Hey guys, almost one year ago I bought my 2005 C55. I absolutely love the car! I don't want anything else, but I'm moving from Ft. Rucker (southern Alabama) to Ft. Drum (upstate New York). I can't afford to have a an extra car for the winter, otherwise I would garage this one. I was just curious as to how the car performs in the snow? I have a feeling that it's not good, but I really need an excuse right now not to sell it for an AWD.

My second question is what do you guys think I can get off of Autotrader or eBay if I do try to sell it? It is a 2005, 49,000 miles, no nav, service performed 2,000 miles ago so 8,000 left. Will need new brake pads next service most likely. Tires in front are about 70% and back is 40-50%. It is black on black. No major dings, nicks, road rash, etc. Overall, pretty good condition.

Thanks for any help!

 

You should be OK. Just invest in good winter tires..

 

Hello. I live in Upstate, Ny. Saratoga Springs area. I am about 3 hours from you. I have been to Watertown/Fortdrum area many many times. The winters are awful. No lie RWD AMG in the snow is awful up here. The question is will you be driving the car everyday? Could you find a nice place where you could walk to work? (Look into TLC Reality Company for finding a place if you need one. Talk to Lori Nettles. I am good friends with the family) I would say sell the car but if you do not need to use it everyday and could be very very close to work and keep it parked on a 8inch snow day then you could keep it. Also do keep in mind where you are up there is well....The middle of nowhere and there is no Mercedes dealer for a good 60 miles. However if you do keep it I can find you a good indi shop in Utica or Syracuse not too too far from your base.

 

There's a guy up here that drives his 211 E55 in the winter. His brother drives his C63 all year round also. Just go with proper winter tires such as Michelin X-Ice or Blizzacks and a dose of common sense. I'm in western Canada and we definitely get more snow and ice than just about anybody....

 

Store it for the winter, thats what I did when I lived in Toronto, which has the worst weather in the world.

 

Good winter tires and easy on throttle. You'll be fine. 8 inch snow days will not be easy but will not be impossible.

 

My C55 is my daily driver. See my thread about the winter tires I used last season here:

https://mbworld.org/forums/c32-amg-c...ntersport.html

As someone else mentioned, if you are going to need to drive, snow or shine, every day, I would recommend getting an AWD vehicle. Either that, or the less costly option, is that you buy good snow tires and a good set of snow chains (C55 with snow chains looks a bit silly but I certainly wouldn't hesitate to do it). Search the forum for information about snow chains, I posted a good link to where to buy some I have used in the past on low profile tires. You use the snow tires most of the time to get through the muck (1-4 inches of snow and slush). You slap on the chains on the really bad days where you need to get to work in 4+ inches of snow.

Last winter (I live in Northern VA), my snow tires (no chains) saved my butt more than once. I drove home from work in the middle of a blizzard we had last winter and past by more abandoned Mercedes, BMWs, and Audis with all-season and summer tires on them than I could count. That being said, that particular night, in which I was driving home in 6-8 inches of snow, is not something I would want to do on a regular basis. As I drove home (I made it, thankfully), the car was constantly trying to slip and slide out and I had to constantly be correcting the wheel to ensure I kept going straight.

When the weather gets bad, the main problem with your average RWD is getting stuck on hills in traffic. This is what led to a majority of the congestion during the winter storms we had here last year in Northern VA. People in their Mustangs and CLKs would be slipping and sliding on a two-lane road on a hill, backing up traffic for miles. I will say that my snow tires did give me the grip I needed to plow up hills, so that is certainly a benefit.

Just remember that no matter what path you choose, nothing beats smart driving in bad weather. In my Mercedes with snow tires, I took my time and was careful about where I stopped (not on hills), and made it home with some difficulty. I see people in SUVs flying down snow covered hills just because they have the ground clearance and 4WD, those people often times end up off the side of the road in a ditch.

Best of luck to you! In an ideal world we could all garage our C55s and have an alternative DD!

 

I've been doing it in South Dakota for the past 2 1/2 years. I bought a set of the c230 funnel wheels and put blizzaks on the rear and ran a summer tire on the front, worked fine and in a pinch cat litter in the trunk with a shovel got me unstuck. I'm PCSing to Tampa in a few months, if you want to buy them I can sell you the set up since I no longer need it.

 

I run a set of AMG summer wheels and proper tires and a set of amg winter wheels and tires on my CL.

Where you are going I would run Blizzaks or nokias in the winter on dedicated amg rims. Make sure the tires have a snowflake pattern. Go narrower. Do not mess with bogus aftermarket wheels use AMG so you will minimize pothole problems. Put some kitty litter or sand and a shovel in the trunk. Run RainX winter wash fluid. Get a good ice scraper and a good car cover if you have to park the car outside on post.

