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Had a big day. Got the Blizzaks put on. Bought all weather floor matts, ordered a roof rack and am about to order a Thule cargo box after this post. Full winter mode is almost here! I managed to get the dealership to install the tires for free, but ended up spending about $400 at the parts window. I say chalk that up as a win
Luckily though, was able to take a canyon cruise and get some snow in these new treads before sundown. Here's a pic for your click:
Yeah of course. 43% up front (legal compliance for UT) and 18% in the rear. The front drivers side looks like it matches the rear window but it's just an illusion the angle gives off.
Awesome. I did notice the front is a little lighter but didn't expect that huge of a difference. My C300 has a beige interior so 35% felt a little too light. I like the 18% and will probably go for 20 or 25 soon Thanks
I didn't push it too hard in the snow last weekend, but with cold tires this thing can get seriously sideways. 2nd gear powerslides are very easy to control without that oh **** feeling.
I've been through two winters with my C300's and, with good snow tires, they're as good as any other AWD car I've owned or driven. This is a good winter car and very controllable on snow and ice. The tires are the key.
So...how did your C450 perform in snow with those tires?
My old 2015 C300 Sport 4Matic with stock 18" AMG wheels and run flat tires performed pretty well in snow.
Performed exactly how I wanted it to perform.
Originally Posted by NYbenzzz
i find the car too heavy to manuever in snow.
i don't know if it's the 4matic or the lack of power, but my old g35 handled snow soooooooo much better than my c300.
My Dad used to have a G35x. He sold it and bought an Audi because it was so terrible in the snow. It got stuck on their driveway, it was so terrible.
The MB seems to perform incredibly well so far.
Originally Posted by cenzo86
I didn't push it too hard in the snow last weekend, but with cold tires this thing can get seriously sideways. 2nd gear powerslides are very easy to control without that oh **** feeling.
I really didn't get to fully fully test it, as I only had a small parking lot with packed down snow, but it really did perform incredibly well and just as I had hoped it would. These tires are obviously doing most of the work, but the dynamics of this car are great with the heavy rear bias. Full throttle power slides that are easy to direct and then when I would let off, it would settle back in and go exactly where i pointed it. The thing is a tank just as my Audi's were in the past but has a bit more "fun factor" with the rear bias
Originally Posted by Chris Broncati
well my 2017 c43 gets delivered to my house tomorrow... just in time for the snow
i don't know if it's the 4matic or the lack of power, but my old g35 handled snow soooooooo much better than my c300.
i'm not sure what was going on with the OPs father's G35 but i have to greatly agree with NYbenzzz. My 08 G35x was/is a BEAST in the snow. I will say I always ran Pirelli all seasons on it, never snow tires. I drove that car in every snowstorm in NY since I bought it in 09 and never had an issue until I put cheap sears tires on it one year (can't remember the brand offhand). That car would go through 20" of snow without a problem. I know because I did it Halloween night 2011 driving from NY to CT during an awful snowstorm that dumped about 3 feet in the area Hudson Valley area.
I do notice that the C300 just is not as good. I don't think it's because of lack of power, the torque down low is higher on the G35 yes, but in snow you ideally want low torque and thin tires. I installed pirelli winter tires on my C300 a few weeks ago hoping it would make a difference but from what little snow we had I was entirely under-impressed. Maybe it's simply a limitation of runflat tires? I don't know. Sadly my girlfriend is driving my G35x for the winter so I won't be getting it back any time soon ha ha.
i'm not sure what was going on with the OPs father's G35 but i have to greatly agree with NYbenzzz. My 08 G35x was/is a BEAST in the snow. I will say I always ran Pirelli all seasons on it, never snow tires. I drove that car in every snowstorm in NY since I bought it in 09 and never had an issue until I put cheap sears tires on it one year (can't remember the brand offhand). That car would go through 20" of snow without a problem. I know because I did it Halloween night 2011 driving from NY to CT during an awful snowstorm that dumped about 3 feet in the area Hudson Valley area.
