dbtk

...in the snow...duh! I drove my CLS out last night here in CT where we experienced a light dusting of snow (+/- 1"). Not a recommended move. The car was a sled. I have high performance tires on my 19" LE wheels. I gave up depending on the ABS to stop while going down hill. Good ole brake modulation with an occasional pump action prevented me from breaching a four-way intersection. Phew!

amdeutsch

That'll teach ya.

erifly

. I learned my lesson the hard way as well. 3-4 years ago on one very very barely snowy day. No joke, I could have wiped the snow off the street with my breath lol. I left my garage, rolled in the driveway, and hit the brake to check to mail. Then got back in, hit the snow..and SPINNNNNNNNNNN.....SPINNNNNNNNN...got stuck in my driveway. Very embarrassing. . Bought winter tires that very same day. I'm glad the 2012 comes in AWD drive tho, maybe some all season tires might work better.

427

On my CLS550 4Matic, I have the standard 18" wheels with all-season tires.
It was decent in the light snow we had yesterday morning.
The 'real' winter driving tests are yet to come...

dbtk

Six inches so far here in Middlebury, CT!

LaicepsYdobon

Are the high performance tires specific to the launch edition of the 4matic CLS? I'm looking to get a CLS as my next car and I could swear that the one I tested had all-season Pirrelli P-Zero Nero's on them. Granted it wasn't a launch edition just a plain 'ol 2012 CLS 4matic. The car I was looking at had the standard 18" rims.

dbtk

My LE came with Pirelli P-Zeros non-all weather. The Monroney label states "high performance tires" on 19" five spoke wheels.

LaicepsYdobon

That explains why my car had Pirelli's on them. Mystery solved; thanks for clearing that up for me

dbtk

Here is a photo of my Monroney label for comparison with that of the one which you are interested in. Note the last line of features included in the Launch Edition option.

LaicepsYdobon

Thank you so much for the picture of the label. The one I was interested in had the 18" standard wheels with the all-season tires.

Be careful with the 19" wheels. I don't know about where you live but the roads were so bad in Jersey last winter that I had to replace two tires on my E because of pot holes. That car has the 18" five-spoke rims with the all-season Pirrelli's. Clearly not meant for the third-world roads of Jersey.

Randhut

just to reassure everyone...drove CLS550 4 matic with 18 inch wheels and all season tires from New York to Southern Vermont (Stratton...a real snow corner) in the middle of the night at 3 am with strong snow showers and wind.

It drives like a train with incredible stability and traction. The last stretch (about 30 miles uphill) had about 3-6 inches of uncleared snow on the road and the car stormed up that mountain road better than any SUV ever could. Even with EPS on there is a surprising amount of oversteer allowed if you wish to provoke it, which is easy given that engine. If you drive normally it just drives likes a RWD in a rain storm.

The only caveat and a reason to get Michelin Winter tires on it for me is that once it gets more than 5 inches of snow the all season tires are not up to it anymore and obviously, the braking, especially with all that traction and power combined.

All of you enjoy this incredible car!!!! (by the way on that snow trip I got 28 mpg!!!)

akeni

I have snowies on( pirelli sorrento), and it I have to turn off esp to get some oversteer going. I have the 4matic version