After finally getting my new Continental front tires installed by the dealer, under that tire recall program, I was able to get my new set of 225x45/18" snows installed on my C300.

I went with the Goodyear Ultra Grip Ice WRT's all around. They are not the highest professionally rated snow and ice tires out there, but they do get consistently high ratings from users ... as good or better than some of the best out there. They were reasonably priced and have a rebate right now ... and they were highly recommended by my local tire shop.

Contrary to my usual practice, I did not order new wheels and TPMS sensors, but chose to simply have them mounted on my OEM 18" five spoke wheels. The tires alone are much easier to handle, and the cost is obviously much less. The tire shop did a great job of dismounting and remounting the tires, with perfect balancing and not a mark on the wheels. The single sized tires do fit fine on the staggered wheel setup used on this car. The tire pressure monitor on the car did not show an alert, and does show the correct tire pressure without any reset required.

The ride with the snows is very similar to what it was with the all season RFT's. Perhaps a bit less harsh, but not much. Handling also seems very similar, and I'm not feeling any softness or instability over crowned roads or through sharp turns. I pushed it through some twisties last night and really couldn't feel much of a difference. There is a low frequency hum that I can hear from these tires, and I can feel it in the steering, but it's not obtrusive at all. Overall, I'd have to say that these Goodyear snow tires have had very little effect on the handling and ride characteristics of the car.

We're due for a big snow storm tonight and tomorrow, so I'll get a chance to see how it does in heavy snow. I will post pictures. I also expect members of this forum to show up and help dig out my driveway.

 

Right on time! Let us know after you use them in the muck.
The truth is the differences in snow tires are subtle. they differ mostly in how the perform in non-snow situations and even there the differences are not huge. The only snow tire I had to change due to bad manners was the Bridgestone DMV1. They caused steering problems in our FWD Honda minivan. On my F150 and old MDX they worked superbly but on our mini they were horrible. I guess that particular model simply didn't jive well with FWD. There are very few out there that are truly bad and they are all much better than all-season tires. The snowflake on the mountain symbol has helped a lot to ensure that snow tires are better in what they are marketed for, snow and ice.

 

Hi Stan,


I have been enjoying your posts and I recently ordered a C300 4Matic Premium, like you, without the sports package but with the optional 18 inchers (I do not like harsh sport suspension because of the bad roads here in Montreal, Canada, but did not like the look of the 17 inchers because of the unsightly large wheel gap).


I had some questions for you:


1) Do you feel that the 18 inchers adequately compensates the large wheel/fender gap in the non-sport C300 model?
From what I see from the pictures you post, it looks better than with the 17 inchers, but not as low as the sport package model...
From what I understand, there is only a 0.6 inch difference in height between base suspension and sport suspension, but I do not understand why such a small difference results in such a big difference in wheel gap look.


2) When you tried them out, what is the level of difference in driving comfort between the 17 inchers with base suspension and the 18 inchers with base suspension.


3) For your winter tires, did you consider having winter run flats instead of conventional winter tires?
Winters are very very cold in Montreal, usually always under 0 degrees F, and I cannot see myself changing tires or using a compressor/sealant in that weather (actually the sealant might be frozen)...And in peak winter storms, it takes 3 hours or more to get a tow truck. So without run flat capability, u are pretty much stuck with a flat in Montreal during winter blizzards...


4) Are your non-runflat winter tires A LOT MORE comfortable than the all-season OEM run flats? Is it a myth that runflats are extremely uncomfortable/harsh or are new generation runflats a lot better?


5) Since you do not have run flats for winter, do you have a compressor/sealant kit in your trunk? If so, which one? The tirefit kit from Mercedes or that Slime Repair Kit?


Thanks Stan,
I can't wait to receive my car from the factory,


Dave

 

Great questions Dave, looking forward to Stan's reply. Stan obviously takes this Forum seriously and I appreciate all of the information he has provided.

 

You'll love the car, Dave. For those of us who are blessed with many miserable roads to travel on, I really think the standard steel suspension is an excellent choice. It is not a soft or cushy ride at all, but rather a fairly firm and well controlled system.

My only complaint is the steering which, while quite direct and quick, is still too light for me. My wife thinks it's perfect, but I've always liked heavier weighting in the steering. I am getting used to it though, and it's feeling a little better as the miles accumulate. I do like the feel with the Sport+ setting in Agility but, unfortunately, that setting is not available in the Individual program ... and the shift algorithm in Sport+ is too abrupt for daily driving.

We just got over a foot of snow last night, so I'll be out today testing these new Goodyear tires. Hopefully, I won't get a flat tire ...

 

thanks Stan for the great answers!

 

Just got back from about 30 minutes of driving over some hard ice, snow, and salted roads. This car handles everything really well with four snow tires. I was never able to break traction, even under hard braking. I pushed it a bit through some slow turns, with no slipping felt at all.

I did not get a chance to drive through deep snow, but ice and slush were not a problem at all. 4Matic was seamless.

 

Hi Stan,

Did you have an opportunity to test drive C300 (or C400) with sport pkg? I am curious about your opinion on ride quality with sport suspension. I test drove one without sport pkg about a month ago but did not get the opportunity to test drive one with sport pkg. I know ride quality is personal preference thing but I enjoy reading your posts and your reviews so curious if you tried one with sport suspension. Thanks.

 

Great questions Dave and thanks for the reply Stan. Not sure about the US but the standard suspension on all c300s in Canada is the luxury suspension I believe.

 

I did, and found it to be a somewhat harder ride. Handling was similar between the two, so I opted for the slightly better suspension compliance of the base.

I really like the open pore Ash trim offered on the Sport but, unfortunately, that trim is not available as a stand alone option.

 

Finally got the car to slip a little. From about 35 mph, I had to brake hard on ice and frozen slush. Outside temperature was 15 F. The ABS came on for less than 2 seconds, and then I quickly came to a full stop.

It looks like this is going to turn out to be a really fine winter driver.

 

thought about ordering these snow tires, but i live in downtown baltimore and drive 5000 miles/yr. just don't get enough snow/ice to justify buying 'em..

 

Believe me, if I didn't have to run snows in the winter I wouldn't. Here, we get snow every few days, maybe some freezing rain, and normal temperatures well below freezing. I've had to be out many days when the temperatures stayed in the 20 to 30 below zero F range. Not fun at all.

Other than AWD, I think the W205 is well suited to winter driving. On my C300, the engine warms up very quickly, and provides heat in a very short period of time. It also has effective front and rear defrosters, which are really important in cold weather. The seats heat quickly too.

The only winter driving negatives I've noted so far are the lack of a heated steering wheel ... something I wish was offered ... and the "new car" film on the glass. This is usually from the vinyl, and makes the inside glass fog up before the car is warm. I've had this on other cars too, and will have to get in there with a glass cleaner soon.

 

Curious to know the level of behavioral difference in the snow for Sport+ vs Eco mode (when pushed/provoked) Someone got a snow filled car park handy, and willing to do some skidpan testing?

 

your car is too clean after a 30 minute drive, where you just doing figure eights and circles in an empty parking lot?

 

Ah ... the beauty of a silver car.

 

I will when my car arrives. But I will give you a spoiler. It will be best in comfort mode. I'm not planning to use eco much.