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I have my winter tires mounted on my regular wheels, and have not purchased another set of wheels and sensors. I find the tires alone easier to handle, and I have always been left with expensive wheels and sensors after selling a car, with a very limited resale market for those items. For me, it's simpler to just have the tires changed annually.
Unfortunately for me Stan, I've had many bad experiences with tire shops scratching my wheels when swapping tires. That's why I went the route of buying a complete set of wheels/tires/sensors as my Winter setup. I even bought a Mercedes Benz floor jack pad adapter and 17mm protective wheel saver socket from Burger Motorsports to help ensure a quick & easy scratch-free change-out of my wheels myself at home in my driveway.
And to ensure I recoup at least some of money when I sell/trade my car in the future, I bought that set of stock AMG 18" MB wheels/tires/sensors (shopped for a great deal on eBay), which are worth more money down the road than most aftermarket brands.
I have friends who live in the austrian alps and it is normal there for the garage to store your spare set of wheels. Generally most people use steel rims without covers so the cars look awful!
My garage in north west france does not offer storage facilities yet......it was not an option in the uk but in the last couple of years some tyre outlets have seen it as a potential income stream so are offering the service but not sure if it is for tyres only. I prefer not to risk either the tyre wall or rim hence going for a full set and have a very large stone property with lots of outbuildings in which to easily store the tyres any uk reader will now the typical uk ex pat in france style!
You can buy storage trees or wall brackets so could possibly accomodate them more than you think.
I totally agree StanH winter tyres are a safety issue and now i would never run high performance summer tyres in winter, but it is a plus to remember you are not totally buying twice as much rubber as both sets give 2 sets of wear.
I agree fully with what you said: Winter tires on the car's original wheels.
Originally Posted by StanNH
Running winter tires obviously splits tire wear between the tires, but that's not why you should buy winter tires. In cold temperatures, and on snow or ice, all season tires lose traction and their performance is compromised. Dedicated winter tires will perform better in these conditions and provide improved grip for both braking and acceleration.
I have my winter tires mounted on my regular wheels, and have not purchased another set of wheels and sensors. I find the tires alone easier to handle, and I have always been left with expensive wheels and sensors after selling a car, with a very limited resale market for those items. For me, it's simpler to just have the tires changed annually.
I live in the Northeast USA and use my original 19 inch mutlispoke wheels year round. I swap the summer tires for winter Pirelli Sottozero Serie II runflats. The Sottozerros worked well last winter and there was no damage to the wheels. I just made the swap for this winter. This is a picture with the winter tires. It costs about $100 for the dealer to swap the tires. So far they've managed to avoid damaging the wheels. I like the look of the 19 inch wheels and accepted any loss of handling or snow capability caused by using staggered 19's in the winter.
Tire rack has no idea what they are talking about, you should get 225/45R18 front and rear.
Could someone else also input regarding tire size to get for winters? I'm receiving my C450 end of November and I'll swap the winters on immediately on the stock rims so I would like to purchase the tires first off. Here is what I know from the specs:
Front:225/45 (7.5J X 18)
Rear:245/40 (8.5J X 18)
Should I get four 225/45 so I can swap them next winter (of course keeping 8.5 rims in the rear) or just go with 225/45 and 245/40? Thanks!
4 x OE 17" rims purchased from eBay.de and a set of Goodyear Ultragrip Performance Gen 1 bought from Pneus Tyres. Also purchased a set of OE TPMs so hopefully they will work. I'll have them mounted next week, but unlikely I'll switch them before November.
Could someone else also input regarding tire size to get for winters? I'm receiving my C450 end of November and I'll swap the winters on immediately on the stock rims so I would like to purchase the tires first off. Here is what I know from the specs:
Front:225/45 (7.5J X 18)
Rear:245/40 (8.5J X 18)
Should I get four 225/45 so I can swap them next winter (of course keeping 8.5 rims in the rear) or just go with 225/45 and 245/40? Thanks!
