M3billy

since my wife will likely be getting a C230K i am a little concerned with her ability to drive a RWD car in the snow!!!

how will this car do in new england with good winter tires?

thanks!!!

respdoc

1) Winter's almost over.

2) STF..topic discussed many times..

hittin160s

I don't have snows on mine, and I've only driven it a couple of times in the snow. Personally, I think it sucks in the snow, but after turning off the ESP to get going and then turning it back on, you kind of get used to it. I am also biased because, all our other cars have been front wheel drive, and my last two winter vehicles have been 4 wheel drive trucks, so, anything compared to that, in the snow, sucks.

Mark08859

With winter specific tires and traction control, you will do fine.

nh316

As long as you put snow tires you'll be fine. I drove all winter in Mass with Blizzaks on my C230 SS. Never had a problem with all the snow we had this year.

k_lundquist

nh316,
when you put the blizzaks on did you get a new set of rims for them too? or just put them on the same rims that came with the car?

nh316

I used the original rims. Your best bet would be to shop around with a local dealer and get them to price match tirerack.com and switch the tires free of charge evey season. I bought them off of tirerack.com and now some of the guys around here are trying to charge me $100 to switch them because I didn't buy the tires from them.

nicedeboy

Winter is almost OVER, and plus this topic has been talked about many many MANY times. USE the SEARCH BUTTON.

k_lundquist

nh316,
thanks for the reply.

What's with the "Topic Discussed" all the time? Is the forum running out of file space?

M3billy

new here...sorry

...but not new to many other forums and i never understood why people get all upset and yell (caps lock) search!!! if you see its a repost then don't friggin click!!!

to others here...thank you

fasteddie

Not as good as an ML , But with winter tires, it's not bad. Not impossible to crash, but almost impossible to loose control of.

Ed.

FreeStylinSurfe

mbny

here's a good example for you that might help. i just sold my 02' 330Ci and as you know, BMW's suck in the snow. i was used to front wheel drive cars which were fine in the snow, but any more than 1" of snow, and the BMW was a sitting duck. then i put the blizzaks on it and it was great in the snow. BMW's DSC system works great in these types of situations. I intend to put snow tires on the benz too when the time comes if i'm not in florida, but most likely i will be. bottomline, a good set of snows or all seasons and the car should be fine in the snow

Outland

I think you suck. That's all you do, post

FreeStylinSurfe

Look in the mirror LOSER

Outland

Awww. Poor little mazduh boy got banned again. Too bad. See ya!

zoomie

I've only seen a couple threads on this topic, but this one was the most general and seems to cover more. I hope to keep this thread as the main snow one.

I know some of you may have snow tires, but personally, I'm more interested in the performance of the car with stock tires or all season tires.

https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...highlight=snow
https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...highlight=snow

May I suggest a new format for answering this question? I think it'll help us read through it much more quickly. Please keep the list format. Thanks.

1. Is your car a 4matic or 2WD?
2. Snow tires/stock/other all-season? Specify brand/type
3. Experience?....in detail. Situation, how you handled it, outcome...
4. Do you recommend the c230 in snow? Is it okay to drive for a weekend of skiing?
5. Anything else you want to share.

Johnsct

Before 1980, most all cars were real wheel drive. Everyone used snow tires, or studded snows, and got around fine. All season tires are just the opposite imo. Not that good in any season. The c230 is fine in snow with snow tires. It is better to use the original size, 205 X 16 instead of the 225 X 17. The smaller the tire, the better for the snow.

dmatre

1. RWD
2. Summer Tires (Pilot Sport)
3. Experience: Driving in snow from 1/2" to 8"
4: Recommendation: Get full snows (I've got Dunlop WinterSport M3s), or leave it in the garage. I was drivin' my a$$ off just to keep it between the ditches. Understeer in the snow is near terminal due to the fact that the wide (225) tires just float on top of the snow. You need to come almost to a STOP (Yes, less than 5 mph!!!) before attempting to deviate from a straight line. Without dedicated snow tires, it's just not worth it.
5: Now ice, is another matter completely. Driving on ice is very civilized & controlled. ESP works wonderfully for acceleration, and as long as you pay attention and drive intelligently, moving along on ice is predictable, controllable, and relatively drama-free.