I do notice that the C300 just is not as good. I don't think it's because of lack of power, the torque down low is higher on the G35 yes, but in snow you ideally want low torque and thin tires. I installed pirelli winter tires on my C300 a few weeks ago hoping it would make a difference but from what little snow we had I was entirely under-impressed. Maybe it's simply a limitation of runflat tires? I don't know. Sadly my girlfriend is driving my G35x for the winter so I won't be getting it back any time soon ha ha.
Ya but you're not driving through 3 feet of snow. Pretty much any car and many trucks will high center at that depth.. You're driving on packed snow after it's been plowed. And you're driving on flats and mole hills at most. Even FWD cars w/ snow tires will be beasts in the snow when its all flat driving.
Come out west and try to drive up some of these mountains. My parents live at the base of a ski resort and their driveway is literally steeper than any road I've driven in the state of NY. My old Outback w/ all seasons had a tough time getting up it once.
Ya but you're not driving through 3 feet of snow. Pretty much any car and many trucks will high center at that depth.. You're driving on packed snow after it's been plowed. And you're driving on flats and mole hills at most. Even FWD cars w/ snow tires will be beasts in the snow when its all flat driving.
Come out west and try to drive up some of these mountains. My parents live at the base of a ski resort and their driveway is literally steeper than any road I've driven in the state of NY. My old Outback w/ all seasons had a tough time getting up it once.
Oh i'm not against snow tires I was just giving my opinion on how good the G35 was even without them, and of course the extreme snow dumps are rare here but i've had the "fun" of having to drive through all of them in the past 8 years. Usually between 12-20 inches. Mostly though I do find myself driving to work while the snow is coming down and then heading home after it's packed and crappily plowed. Unfortunately during the big Halloween snowstorm I was referencing there were no plows out as it was a state of emergency so every road I took on the 45 mile trip to Connecticut was unplowed with 12-24 inches of snow depending on the area and the time of travel, so I have tested the capability of the G35 in those conditions. I don't know if I would willingly do that again with the Benz, purely for safety's sake.
I have snow tires on my G and my C300 now and even though i'm not impressed with the C300's snow performance so far I doubt i'll ever drive another winter without using snow tires (big shout out to tire rack as well). My 2016 C300 with snow tires is definitely better than my 2015 C300 was with all seasons.
**edit** i think i was missing your point. Your experience is that the C300 is better in the conditions out west than the G35x? Do you think it's the tires, ground clearance, wheel base size or another factor?
Subaru, Audi, and Benz all use full all time AWD. Nissan's are 2WD until they slip and then engage AWD from there. So they are at an engineering disadvantage before anything else. It goes further than that, but I'm not a Nissan master tech like my brother is so I can't elaborate further like he can. But even he admits Nissan/Infinity AWD is garbage
Weight and car dimensions/dynamics are so similar those will not have a factor. And tires must always be a constant in a comparison like this. But the fact is, full time mechanical AWD will win every time.
My mom also had a Buick Enclave "AWD" (same principle as Nissan) w/snow tires and her's got stuck too on the driveway. Literally on the first 6" storm in their new house, they couldn't make it up the driveway in the Buick. I barely got up it with my Subaru and helped my dad tow the Buick up with his F350. THEN he got curious and took his G35x down and tried to get back up. Same thing. Had to tow it up with the truck too. It was hilarious and now they both drive Audi's because of it.
Subaru, Audi, and Benz all use full all time AWD. Nissan's are 2WD until they slip and then engage AWD from there. So they are at an engineering disadvantage before anything else. It goes further than that, but I'm not a Nissan master tech like my brother is so I can't elaborate further like he can. But even he admits Nissan/Infinity AWD is garbage
Weight and car dimensions/dynamics are so similar those will not have a factor. And tires must always be a constant in a comparison like this. But the fact is, full time mechanical AWD will win every time.
