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Curious to hear about experiences people have with winter travel in the RWD W204.
I am currently living in Atlanta, but a Vermont native experienced with pushing Japanese FWD four bangers (87 Accord, 88 Accord, 88 Integra) through multiple feet of snow during truly nasty winters.
Now obviously the immediate response is tires are the biggest factor, and I would agree as I used to swap out for winter tires every year and it made a world of difference.
The reason I'm asking is that the wife and I actually both drive 2014 C250s and are faced with a trip to the in-laws for Christmas in the Chicago area. This one trip to me does not justify the purchase of snow tires for a car, as we never travel up north during the winter for any other reason, and if we do, we fly.
Is the RWD W204 with stock Continentals controllable and capable in winter conditions? I was thinking about maybe reserving a FWD/AWD rental car just-in-case (as they usually don't have cancellation penalties) for the trip if that might make life easier. Thoughts appreciated!
I had a rear wheel drive C class for the last five winters...just sold it in August. It had contiprocontacts as OE tires. In the winter, they were awful. The car was very hard to control and could not get up the slight incline on my driveway. Changing to Blizzak WS60 made a huge difference and the car sailed through every winter since. I would not plan on driving a non-winter tire car to Chicago at that time of year. Renting a fwd or awd car may help slightly due to weight distribution for accelerating, but provides no benefit for braking or a possible need for quick steering.
One thought would be to dump the mediocre procontacts now and get Conti DWS as your new permanent tires. Still not a winter tire but the best all season in the snow (which isn't saying a lot, but you'd do better than anything you'll find on a rental car, regardless of which wheels are powered). Overall, DWS are far superior to the OE tires and will improve your car every day of the year.
Good luck!
Last edited by Sportstick; Oct 25, 2014 at 12:36 PM.
Hear you guys loud and clear. Reserved a mid size SUV for the trip. If for some reason the weather is freakishly good, which I highly doubt, can always cancel 24 hours ahead of time.
Hear you guys loud and clear. Reserved a mid size SUV for the trip. If for some reason the weather is freakishly good, which I highly doubt, can always cancel 24 hours ahead of time.
You heard someone else, I guess. Here's the problem. The rental SUV probably has crummy all season tires of unknown mileage/tread depth. You can send power to four poorly shod wheels, and no value to brake or steer. Lots of all-season equipped SUVs in the ditches along Michigan roads in winter. This strategy is definitely less secure than putting DWS on your car as new all year tires. Good luck to you!
I value your response Sportstick but as stated in my OP living in Atlanta and dropping almost a thousand bucks on a new set of all-season or snow tires when the tires I have are probably about 20%-30% worn is non-sensical to me just for one trip. They may be the stock but they handle well and do the job. Being an experienced driver of crappy cars in the mountainous Northeast, I'm confident I'll be able to handle the wide open road of I-57 - even if the tires are subpar. AWD/4WD goes a long way.
I understand and just trying to be helpful and don't mean to .
But, an SUV rental for a week had got to be a couple of hundred bucks....gone, spent. That gets you about halfway to:
The original tires could be saved for your other car one day, as you have two of them, or your dealer can connect you to someone turning in a lease who needs legal tread depth....a couple of hundred dollars returned most likely.
OK....I'm done. Sorry to belabor! It's just when I saw you thought you needed to spend a thousand, I just wanted to offer one more bit of information for you. Safe travels!
There is a pretty fair chance that you'll hit snow around then. In the Chicago area you'd probably be fine. They clear the road quickly. Just stay off them while it is actually snowing. The real issue is the roads out of the metro area coming and going. For the amount of time you'll be there and considering you're already on all seasons at least I'd probably just roll the dice and be careful. It'd be different if you were spending time up here.
For your situation, I'd make the switch to a good set of. All seasons (Conti DWS or MIch Pilot AS) and be totally comfortable. The tires are WAY better the the OEM contis. Not snow tires, but sensible driving, not blizzard conditions, and good all seasons will get you through a lot.
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It's just when I saw you thought you needed to spend a thousand, I just wanted to offer one more bit of information for you. Safe travels! 
