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.

 

Gotcha. That makes sense now. Thanks for clarifying.

 

Pics...

 

Thank you for all the very thoughtful and informative responses. Very much appreciated! Still undecided between getting winter tires or all-season tires. If I am going down the winter tire, would you recommend to also get an additional set of rims (which would add a lot to the cost - in addition to the hassle factor) or would it be ok to go back and forth using the same rims? Presumably a bit higher cost for the tire shop to do the switch each time with single set of rims, but also wondering whether this process would be bad for the tires. Note that I would only do this for this winter and next as I only have a 2-year lease. Thanks!

 

Don't get a second set of rims. Tire shops don't charge that much to swap rubber, the discount tire near me charges $22/wheel.

 

You'll be replacing your summer tires at 10,000 miles so purchasing a set of Michelin PS 4 / A/S would only be a one-time purchase vs winters + 2 summers. YMMV

 

Whole ready to bolt on kits @ TireRack are far less than MB. Seriously, it should be considered aggravated neglect to NOT get the tires for the season. I see this as no different than knowing driving with out or brakes.

 

Before I moved to FL I had spare wheels for each of my cars. Looked like a tire shop on one wall....that said, what a blessing! On more than one (or five) occasions if I had an issue with a tire (common in Chicago) I could just bolt up a winter spare and away I go...

Plus, if you are inclined to some drag racing...the winter tires are awful sticky in the summer time! Just dont try to go around fast corners

 

Absolutely get them on separate rims.
If you aren't too concerned about ultimate handling a superb year round tire you can use is the Michelin cross climate.

 

Bad idea. every time you remove a tire from the rim you run a real chance of damaging the bead and thus destroying the tire.

 

so always 2 rims?

 

Yep! Its also a simple swap. My local tire store actually stores them for me for 50 bucks a year, including the labor! Easy peasy. If you live in an are where snow is an occasional nuisance rather than a whole season like in my area you could can also consider good all seasons and save the hassle. Decisions decisions! The 580 has excellent traction in snow, the issue in very snowy conditions is braking and handling. Snow traction on electric MB's is spectacular, reaction to slip is so instantaneous that it seems to predict rather than to react to slippage.

 

It's slim especially if you're only doing it twice per set for duration of the two-year lease, and at a good tire store like Discount Tire. But I understand, everyone has their own risk tolerance.

 

Inexpensive OEM takeoff rims are hard to find here but believe these 19” may be standard equipment in Europe. GM threw them in for “free” to encourage me to buy his last EQS580 with summer tires. Added 235/55/19 105V Michelin CrossClimate2 since our winters aren’t that bad anymore. So far so good, and much softer ride quality than AMG 21” Goodyear summer tires. Mileage dropped a good bit (50-60 miles @ 80% vs July/August) but it’s now in the 50s here and probably due more to colder temps than increased rolling resistance.

 

You could get by with summer tires in NYC. Not ideal, but I drove my 2000 Camaro SS with summer tires for 3 years in Manhattan, LI and upstate. Was only a white knuckle experience once when I was caught in a snowstorm coming back from upstate - would not do that again... At most, I would put a set of all season tires on your EQS - even with winter tires, an EQS would be a sled in the snow, I would avoid driving in that type of weather if you could.

 

The crossclimate is an excellent year round tire even if snows a lot in your ares. In general they should be as good as any Mercedes supplied all seaon tires in summer and a LOT better in winter. I use them in all my SUV's. Just don't expect a lot of sport from them and you will be very satisfied. They also last a lot longer than summer rubber.

 

My GLC has 235 55 R19, so EQS and GLC they use the same tires?