Read your owners manual to set the car up for winter.

Find a big snowy parking lot to learn how the winter set up works. Less is more.

On icy snowy highways watch out for Ram pick ups and Range Rovers. If they go 50 you can go 40. Then watch them end up in the ditch. Get a handsfree set up for your mobile phone.

If all else fails stay home and warm!

 

It's all about the tires, +1 for Blizzacks. You can pick up an e30 bmw for really cheap that will do great in the snow. I picked up this one for 1k

 

My C55 is my DD, and I live in MA/NH. As said, just get some good snow tires and put some weight in the rear. You'll be fine.

Are there better winter cars? Yes. Is it a reason to sell your C55 if you otherwise love the car? No.

 

You put these on and you will swear you're on rails...

http://www.nokiantires.com/tyre?id=1...01&name=Nokian

 

+1 on nokians. I've been tuning WRs on last 4 rwd cars and the only thing that bothers me are the other drivers out there.

 

How is your little bimmer set-up?

It seems like Blizzacks or Nokians are king among the forum...now which to decide from? Can anybody tell me why they pick one over the other?

Pardon my ignorance (I've been a Southern boy all my life), but why do I need cat litter and a shovel? I'm guessing cat litter for weight and shovel for digging out?

Thanks for all the help thus far!

 

Your car is too nice to let it get trashed by winter. Salt on the roads (rust), road debris flying all over the place (rock chips on the front and windshield), and lots of crashes. With all that you can't afford not to buy a winter beater. The first winter it will pay for itself. Buy an old Tarus in Bama (there are millions of them around as long as its not a Katrina victum) and put on the cheapest winter tires you can find, a few of the pine trees air freshners, and a plate frame that says My Other Car is an AMG. I had a winter beater in San Francisco and it never even snows there. Although we had an indegenous population that could barely drive in the summer.

 

DuaneC63 is right, your winter car will pretty much pay for itself in the first year. You will save yourself all kinds of headaches with worrying about F-ing up your car driving around in 6+ inches of snow, not to mention your winter car will probably be a little better on gas and maintenance costs. I have driven my C55 one time in the snow and while it isn't impossible, it is far from an enjoyable experience. I keep an older volvo for the winter and it does the trick. If I stick it in a ditch on a snowy day who cares.

 

+1, for getting another vehicle to drive in the winter. It doesn't have to be expensive either. Mine is a 1997 Chrysler Cirrus....works like a charm!

 

Blizzakzs are stud less.if you want studded get cheap Firestones from tire rack. kitty litter is for traction if you get stuck. Studded tires take getting used to and tend to handle worse than modern stud less tires on dry or wet winter roads ESP at highway speeds.

I would put the studded tires on an AWD winter beater with some clearance like a used rav4 if you can afford or want one. Having an LSD in a beater helps too. I would not want a BMW rwd or such unless it had LSD.

I run a g and if it is terrible I stay home. It is the X3 drivers and anything rover or ram that make it dangerous.

 

+1 - the one thing I forgot to mention in my post is the damage caused by winter time road debris (e.g. salt, rock chips disturbed by plows). My front bumper took a lot of chips over this past winter season. If you have a 3M film cover that might help.

 

It's just a 325i (non-LSD) but I'm planning on upgrading to a 325iS LSD differential soon. You can find these on ebay used for around 300 bucks and is a direct bolt-in for any e30. Honestly not having LSD isn't that big of a deal as long as you don't get stuck in any really heavy stuff. I only got stuck once (in my driveway no less) and I used the kitty litter trick to get enough traction to climb out.

 

If I were you Iwould store the MB for the winter and drive a beeater, I have a 2002 C32 that was driven in the winter and I can tell you that the corosion really got to this Benz.

Benz are wonderfull cars but their construct is poor versus salt and abrasive, all four fenders have to be redone on mine and all four dorrs too, my toyota Echo 2000 is in better shape with twice the mileage.

benz + winter = Bad

 

Sell the C55

Buy an ML63

 

Sell the ML63.

Buy a G55.

 

http://www.drum.army.mil/AboutFortDr...tions_lv2.aspx

This is the home of the distinguished 10th Mt Division. Do you have any idea how much snow they get there? More in a day than VB gets in a season. He needs ground clearance and a block heater not a bummer beater sled.

As far as rust goes you should wash your undercarriage once a month no matter what season. Summer dust is a polishing compound and screws things up.

 

Hahah oh ****, I didn't realize they got that much snow. In that case you're probably better off selling the C.

We get maybe 2 or 3 snow "events" every year, typically only a few inches, and a handful of days with icy roads. Every couple of years we'll see a 10-12 inch snow event, but the main roads are usually plowed the same day and all you have to worry about are the side roads.