Kaumajet

Greetings all,

I have a GL320 on order for March delivery. Hopefully I won't be needing winter skins by then, and I still have my XC70 to fall back on if the spring season goes pear shaped. However, I'll still be needing to outfit this thing for the Canuckistan winter at some point, hence my questions.

I'm beginning to see that equipping these things with winter tires is easier said than done. If I understand correctly, one must buy cast wheel for brake clearance, then outfit these wheels with the pressure sensors? I have visited the Tire Rack website, but they don't seem to have much for the '08GL Class.

Mind sharing your winter tire experiences and knowledge?

Thanks in advance,

Brad

infamily

I am in Minnesota and I have 19" Conti factory tires on our truck (all season radials).. no issues so far and beleive me we have had quite a few harsh winter storms here.

boxerboy2

Check Ebay - there is a tire shop in CT that is selling original takeoffs with snows mounted and balanced. about $1300 to 1500 i think.

blittle

I went through the snow tire issue with my GL 450 this past fall............I have the stock 18 wheels and there simply was not much available with regard to "winter tires." What WAS available was not in the correct load and speed range required by MB.....................took a while but I finally found a set of Yokohama Geolanders with a fairly aggresive tread that work just fine in the deep snow of Vermont. Their might be more variety available on the market now. Good luck....

Kaumajet

Thanks for the replies.

Up here in the frozen North, we seem to have a pretty good selection of winter tires to choose from; I guess I'm debating whether or not to go the 'extra rims and pressure sensor' route. It's certainly convenient to be able to swap wheels, I'm just wondering if that convenience is worth $4K

So-called 'all-season' tires are not really an option for me.

gordongl450

I had two sets of Yokahama Geolanders on a Mitsubishi Montero Sport and I found that after about 15,000 miles they became very slick on wet roads. I would slide coming to a mildly hard stops. I am not talking about slamming on the brakes either.

The first set were the OEM set. I complained directly to Yokahama and they gave me a very good pro-rated deal on a new set of tires with a different tread pattern. The new set was not much better after 15,000 miles. I mean, it was really noticable how much different the truck behaved coming to a stop after about 15,000 miles of wear!

However, I know the Montero is junk compared to the MB GL. It may have had more to do with the brake system or the weight distibution of the Montero, but since that experieince I have not trusted Yokahama's. I put Michelins on the Montero and it was much, much better but still not perfect. After about 25,000 miles on them, the truck would get loose again, so some of the problem was the truck, some were the tires.

I don't know, my two cents, I just wanted to share my story, but I don't trust Yokahama truck tires now.

soapy

I bought some wheels through the tire rack and using bridgestone Blizzaks with good luck. I did not put the air sensors in the winter wheels. The only trade off is that I have a small picture of a tire that lights up by the speedometer. It is not annoying and beats paying an extra thousand or more for spare wheel sensors.

BJ021

I have 19" wheels with Perelli Scorpion Zero tires, AWESOME ride and traction on our MinneSNOWta roads! They came with the upgraded wheel package...

Danno4x4

Is anyone familiar with Nitto Terra Grapplers for performance in Snow?

They don't come in the exact size that come stock on the 18 inch wheels but they are available in 275 70 R18 125S and 285 65 R18 120S. Both of which sizes I believe will fit on the GL without a problem... I saw a set on a GL when I was up in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the snow and they seemed well suited to good winter performance.

http://www.nittotire.com/#index%2Eti...ler%2Eoverview

LEOSOPHIE

Looking at the specs and video, these tires appear to be off road and high load truck tires. Speedometer error will be significant and are only S 112mph speed rated. Performance I would guess is great.

scottybdiving

Good looking tire. I may consider them for my Silverado. The make a LT265 75R 17 in a Load Range E.

Tire reviews are so subjective. The reviews always seem to vary 180 degrees. Here is one on these tires FWIW. Epinions

lkchris

Here's the story on GL tires--I know about 18-in but suspect other sizes are the same.

OE tires for GL are made to Mercedes specification by Michelin and Continental. This is indicated by "MO" in the specifications and at least on the Contis also molded into the sidewall.

Michelin does not list a snow tire for the GL (I checked the German Website), but there is indeed a Continental 4X4 Winter Contact in MO spec. Problem is, it's not exported to North America.