Check also: https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w203/31126-230k-sedan-handling-snow-rain.html

Outland

Don't take this the wrong way...but if youre planning to take the benzo for a weekend in the mountains on the C7's or even with the all seasons that come on the 16's, you might want to have your head examined. It won't go anywhere with the high performance summer only tires that came on many of the cars. You'll move with the all seasons unless its deeper than a couple of inches, then the car has a hard time moving off the line- you have to keep cycling the ESP off to get going. I got caught in a freak snow storm- it wasn't supposed to snow, rain only- and my car had trouble leaving the parking lot.
[/QUOTE]

Nope. Leave it at home. It sits too low, and the tires are just wrong for the job.

This thread has been discussed often. The advice is the same- get real winter tires(make sure they have the snowflake symbol, at the bare minumum), not just the M+S all season compromise tires.

Boom vang

I learned on a RWD back in 1980 (1974 Corolla) which was super light in the rear end with no traction controls and survived albeit some white knuckle drives, since then it has been 5 FWD cars since which is great for traction and winter driving, however when you lose it in a FWD you are done because you lost all 3 components: steering, braking and traction and it then becomes a scary moment not to mention the real scary moment when the rear tires loose grip and you have severe oversteer and it is very different to control in a FWD car.

This past winter was the first to re-experience RWD in the winter now with all sorts of controls. The ESP and the ASR works really well. I still did not have the confidence as I had in my Acura CL but it was not bad. I found that starting off was a bit slow with lots of slippage but once underway it was good. I've always run on 4 snows and found that adding some some weight in the back of the Benz paid dividends. I bought a 75lb bag of sand and divided it up into 2 old pillow cases and put each in the small area behind the rear wheels. The difference that this added weight made was huge. 2nd tip, always make sure your fuel tank is full as full tank of fuel weighs 100lbs (1 gallon = 6.152lbs). 3rd tip, all-season tires mean that they are for Georgia or California, if you live north of the mason dixon line they mean only 3 seasons and don't even try to go out in snow with the OEM 17" Contis or Pilots they are slippery beyond belief

BlackLiquorish8

if you need to drive in the snow than just get a 4matic. Last winter i drove in upstate NY with over 6 foot of snow in a night. my car was covered from top to bottom but i still managed to get it out and found my car. it took a little while and i turned the traction control off and ripped my car outta the parking space. the guys started to salt and plow the roads and i was pretty much the only car that was driving in town. I have Pirelli winter tires on the stock 17's and i was passing SUV's, climbing hills and going down the slopes. It handled like i was driving on a dry road. everyone was amazed with my car. the only time it would slip was when i had the gas all the way down or moving very quick movements or just turning the ESP off and doing donuts in the parking lot . i look forward to driving in snow now with the 4matic. but either way you need snow tires if you live in a cold place regardless if you have a RWD or AWD.

on the highway with snow pouring down hard i could still do 80MPH+ and feel comfortable and a good set of wipers. people thought i was nuts but the car road so well and quiet.

Boom vang

Typical response from a 4wheeler! going up to ski country every weekend the cars I see most in the ditch are SUV's and all wheel drive cars (Subes and Audi's). The good and bad of it is that while you get amazing grip and traction, the steering and braking is the same as any 2 wheel drive car and most tend to drive beyond the physical limits of the other 2 important components, hence the 80mph in snowy conditions above. I drove a Quattro and was amazed of the traction but when I had to stop or turn reality set in and quickly realized that the road conditions are really bad

A well known journalist in Toronto always maintained that the best winter car is an old American RWD car...you will adjust your driving to match the physical limits of the conditions, and if it is really bad out there, you will stay at home!

zoomie

I had recently purchased but have not yet installed Kumho Ecsta ASX all-season tires. Recommendations for having 2 sets of tires really isn't a viable option for me as it's pretty impractical in my situation to store around 8 tires and have to switch them every season. If the c230k doesn't do well in the snow, I'll just rent an SUV. I guess that's what my original question boiled down to.

SHOULD I RENT AN SUV OR WOULD MY C230K PERFORM OKAY IN THE SNOW?
Another words, does the c230k perform any worse than typical family sedans that people drive to the slopes?

kompressor85

it runs and drives perfectly, why? its got ABS and traction control. i can drive it full throttle and it'll never pitch sideways.