I replaced my 2023 EQS 580 with a 2024 EQS when the 2-year lease expired (new 2-year lease rate is dramatically lower). I am in NYC, but the new car was swapped from a dealership in NC, so it is coming with summer tires, which I did not appreciate when I got it. I am skeptical summer tires are a good idea in NYC, particularly for driving to and around our weekend house in Long Island. Should I replace my summer tires with all-year tires or get a set of winter tires and switch back and forth? And what brand/model would you recommend in either scenario? I have 21" rims. Thanks!

 

If you're not driving when the temperatures are below 35 degrees, then the summer tires are fine. Otherwise, change to Michelin CrossClimate 2 or Michelin PS/4 A/S. I do not like changing tires by season unless you have an extra set of wheels and storage space.

 

If you already have a set of wheels installed with TPMS and available storage space then get a set of dedicated winter tires. Put them on in October and switch back to summer ones in May. The summer tires should provide better range than the all-season or winter tires.

If the summer tires are run-flats, then you should get run-flat winter tires.

I agree with the post by @HBerman. If twice yearly switching is an issue, then consider getting all-season tires, and see if you can sell the summer tires.

 

That depends on whether you are planning to go out during one of those blizzards you guys get on the East Coast. Summer tires are not really recommended when temps fall below 40-45F and certainly not if there's even a bit of snow, frost or ice on the roads. They turn into hockey pucks when it gets too cold. It's known as the glass transition when the rubber turns from being flexible into a more glass like state. All-season and winter tires have a much lower glass transition than summer tires. Having said that, Michelin summer performance tires can do well even down to the freezing point, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it.

The bigger issue with summer tires and cold temperatures is if the car is left parked and the temps go below freezing at night, you risk cracking the compound if you don't let the tires warm up first before driving off. Michelin for example says this specifically about their tires:

When it comes to driving on snow, then even most AS tires are crap. Most of them are really 3 season tires. One notable exception is the CrossClimate 2 as mentioned above. It's an AS tire that is rated for snow, complete with the 3 mountain peak sign on the side. It has its limits as well, though. For really deep snow you want actual winter tires, but I can highly recommend the CrossClimate 2. I'm usually not big on AS tires, but I've put the CrossClimate 2 on my wife's car. It doesn't get cold here in the SF Bay Area and my AMG is on summer performance tires all year, but we occasionally drive up to Lake Tahoe and then take her car. I've yet to drive up there with the CrossClimate 2, but they do work in the snow as advertised based on many reviews, and they are excellent in the dry and wet. Looks like they are available for the EQS 580 in the correct sizes.

 

35 degree tire temperature or outside temperature?

 

Well technically both as the tire at rest will have ambient temperature. However, as you start driving, the tire will warm up. So that's why 35F ambient temperature isn't necessarily an issue once the tire has had time to warm up. The diagram below gives you an idea of what you are dealing with. You can see the grip as a function of compound temperature for different types of tires. I don't remember if the regular EQS shows tire temperature through TPMS, but in my AMG I basically always have the tire pressures and temperatures displayed in my instrument cluster, so I can gauge the available grip of the tires.

 

Summer tires are absolutely useless in snow conditions and extraordinary dangerous to use. Simply get a set of rims and winters. A set of rims and winters from MB is around 1600 bucks.

 

$1600 at a dealer for rims and tires? Maybe from a nationwide tire chain but not any dealers near me.

 

Thats what I paid at my MB dealer 2 years ago
Note: its on the 450's 19 in rims. If you try to buy on the 580's 21 you are looking at an enormous bill.