When there is a Mercedes specification for tires I'd never mount anything else, but I suspect there will be few disasters in doing so. That's what you'll have to do in winter 2008 unless you know how to get the Contis from Europe. Next best is surely Bridgestone.

There are no steel wheels produced by Mercedes for the GL, so you should either install snow tires on your current wheels or obtain a second set of Mercedes GL wheels for the purpose. If you do the latter, you should indeed have tire pressure sensors installed, as you'll otherwise face dashboard error messages. Price of these has recently been reduced, but dealer list is still $144 US each.

Having 4Matic of course doesn't hurt snow traction, but it positively is not a substitute for winter tires.
http://www.betiresmart.ca/video/APA_module2.wmv

fmr

Had the opportunity to test the GL on quite a bit of snow this weekend and had no problems with the original equipment tires -- 19" Pirelli Scorpions. Given it was my first time with it in the snow I did some "testing" to try to find its limits (not sure my wife agreed with my approach) and was quite happy with the results. Excellet traction and braking. Live in Northeast with frequent trips to Vermont for skiing, but based on initial impressions we will not be needing snow tires.

ivrier

Finally had 9 inches of snow up here in the Northwest. Slip and slide, slip and slide! That's all I did with my Contis. My wife's BMW X5 did wonders in the snow. I felt like driving on dry land with my X5 which were equipped with Bllizzaks. I just ordered Michelin CrossTerrains from Tirerack for $208 each. Reviews for these have been more than satisfactory.

On my previous post, I complained about drifting on dry land with a sensation of floating on my Contis and some have sympathesized with that. I hydroplane often on wet grounds too.

I'll keep you updated with Michelin CrossTerrains.

StevethePilot

My Michies just took me last weekend up to the snow and ice in Flagstaff. There wasn't much snow on the ground going up there but once I started up the mountain to Snowbowl there was some large spots of thick, rough ice. Hardly the slickest thing in the world, but still there was nothing noticeable with slipping or sliding with my tires. Just FYI, hardly a full report.

On anther note, I've finally found the nail dead center of the tread on the right rear that keeps causing the low pressure warnings! D'oh!

avant

I drive to Fernie BC every weekend, it has the most snow in the entire country (30feet per season). I have new Blizzaks and they are excellent in the most extreme conditions. I am very pleased with the overall performance of the GL in the ice and snow mountain terrain with exception to the poor headlights, which I've sense upgraded.

StevethePilot

I've never heard of that brand here in the lower 48. Are they a brand, or are they a style manufactured by someone else?

LEOSOPHIE

They are made by Bridgestone and available here

cablvr

lk,

Would you happen to have a part # on the TPMS? Cheers and TIA.

Ollies

Kaumajet, no need for the pressure monitors in a Canadian GL.
I live in Edmonton and bought a second set of 18" factory wheels on E bay and put on a set of Blizzaks. They have been outstanding. As far as the TPMS goes, there are no warning lights to annoy you etc. As I understand it, the Canadian GL's do not use the same TPMS as the US models. Ours use the 4-matic sensors to detect if one wheel runs slower/faster than the others and then give you a warning. I have a 320 CDI as well, and have had no issues at all using this setup this winter.

Cheers
Ollie

Ollies

Add to previous post.
Sorry, the most important thing I failed to make clear - duh?!
You don not need the TPMS sensors on Canadian GL's.

Cheers
Ollie

Kaumajet

Apparently, you do on the '08 model, at least according to my dealer. Thanks for the info - I'll confirm that before pulling the trigger.

lkchris

This is a widely stated misconception and simply isn't true.

If one wheel loses traction on a slippery spot does that mean it has low air pressure?

cschmelz

It absolutely makes sense. Unless that one wheels happens to be the only one to hit a slippery spot the physics make complete sense. Critically low air leads to flatter tire which thus has a smaller radius. It isn't doing this instanteously, it is looking over some amount of time and averaging.

Ollies

My advice is not to trust your dealer's advice absolutely. They are after all the same people trying to sell you 4 x $400 worth of TPM's!!

Not all dealers are trustworthy, so make sure about your source. More often than not, us, the enthusiasts know more than these guys?!

Cheers
Ollie