow storms lately in Toronto, I did not drive my car for almost 2 weeks.
Wow, you must have had some serious ice issues there. I'm only a few hours to the west of you and we have had some bad weather for about two straight weeks now and I haven't had ANY problems at all. As a matter of fact, I have even let my 15-year-old son drive to school this week with these bad roads, which I was originally unwilling to do because all of his experience so far has been in our front-wheel-drive SUV. I have been so surprised and pleased with this car. I was very worried two weeks ago, but now, I wouldn't hesitate to take it out in almost any weather.

Let's both pray for an early spring, eh?

Tim 8)

PS-- I'm coming to your beautiful city for the first time in May. I can't wait!
 
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