eason

For some strange reason, snow starts to fall on the ground this morning (mid march sound be spring time) and left about 2 inches on snow on the ground by noon. Anyway, this morning I was driving the C230K with C7 and ContiSportContact (I should have ask the dealer to swap to Pilot Sport) to school while the snow starts to fall. At first, the car handle pretty well, and I don't have any problem going thru turns. As soon as the snow starts to build up on the ground, the story is a bit different. I can still get the C230K going, but it is very hard to stop the car. Although the ABS is working like crazy, the car just take forever to make a complete stop. With the help of ESP(not the tire), acceleration on the slush road was pleasant, I can able to go up hill while the ESP light keeps flashing.

Just about 5 hours later, I finished school and tried to get home; however, there were about 2-3 inches on fresh snow on the ground already and here is the fun part!! I was trying to get out of the parking space and the car just don't move. The ESP light was keep flashing and keep cutting my fuel to a point the engine rev just stays at 1K rpm; therefore, no matter how much gas I give, the rear wheel just don't move at all. Then, I turned off the ESP and hit the gas pedal, the rear wheels just spin like mad (thanks to the tires) and the tail of my C230K just swing to left and right. After a couple try on accelerating with the ESP off, I manage to get the car to move bit by bit. As soon as the car in motion, I turned on the ESP right away and I was able to get home safely. As long as the car is in motion, the ESP will keep you going in snow.

My final about this experience is don't ever try to drive with ContiSport tires (or the Pilot Sport) on snow because you will easily get stuck when you try to accelerate from stand still.

Sorry for my bad grammar, but just want to sure the my experience.

jay

I live in the high desert area of Southern California, and we had snow too yesterday. Very rare! My first thought was to take the Benz out and test all the neat features, but better minds prevailed, and I decided to take out my Tacoma 4x4. Besides, I was finally able to SHOW my wife why I wanted to keep my truck, and NOT sell it when I bought the coupe.....

Of course today, it's expected to be in the mid 70's... I LOVE CALIFORNIA!

Steven N

Eason,

You got home, but I wouldn't call it "safely" :p

columbus

Gee, thanks. Now I can't wait for it to snow. I got the C7 with Conti tires... Never occurred to me to ask the dealer to slip on some Michies...too late now. I'm just gonna burn 'em off and replace them with something nice...

dmichael

I have driven a rear-drive 5-speed BMW in New England for the past 6 years. With the C230K, I tested it out in literally 1 inch of fresh snow. I was in my neighbhorhood which has a couple of gentle (and I mean gentle) slopes. I have the Conti's and wow are they bad in snow. I almost did not make it up the slope, it literally took me 15 minutes to travel 100 yards sideways up the slope. I tried almost every gear in my box, and toggled ESP on/off, nothing doing. Luckily this was a Sunday morning at 7:30 and most of my neighbors were asleep or I would have heard tons of laughter raining down on me harder than the snow. I have not been out in the snow since that day and that was January 13th. I will not go out in the snow without snowtires knowing what I know now. This year we have not had a lot of snow in the NE.

Flashman

Hence why they are called "summer tires"...

Mike E

I would have preferred that the C7 package were offered with a choice of summer performance or all season performance tires. I think the 17" all season tires would serve well in the winter for the Philadelphia area which is where I live and would probably offer as much performance as I would ever need in other conditions.

columbus

Definitely. You're probably not alone with this point of view, but a lot of car manufacturers' marketing decisions seem to indicate they're smokin' bad tea leaves; the Lexus IS-300 has the same dilemma - you want the sharp-looking wheels, you get tires that keep you in the house when it snows; plus the wear is much greater on those performance summer rubbers.

Now, just out of curiosity - has anyone snow-tested the Michelin Pilots with the C7 package? I'm all ears...

Mike E

I suspect the Michelin Pilots will be similar in the snow to the Continentals but it would be interesting to hear some reports. However, I'd be more curious to hear some feedback on real world experience with 17" all season tires in the snow. Are they sufficient to get the job done or are 16" wheels with snow tires the only way to go? Those seem to be the choices for folks with C7 who have to deal with snow 1) 17" all season 2) two separate sets of wheels and tires. The 17" all season won't be as effective in heavy snow but if your timing is bad on changing your tires, you could still get caught in a bad situation. This is stuff I'll have to decide by next October or there about.

avlis

I've driven in snow with the C7 Michelin Pilots. It's not fun. I think the performance on packed snow would be somewhat like eason's with the Conti tires.

If you live in an area where the roads only get a bit slushy I think the 17's would be ok. But if the snow accumulates in your area and you have no other transportation, get snows. The C230 is a blast to drive, even in winter- with snow tires.

pixmation

My C7 came with Michelle Pilot and I brought the car to Mammoth during new year. Experience was similar to what EASON's.

My friends had to push the car a bit to help it get out of the parking spot.

viper

As mentioned before if you live in an area that gets real snowfall think carefully about the C7 option. If you are not going to purchase extra rims and snow tires, you will regret the money you spent for tires you can't use in the winter months

Goggles Piasano

did you have your car in the "S" for summer or "W" for winter modes. The switch is adjacent to the shifter. You should also see on your computer dash panel just above the gear # the "S" or "W" status. Michelin makes horrible snow and ice tyres. I had the Alpin Winter snow and ice tyres on my Mazda MX6 for less than a day before I went back to the tyre shop to replace them with Pireli Winter/Ice tyres. The Pirelis allowed the car to handle the winter conditions as if there was no snow on the ground. They were absolutely fabulous tyres.

Goggles Piasano

I've had the pleasure of dealing with this dilema a couple weeks ago. They really are not fun at all. I had to gently ease the car with a combination of acceleration and down shifting to enhance engine braking. At one point easily accelerating out of a down hill turn the car fishtailed slightly. I had to get off the accelerator in order to catch the rear. I immediately noticed that the "W" and "S" settings was set to "S". After coming to a stop I switched the setting over to "W" and didn't have the fishtail problem reappear. However, trudging through the snow and icy conditions was still a bit nerve racking. Like I've said previously next season the car will be shod with the Pireli Winter/Ice tyres all round. These will definitely make winter driving great fun.

eason

For some how, snowing again tonight, and I live in Vancouver, Canada. Again, luck was helping me to reach home "safely". Also I was very impressed on the ESP, the car hardly go sideway with the ESP on, which safe me in some of the right turns.

Goggles Piasano: I had the gear box switched to both "S" and "W". But it "W" mode wouldn't help much, because the rear wheels just spins and spins. To my understanding, "W" winter mode locks the tranny to 2nd gear for the car to start, and it should help minimize the wheel spin.

I have also drove a 2001 Volvo V40 on snow with 215/45R17 Yokohama H4 tires. The tire is rated as a High Performance All Season tires and the snow performance is of course then the ContiSport I got. I can drive up on steep hills without any "big" problems. The DSA (type of traction control) and front wheel drive really helps the car moving in snows; however, the stoping power distance takes 2 times longer then snow tires.