+1 on this question. Would also really appreciate an answer on this
Could someone else also input regarding tire size to get for winters? I'm receiving my C450 end of November and I'll swap the winters on immediately on the stock rims so I would like to purchase the tires first off. Here is what I know from the specs:
Front:225/45 (7.5J X 18)
Rear:245/40 (8.5J X 18)
Should I get four 225/45 so I can swap them next winter (of course keeping 8.5 rims in the rear) or just go with 225/45 and 245/40? Thanks!
Four 225/45's would be the factory recommendation, which is what I used last winter. Works fine and doesn't require different size wheels.
You can install 225/45 on your 8.5" rims, however, this rim width is right at the high end of the tire manufacturers recommended rim width range (typically 7" to 8.5") and I've never seen this recommended by MB. Any reference I've seen on OEM literature or webpage on running 225/45x18 winter tires relates to installing them on 7.5J rims. We don't receive much snow here, so if I was keeping with the OEM staggered rims, then I would also keep with staggered winter tyres. I did that on my last BMW. Perhaps your dealer can confirm that there is no issue running the 225s on the 8.5" rears, and I would also make sure that the 8.5" rim is within the recommended range from the tire manufacturer (should be on their website) In theory they will have very slightly different rotating diameters but I'd be surprised if that is an issue.
You can install 225/45 on your 8.5" rims, however, this rim width is right at the high end of the tire manufacturers recommended rim width range (typically 7" to 8.5") and I've never seen this recommended by MB. Any reference I've seen on OEM literature or webpage on running 225/45x18 winter tires relates to installing them on 7.5J rims. We don't receive much snow here, so if I was keeping with the OEM staggered rims, then I would also keep with staggered winter tyres. I did that on my last BMW. Perhaps your dealer can confirm that there is no issue running the 225s on the 8.5" rears, and I would also make sure that the 8.5" rim is within the recommended range from the tire manufacturer (should be on their website) In theory they will have very slightly different rotating diameters but I'd be surprised if that is an issue.
Both MB-USA and my dealer recommend one size for all four wheels with winter tires. The wheel size is on the upper range for the rear tires, but is acceptable.
Goodyear UltraGrip Ice WRT on the OEM 18" wheels here. First winter with them was excellent ... not too noisy, good handling, and excellent traction on snow and ice.
Stan, are you on run flats or standard tires for the winter and if not how are you addressing the lack of a spare?
For my c400 which has the sport package comes with the 19inch 225 front and 255 rear. For my winter tires I am using all four wheels with 225/50R17 and the wheel spec is 17x8 offset +45mm because my front brakes are upgraded to bigger ones included in the sport package. hope this helps.
My car was fitted last week with Pirelli Sottozero 3 (on the same 18" five spoke AMG wheels I use for the summer rubber).
I had no contol over the brand (except I wanted the run flats) - All sorted by the dealer.
Reading through reviews, ratings,... it looks like Pirelli vs Michelin argument can be subjective to a large extent - How true is this?
I live in the Northeast USA and use my original 19 inch mutlispoke wheels year round. I swap the summer tires for winter Pirelli Sottozero Serie II runflats. The Sottozerros worked well last winter and there was no damage to the wheels. I just made the swap for this winter. This is a picture with the winter tires. It costs about $100 for the dealer to swap the tires. So far they've managed to avoid damaging the wheels. I like the look of the 19 inch wheels and accepted any loss of handling or snow capability caused by using staggered 19's in the winter.
Your dealer only charges $100 to mount and balance 4 tires?
Stan, are you on run flats or standard tires for the winter and if not how are you addressing the lack of a spare?
Standard Goodyear UltraGrip Ice snows. In the winter, given the frigid temperatures and messy road conditions, I figure I'm not about to start changing a tire anyway. If needed, I'll have to rely on roadside assistance.
Even with a flat RFT, I'd still have to reduce speed and get off the road fairly quickly ... and then make arrangements for a repair and/or tow.
All things considered, I'd still prefer a full sized spare and a jack, but that seems to be going the way of the dinosaur.
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