My wife's GL320 has the 18" wheels with 265/60/18 Continental. The performance of these tires is poor in the snow.

I am considering using 235/60/18 snow tires on it (which I already have a nearly new set of). From what I have read the factory 18" wheels are only 8" wide so the 235's will not be too narrow for the wheel. The change in rolling circumference is only 3% so speedo will not be too bad. Narrower tires should afford better snow traction. My only worry is that dry handling will be too compromised with the narrower tires.

Any opinions would be helpful.
Also does MB have a setting to calibrate the speedo to smaller tires like the VW's do?
Thanks

 

anb - go to tirerack.com & look at the suggested Blizzack tires for the GL. IIRC, the Blizzack recommendation is for the 18" tire.

 

Change in rolling diameter computes to 4.6% when I calculate it.

Calculating using Michelin indicates a near 20% reduction in load carrying capacity.

 

Did not consider the load capacity. That will probably be the limitng factor. Thanks. Ashok

 

I would stay with the same size 265/60R18 as factory for better performance handling.

I put in some Toyo open country 265/60R18 on my 2009 GL 320.
Great handling and snow/ice performance.

I dont know if its the 2009 model, but these tires handle and rides better than the all season Continental I had on my 2008 GL.

 

I have an '08 320CDI and drove to Michigan from Texas for the holidays. I arrived in a big snow storm, and I was quite pleased with the performance of my standard 18" Continentals. I certainly have no complaints.

 

I put Michelin Cross Terrain P265/60HR18 to replace the Continentals on my 2008 GL320 and they have been great over the winter I know snow, we reside in Northern Ontario.