dwpc

Just a FWIW. Last week I had the first snow since I bought my C300 Cab w/4Matic, so I took it out to test how it would do on in-town, packed dry snow. It was terrible! The OEM run-flats are like slicks on snow and made the AWD useless. It was all over the road. I went 2 miles and turned around for home. My Cayenne has studded Nokian Happas so I'm not dependent on the Cab; which will stay in the garage unless the streets are clear.

Mr. J

If your cab has 19'' wheels then the OEM runflats are also summer tires. They suck in cold weather.

BTW, why run studs? You're in Orygun not Norway. Winter tires (studless) will perform better for 90% of winter driving applications.

dwpc

I have studs because of that other 10%.

fabbrisd1

There was a helpful post - asking if you're running 19's - and if you are then you have "High Performance" tires with Summer compound under 55 gets too dang hard - and at/under 45 kiss-ya-a*s-goodbye.

Live and learn - switching to "conventional" All-Season's on 19's isn't too bad - ...

dwpc

All-seasons are OK for places where snow is occasional and light but are false economy in my snowy climate. I need solid snow and ice capability. I'm going to buy a set of 18s & Hakkas as winter wheels.

Mr. J

Fair enough. I suspect you'll get much better performance out of Blizzacks or similar Winter tires compared to old school studs. Studs perform pretty terribly on anything other than packed ice.

Mr. J

Take a look at some of the wheel and tires threads on here. The offsets for the 4 matic cars can be a little tricky. A lot of aftermarket wheels won't clear both the front disks and the control arms. If your cabriolet has 19''s and the sport package, then it's clearances will be identical to the C43/C450.

dwpc

I care far more about making it up my ice-covered hill, and about stopping at the bottom when going down, than dry pavement slalom tests popular in winter tire reviews (that virtually ignore ice). Around here, AWD/4WD and studs still rule after 1 Nov..

alexasa

iTrader: (1)

where'd you get this info from?

c400 was awd and shared the same suspension as the c300 and it shouldn't be any different from any other c300.

Alex AL

That is weird, I was actually very impressed with the OEM run flats on my 2015 c300 sedan. I feel like It had more traction than than my 4WD truck with all terrain tires.

benzdude

is your traction control on?

Andy74

By going to conventional tyres, you need to buy a sparewheel, sparewheel changing tools, sparewheel bag. Alo you need to make sure that you has space in the boot because MB did not provide a space for it. I did it the ride is much quieter and better grip.

DylanM

Many performance brands (Lamborghini, Porsche, Bugatti) that configure non runflats as stock supply a "Tire Mobility Kit" which includes a compressor and sealant instead of a spare. May work for basic punctures, but you'd be calling a tow truck for blowouts even on runflats anyway.

dwpc

Yes. If I was stuck in snow, I'd have turned it off but I wasn't stuck, I was sliding all over the road on packed snow.

DylanM

Are your OE runflats summers of all season? The ContiPros weren't that bad, but it was on soft/fresh snow, not hardpacked. Just switched to DWS06 non-runflats - these were fantastic in the snow on my Audi but haven't had the chance to test them yet on the Merc...

dwpc

Summer tires (Continentals).

gfmohn

I had run-flats (17" Pirellis) until last year. No problems on winding, slightly hilly, secondary roads northwest of Boston. Admittedly, no deep snow, but plenty of light snow or slush over ice.

dwpc

I suspect that 17" RFs have a substantially different profile from 19s.

gfmohn

I'm sure they do. They are also all-season tires, not summer tires. They didn't have any flats from road damage, such as I have often read about in other threads of MBWorld, either. In the Boston suburbs, we have out share of wheel-breaking pot holes.

Adi-Benz

Gosh who would have thought summer tires don't work in snow?

dwpc

I've driven "summer" tires on packed snow and they usually did fair to OK.

Mr. J

The OEM 19'' Conti tires are particularly bad in cold weather. I was a little late changing them out the first winter we had our c450 and it was useless after just an inch or two of snow. Michelin AS3+ do great in light snow and slush here at low elevations but I wouldn't trust them in the mountains.