Acadianlion

My new CLK should arrive here in a few days. Since I am in Maine, it's not too soon to think about next winter and I am considering all the options for my new CLK.

1. Take the car off the road completely on December 1st or at the first major snow storm.
2. Buy a set of winter tires for the car. On it at present are quite low mile Michelin tires of unknown model description. I do not believe they are more than at best, "all season" tires.
3. But a set of dedicated wheels for the CLK and permanently mount the winter tires on them.

So that leads to several other thoughts. In my business days I drove many miles daily year round servicing my clients and promoting my business. In those days my cars were either BMW's or at the end, two Mercedes diesels, one a 190D and the second on a 190D turbo diesel. The "smaller" of the two Mercedes, with relatively narrow tires did quite well in all weather conditions. The turbodiesel however had completely different tires and wheels so I bought a set of steel wheels and ran studded snow tires during the deep winter months. They were very effective.

Now the CLK has different tires size tires front and rear. This particular CLK has 16" wheels for which I am very grateful. The life expectancy of 17" wheels in rural Maine isn't great so I expect to have much better tire and wheel life with the 16" wheels. BUT since there are different sizes front and rear, how do I deal with the winter tire issue? The wheels are not a problem, either reman Mercedes OEM wheels could be sourced or perhaps oem steel wheels could be bought at a fraction of the cost and would sever equally well for the four months I expect to have winter tires mounted.

But the problem is the tires themselves. I am wondering if it will change the dynamics of the car if I use the same tires front and rear instead of the stock wider rear tires. Has anyone had experience with this and if so, what solution did you use?

OR-CLK350

First of all, you will enjoy you CLK a lot. Its a great convertible, with nice dynamics and yet it is easy to maintain (I recommend you get a scanner).

I live in OR where winters are much milder and have driven my CLK, as a daily driver since 2009 - the car has 17” wheels. For most of these years, I mounted Bridgestone Blizzaks during the winter and only had good experiences. No issues. Now, last year, the winter tires had to be changed but BST doesn’t sell the sizes for my car (225/40 & 245/40) so I had to buy Yokohamas... with not as good results - specially the 1st 50 miles.

Anyway, to your second point, I did notice that the bi yearly routine also had an impact on the wheels and tires... after 10 years you can expect damage on both the wheel and the edge of the tire.

Anyway, hopefully my experience helps you.

degeja

The owners manual lists using the same size snow tires front and rear instead of normal staggard tires-
the front tires size fit on the wider rear wheels.
My car originally had the snow tires which I had to change each winter.
I sold them and bought all seasons that were rated VG in the snow.
Recondiitoned rims are about $200 ea

Acadianlion

Thanks very much. I'm thinking seriously about new, all season tires that are rated for extreme snow and ice conditions. I am grateful for the 16" wheels and have been looking at a set of reconditioned MB wheels at around $150 per quarter. But I also have found a source of new steel wheels for about half that. Since I used steel wheels on my '87 190D, I think I might lean toward that. I worry a lot about damaging expensive wheels here as I know of quite a few full size trucks that have very large diameter wheels that have failed within the first year or two. Ninety percent of my driving is on two lane roads most of which are very rural and not main state highways so the potential is easily there. On the other hand I am not sure how much winter driviing the CLK will have as my full size GMC pickup is actually very comfortable and dependable for the bad weather stuff.

lkchris

Your best bet is to follow owners manual specifications for winter tires. This will probably assume same size tires AND WHEELS on all 4 corners. Remember that for snow, narrower tires are better. It is VERY unlikely the narrow front tire size tire is approved for fitting to the wider size rear wheel.

JoiseyBenz

I have a 2006 CLK500 convertible.

In my owner's manual, it reads "Depending on vehicle model and the standard or optional factory-equipped wheel rim/tire configuration on your vehicle (Appearance Package, Sport package etc.), equipping your vehicle with winter tires approved for your vehicle model may also require the purchase of two or four wheel rims of
the recommended size for use with these winter tires."

I don't think I would attempt to put the same sized tires on my existing rims.

This is one of the few things I HATE about this car - staggered tires!!!

Acadianlion

The tire manufacturer normally publish the maximum and minimum mounting width for tires. I think it may be permissable to mount 205-55/16 tires on both wheels. However my question is how much if at all will that upset the car's handling in normal driving conditions? I doubt very, VERY much that Mercedes decided to mount staggered wheels on these cars. My experience was that everything Mercedes does is generally the result of some engineering or testing result and decision. So to me it seems obvious that in order to mount winter tires, I will need new wheels. Now the choice of wheels is very large. Remanufactured MB wheels are available and pretty cheap at around $125-150 per corner. Steel wheels are available if a bit more difficult to find at around $50-75 per wheel. I like the idea of using steel wheels simply because the corrosives that Maine sprays on the roads in winter is terrible for the finish of cars so nice, pretty and expensive wheels will suffer a lot over three or four years and pretty MB wheels that are remaned will likely end up looking like they are molting after a winter or two. Finding steel wheels with the correct offset might be problematic. I'm still searching.

So far the biggest surprise that I have had is with tire selection itself. I have been driving for just shy of 55 years at this point and since my earliest days driving nice cars...my first was a Triumph TR3 in 1961...I have tried to study and understand tires since they were so important to the performance of the cars that I had. No more so than in my autocrossing days. Over the years I have paid varying levels of attention to tire type and development but now I find a lot of my older understandings are obsolete. Now there is a different way to value the potential performance of tires. M&S rating I find, means very little. "All Season" is giving way to "Three Season" and "All Weather" is the broader term with Winter meaning something else entirely. Last fall I had to put new tires on my GMC pickup. I was a bit shocked at what most people pay for tires for these vehicles so I took myself back to school and started to read a LOT about who actually made which tire and how they came to be marketed the way they were presented. There are a lot of HUGE tire manufacturers in the world and the "traditional" European or American tire names are not necessarily what you think they are. I ended buying a set of tires with a fairly aggressive tread design for the truck, but the tread design wasn't how I made the choice. My decision was based on the fact that the tire tread compound had been tested and was intended for use below 45 degrees and the tires carried the "triple peak-snowflake" symbol which the tire gets after a specific series of tests agreed to by the Canadian and US auto manufacturers association. This past winter in varied snow, ice, slush and rain the tires were wonderful on my truck in both four and two wheel drive.

So I will look for the same tire rating for the Mercedes albeit perhaps with a bit less aggressive tread design. There are a few brands available and the prices vary widely.
The car isn't here yet although I expect it early next week. Once it is here I'll evaluate the Michelins that are on it now. They are three years old and have around 3,000 miles to they should be fine as three season tires for some time to come. The question I will need to answer next will be, "how much winter driving will the Mercedes actually be called upon to do?"