Ed99

Coming from the W212 E class 4matic, I want to know how the C63s sedan handle in snowy conditions with snow tires.

I might be interested in the C63s sedan but worry about driving it in the snow. This would be my daily driver so please share your experience.

Thanks,

ed

Rippe

Based on my experience on snowy roads(in Finland). Perfectly. C-mode. It allows you to drive with confidence, it does not do anything surprising. If you provoke (e.g. high speed cornering, heavy sudden gas) then of course it will slide, but gently, easy to control. Understeering might be a problem if arriving too fast to corner, and snowy surface does not allow efficient breaking, but this is nothing specific to C63, actually it has so much power that with gently gas one can manage understeering on snow also quite easily.

Ed99

Rippe

It is not 4-wheel drive, the most problems I have had is when there is ice under snow. Another case is when you try to leave early morning open air parking place after heavy snow fall - in such case I would prefer 4-wheel drive.Slipping and sliding, I think that for a rear wheel drive car, it behaves very well. I have had E350CDI 4Matic, only very rarely I really needed the 4Matic, however it was quite comforting to know that it was there in case of need.

KJ

I've been driving RWD cars in the winter in Toronto for the past 15-years. 2 M3's and the C63S.

You're definitely not owning the road like you would with AWD, but it gets the job done. Sometimes, it takes a little bit of work to get the car going from a dead stop, but other than that, it's fine. I actually enjoy sliding the car around a in the snow. Makes the crappy weather more enjoyable.

Toronto's winter's are much more harsh than Vancouver, so I'm sure you'll be fine there.

Ed99

KJ

1 SIC DR

Ed99

KJ

Same tire specs for front.

Rears are 255/35-19 (10mm narrower than stock).

Michelin doesn't make 265/35-19 for Michelin Pilot Alpin 4.

Also, the rears came off my M3, which had the same stock tire sizes. So that worked out nice.

A more square setup is OK for winter, so 10mm narrower in the back is fine.

Ed99

g2lujinn

NVM

nobbyv

I am ashamed to say this, as I have long sang the virtues of snow tires in ANY climate that gets snow, but yesterday I drove ~60 miles in a freezing rain/snow/sleet mix with my SUMMER tires on. I bought a snow setup last year, but forgot to order hubcentric rings, then bought some that were 0.67mm too big, so I'm waiting on the correct ones. Plus, my beater truck wouldn't start.

Anyway, long story short: it wasn't that bad! The roads were mostly "slick"; there wasn't much in the way of accumulation. But I was impressed how well the car handled it, even with the worst possible tire option (outside of maybe something in an R-rated tire). I actually didn't even see traction control engage once until just as I turned onto my street and went a little heavy on the throttle around the corner. That being said: DON'T DRIVE A RWD (or any) CAR IN THE WINTER ON SUMMER TIRES!

KJ

No, I've gotten caught out with summer tires in the snow before and it was not good.

My car's tail kicked out from the car downshifting, that's how little grip there was!

FYI, my wheels in the picture above are hubcentric, so no rings required. That was important for me to make sure there was no vibration at high speed.

VIC666

This is the stock 19/20 setup right? What snow tires did you get if you don't mind me asking?
Struggling to find any decent 285-30-20 tires.

1 SIC DR

Ed99

KJ

1 SIC DR

goatfarmer1970

Does anyone know if the 18-inch wheels from the C63 (non-s) fit over the larger rotors of the C63s? Sure seems like a winter set-up would benefit from a little more sidewall if so. Thanks.

goatfarmer1970

At least I think they are larger on the W205 (says 15.2 when you click on the photo of the red two-piece brake system of the S-car vs. 14.2 for the grey one-piecers of the non-S at mbusa.com), whereas I think they were just "red calipers" with two-piece front rotors on the P31 package of the prior cars. Thanks.

crazy1eye

KJ

They absolutely will not fit.
Some 19" wheels don't even fit over the C63S's larger rotors. The first set of 19" winter wheels I bought had a drop lip that touched the rotors. Lucky the shop found out when they test fit so I could order different wheels.

C3504matic

That's the truth . My BC Forged 19" front wheels are almost touching the caliper .It's so close I had a tiny rock wedge in between once

Mr. J

Toronto and Finland might have hard winters but both locations are flat as a board. RWD cars suck for winter driving in the hills and mountains regardless of tire config. If your regular commute is all flat you'll be fine even with crap tires. If you have steep hills or any mountain driving you'll need to be prepared to take extra precautions and outfit the car with good winters or you will get stuck.

I have noticed that there is a definite trend for Midwesterners and other flat-landers to comment on how easy it is to manage with rwd in the wintertime. You will get a completely different take when you ask the same question to folks that live closer to the mountains. Steep grades and excessively banked roads are always challenging with rwd even with good tires. So what I'm getting at is that terrain is probably the biggest consideration here.