Timely discussion.We recently purchased a new GL550 and live in the San Francisco area. While we don't get wintery weather here we do go up to Tahoe on a frequent basis. Curious if the Continental tires do decent in the snow? Also any experience with chains on this vehicle?

 

I'm in the South Bay - been trying to figure this out for a while. These are the new version of the DSWs - so I don't think people have used them extensively in the snow yet. One of the links has a snow test.

What did your's come with?

 

Continentals got very good grip on the road. More traction than the Pirellis, imo, even though Pirellis are more for sports cars.

Sadly, I wish there was some Bridgestones or Michelins that has the 295/40/R21 tires.

I heard from Michelin that they made the side walls stronger to reduce the wear.

 

If the GL is a long term truck and you live in a snow climate, spend the extra $ now and just get a dedicated winter set with a true snow tire.

There is no comparison between any all season and a true snow in the snow or slush. And trashing a 21" $3k OEM wheel on a pot hole isn't fun either.

 

As an update to my search for any in a similar situation, I'm putting on the 295/40R21 Continental ExtremeContact DWS 06 M+S today. Will report back later!

Tire pressure setting at 38/38 sound good?

 

The Nokians are absolutely the best winter tire out there ( previous experience with 18's ) .....but when it comes to the 20+ size rims, they just don't have much to offer. Nokian is a dedicated European tire manufacturer , and very few Euro folks have cars with 21 and 22 in rims....so the market their is slim ab best.

 

Hi,
I looked around and found a set of GL 450 19" wheels w/tires. dumped the tires, and had Tirerack ship 4 Blizzaks 255/55R-19 Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V1 XL (Qty:4).
The GL550 AMG can go down to a 19, and this set up is great. smooth and quiet. only light snow so far, but it drove like a champ. Im having the 21's wheels polished and will put summers on it in April.
Hope this helps.
t

 

Finally had a chance to try these out in the snow. Well, ploughed CA roads anyway.

They felt very secure, and accelerated uphill like a champ (as I gassed it to try and get them to break free). Braking was okay - they are not winter tires but did a decent job with the ABS kicking in to bring you to a halt with heavy breaking.

I liked them a lot better than the 19" Contis on my past GL450.

Very happy so far.

 

Finally had a decent time to try out the Conti DWSs. In a nutshell - I'm impressed as they fit my CA Bay Area, with trips up to the mountains, needs.

Over the last few days I've driven them on plowed Hwy 4, then on Hwy 4 with snow covering. also on the local back roads with a mix of plowed and snow covered. Then finally on unplowed back country in about a foot of snow.

They are a good compromise and fully meet my needs for the type of driving I come across.

I was truly impressed when burning through a foot of fresh snow - they hung in there giving decent braking and climbing up hills (the MB AWD helps a lot with that). If you hit the gas around a slow bend, sure you will get them to push wide but with no issue of recovery and that's driving like you shouldn't.

It's not a winter tire, but perfect for weekend trips up to the Sierras.

 

Great feedback and much appreciated. I have them on my e63 and they make it drivable during east coast winters.

Have a GLS coming in the spring so fingers crossed the OEM choice is your tire, but if not, that's gonna be my choice

 

No problem. As I said good for my location's needs. If I could justify a true winter tire I would have gone that route for the winter season, but when not up in the mountains it's around 45-60oF so true winter wouldn't work.

They're not going to help you as much on just ice, but worked nicely as I noted above.

So, yes they are a compromise, but work for my needs.

 

In Europe they use 20" wheels for winter setup for AMG package (US GL550) . Wheel part number is a1664012202. Just go on Ebay of Germany and you may find wheel and tire packages (Scorpion Winter). I attached a spec from GL manual which shows 20" winter option. Also attached a picture of AMG A1664012202 wheels I've bought just 2 weeks ago from Ebay.de.

 

Do you have a pic of these on your GL? You have a 350 right?

 

Not yet. The wheels are still on the way from Europe. Yes, I have 350 and I'm planning to buy 285/50/20 tires for them. it should look nice with 41 offset of the wheels. I'm planning to keep my original 19" wheels for winter tires.

 

275/45/20 with a 41 offset wheel

GL450

 

Hi. Could you please post couple more pictures from different angles ? Thanks in advance.

 

Sorry, ET 43 offset.

 

Just bought a set the Nokian 275/55/R19 in preparation for winter. very steep, long driveway her in PA. No way do I want a pair of all seasons to handle my winter. Reviews of the stock Continental 4x4 for winter are not good. For Tahoe you may have a problem...

 

Which model Nokian tires did you get? The Hakkapeliitta 8 SUV or the Hakkapeliitta R2 SUV?

 

R2 SUV. Interesting that my dealership couldn't find me a set of winter tires to buy and put on, except a Pirelli in a width 265! Found these on my own after much research. Curious to see how they do.

 

Not quite correct..Nokian's (specifically Hakkapeliitta) come in sizes up to 21...although I have 21's (summers) I decided to run 20's for winter..here with the Hakkapalliita SUV8 studded

 

Yup they pushed the Pirelli snow & ice on me which after two seasons and 2 near major crashes (couldn't stop) they are in the bin at the tire shop (nearly like new) that put on the Nokians...and what a difference !

 

I've been looking at tire options for our new GL450, and found out about the Nokians via the tire selector at discounttire.com. Visiting the Nokian website, I found there were a couple of options for the stock tire size.

From what I've been reading, the Continentals are really poor on snow, but I'm waiting to see for myself once we get our next snowfall. I'm at least hoping to defer buying some new rubber for a little while.

 

I think that people should note what size wheel they are discussing.. the issues for a 450/350/ML driver (19-20inch wheel) are very different to those who drive a 550/ 63 (21 inch wheel).....

450/350/ML driver's have a ton of options for winter/ all season / but no high performance (low profile)

550/63 have few options for winter / all season/ and high performance. (I personally still believe that for a 550/63 driver who wants to preserve dry characteristics and the performance end of the envelope for his 550/63 that was clearly setup for that from the factory with low profile tires.. that the Pirelli Scorpion "winter" (NOT THE SNOW AND ICE) is the best choice in OEM sizes for a "dedicated" winter tire... I run 22 inch Scorpion summer high performance tires off season and I have to say putting the"winter" on each snow season is not really a major degrade in performance quality and is certainly does a great job in every wintery condition that I have found myself (16-24 inch snow storms)....

that being said..I am sure that a 21 inch Nokian or Hakkapeliitta would offer G wagon performance in our GLs but the dry handling would suffer significantly.

 

What are the options for all season 20" for a 450? Who has first hand success with this setup?