My mom also had a Buick Enclave "AWD" (same principle as Nissan) w/snow tires and her's got stuck too on the driveway. Literally on the first 6" storm in their new house, they couldn't make it up the driveway in the Buick. I barely got up it with my Subaru and helped my dad tow the Buick up with his F350. THEN he got curious and took his G35x down and tried to get back up. Same thing. Had to tow it up with the truck too. It was hilarious and now they both drive Audi's because of it.
I obviously agree that mechanical AWD is superior for most/all driving conditions since it's always sharing the power. I guess the tipping point is the speed you can normally drive at on snowbound roads since over 10mph you're usually biasing the power to the rear on a nissan awd vehicle whereas it sounds like the 4MATIC system doesn't bias power in that manner. I would think though that for the purposes of (most) inclement weather driving and going up driveways you'd be at low enough speeds where AWD would be engaged regardless of what brand you're driving so I guess i'm just still surprised the other cars had so much trouble getting around in your area. And to clarify i'm not doubting you or saying you're BSing, i'm just surprised. Like you stated before though, you're right that for the most part we really don't have to contend with driving on inclines the way you guys do, and that definitely will challenge most vehicles.
In the end, garbage or not, my G35 performed amazingly in all snow conditions i've experienced in my time owning it so I really can't complain. I've driven in storms where i've seen plenty of other cars stranded or stuck in the snow and never had to worry it would be me. It definitely gives me some relief though that so many other people love the 4MATIC system because like I said my experience last winter wasn't great but I'll be completely fair and say that I have confidence the snow tires I bought for the C300 will be much better than the all-season run flats so i'll need to see how it handles when we actually get some real snow here, which hasn't happened yet this season. I'm hoping i'll change my tune then.
Also, sounds like you've got one hell of a driveway there, ha ha!
It definitely gives me some relief though that so many other people love the 4MATIC system because like I said my experience last winter wasn't great but I'll be completely fair and say that I have confidence the snow tires I bought for the C300 will be much better than the all-season run flats so i'll need to see how it handles when we actually get some real snow here, which hasn't happened yet this season. I'm hoping i'll change my tune then.
Also, sounds like you've got one hell of a driveway there, ha ha!
Ya, that is 100% your problem. I haven't ran the run-flats in the snow myself, but someone on here said that they were absolute garbage, which would make a lot of sense. Those tires are designed for 2 things. rolling with air, and rolling without air. And pretty much nothing else. AWD only helps you when going forward, in the really deep stuff, and a little bit when turning. The tires are responsible for all of that AND Stopping/turning.
And yes, it's quite the driveway. Probably close to an 1/8th mile long. I'll try to snag a pic of it the next time I go up there and you'll be like, "Oh, now I get it." haha
This is my second winter with my C450 - still running the 18" Conti run-flat all seasons that came on the vehicle. Handling in snow has been very good to excellent. (and believe me, in Western New York, we get SNOW). One point I noticed is that the Contis have the M+S designation on the sidewall, meaning they have improved performance in mud and snow. I know that full on winter tires would give better traction in snowy weather, but these OE tires perform quite well. I can usually run circles around most other vehicles on the road when the roads are snow-covered.
Not hard to run circles around the general public on the OEM tires. They usually run all seasons AT BEST on their FWD cars haha
I don't get why you people keep running the stock run flats! They are crap tires, with a inflated price tag and no durability. Just save them for lease turn-in while you can and run some quality tires that will last you the full term.
Had mine out in the snow for the first time a few weeks ago...about 6 inches on the ground. Drove some side roads and the barely plowed highway...it did awesome. Running all season Coopers installed from the non-MB dealer I bought it from.
Didn't get a chance to mess around much, but it drove straight and confident. Looking forward to really testing the 4matic one of these snowfalls.
We've been getting all sorts of snow around here. Car is performing phenomenally! I was worried that coming from Audi's and their industry leading Quattro that this car would let me down in comparison. But so far, that is not the case at all. 4MATIC has come leaps and bounds over the years.
I love having a setup that is so proper that I look forward to crappy weather and lots of snow while everyone else is stressing and hating it
12-21-2016, 02:54 AM
Thanks
some fun powerslides too.
