Winter tires
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Member
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 96
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From: Vancouver BC
2004 CLK500
Winter tires
I hate snow.
Anyone have any suggestions on what kind/brand of winter tires I should get? Not looking to spend a ton on it since it rarely snows in vancouver but something good enough to get me from point a to point b.
Do I have to get the recommended sizes for the car or can I just get 4 tires all the same size?
Anyone have any suggestions on what kind/brand of winter tires I should get? Not looking to spend a ton on it since it rarely snows in vancouver but something good enough to get me from point a to point b.
Do I have to get the recommended sizes for the car or can I just get 4 tires all the same size?
Member
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 223
Likes: 3
From: Orlando, Florida, USA
09CLK550Cab 61k miles
I have a second set of factory rims (used, so they're a little dinged up), which I use for winter.
I think the dealership says to use something like 205s all around for winter, but I'm using the factory 225 and 245. Thinner is better, so feel free to get thinner ones.
Most of the winter tires are about the same I think, but for rears, get a nice directional tire. I recommend blizzaks, but I don't use them yet. Blizzaks will be the next ones for the rears.
For the fronts though, use a non-directional tire because what I found out was that regular use made the tread blocks on the front tires so out of square (almost trapezoids!), that they were much much worse than when new. So when one of them got popped on a pot hole, I swapped it left to right (running the direction backwards), the tread gripped into the ground like crazy! Much better. This is in stark contrast to summer use tires, where such wear patterns don't mean the difference between life and death. For snow use, being able to rotate your tires is a must.
Swap left and right fronts every 2000-5000 miles. Don't worry about the rears (that's what I found on my CLK500).
Therefore, get non directional tires for front (or just feel ok with running them backwards every 5000 miles). I swapped over to the ContiSportWinter, which I'm not sure is they are that great, but I'm not sure yet. They ride yet, and did fine in the first snow with 50 miles on them.
For the rears, since they get worn in both breaking and accelerating, the wear is just about even, so direction is fine.
I think the dealership says to use something like 205s all around for winter, but I'm using the factory 225 and 245. Thinner is better, so feel free to get thinner ones.
Most of the winter tires are about the same I think, but for rears, get a nice directional tire. I recommend blizzaks, but I don't use them yet. Blizzaks will be the next ones for the rears.
For the fronts though, use a non-directional tire because what I found out was that regular use made the tread blocks on the front tires so out of square (almost trapezoids!), that they were much much worse than when new. So when one of them got popped on a pot hole, I swapped it left to right (running the direction backwards), the tread gripped into the ground like crazy! Much better. This is in stark contrast to summer use tires, where such wear patterns don't mean the difference between life and death. For snow use, being able to rotate your tires is a must.
Swap left and right fronts every 2000-5000 miles. Don't worry about the rears (that's what I found on my CLK500).
Therefore, get non directional tires for front (or just feel ok with running them backwards every 5000 miles). I swapped over to the ContiSportWinter, which I'm not sure is they are that great, but I'm not sure yet. They ride yet, and did fine in the first snow with 50 miles on them.
For the rears, since they get worn in both breaking and accelerating, the wear is just about even, so direction is fine.
