ML63 AMG in the snow?
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ML63 AMG in the snow?
Hi all-
Last week, I test drove the ML63 AMG and absolutely fell in love with it. Only thing is, I know it's not an off-road vehicle so I'm not so sure how well it will fare in the snow. I may soon be moving to a city that gets an average of 100 inches/winter. Any thoughts?
Thanks!
Last week, I test drove the ML63 AMG and absolutely fell in love with it. Only thing is, I know it's not an off-road vehicle so I'm not so sure how well it will fare in the snow. I may soon be moving to a city that gets an average of 100 inches/winter. Any thoughts?
Thanks!
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Joined: Feb 2002
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From: Toronto,ON
AMG
Hi all-
Last week, I test drove the ML63 AMG and absolutely fell in love with it. Only thing is, I know it's not an off-road vehicle so I'm not so sure how well it will fare in the snow. I may soon be moving to a city that gets an average of 100 inches/winter. Any thoughts?
Thanks!
Last week, I test drove the ML63 AMG and absolutely fell in love with it. Only thing is, I know it's not an off-road vehicle so I'm not so sure how well it will fare in the snow. I may soon be moving to a city that gets an average of 100 inches/winter. Any thoughts?
Thanks!
Member
Joined: May 2004
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From: Chicago, IL
audi mb bmw
Speaking of winter tires, I live in a city that seldom gets much snowfall and even when it does, it gets cleared relativelt quickly being that it's a metropolitan area. When I test drove the ML63 last week, the dealer insisted that although the Conti Cross Contacts were not labeled M+S tires, they were more than adequate for Chicago winters of wet, sometimes icy, sometimes slick, and occasional light snow but minimal accumulation. I thought this was BS because upon looking at the tirerack specs, the Cross Contact appear to be a summer-only compound. Is this dealer full of **** or are the Cross Contacts more of a hybrid compound that will afford some safe usable traction in light snow? I almost want to believe the dealer because it's hard to believe Mercedes Benz would equip any suv they make with tires that are not adequate for all-year use without clearly making an indication on the window sticker or anywhere on the vehicle. Also considering that they could've easily equipped the ML63 with Pirelli Scorpion M+S tires in lieu of the Contis which actually come in the stock size, and avoid possible legal consequences or customer dissatisfaction when they put their ML into a guardrail because it failed to turn or brake when it had to due to hockey-puck tires.
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 259
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From: Vancouver
06 CLS55, 07 997TT, 07 ML63, 10 X6M, 11 Alpina B7, 12 997TTS, 13 G63, 13 MP4-12C
I lived in Vancouver and our winter is just like yours, mostly wet with the occasional snow. My ML63 has the stock Contis on them, but it has survived the snow here just fine, it was actually snowing quite hard the day I took delivery of the car, I made it home on them. The traction is reduced for sure but a sensible feet goes a long way. I have made it thru 5in of snow, icy road and slushy stuff with no problem. Granted I lived in a relatively flat part of town but the 4matic helps a lot on traction.
I will definitely get snow tires if I were to lived in the hilly part of town or go skiing in the mountains but since I drive mostly on flat roads and the city is really good at clearing them, I am going to hold off purchasing winter tires until next year. Heck, I had PS2s on my 997 Turbo and it drives just fine this past winter. Winter tire helps a lot but how the car was driven counts too.
The CLS55 on the other is parked for the winter, RWD+High HP do not go well with winter.
I will definitely get snow tires if I were to lived in the hilly part of town or go skiing in the mountains but since I drive mostly on flat roads and the city is really good at clearing them, I am going to hold off purchasing winter tires until next year. Heck, I had PS2s on my 997 Turbo and it drives just fine this past winter. Winter tire helps a lot but how the car was driven counts too.
The CLS55 on the other is parked for the winter, RWD+High HP do not go well with winter.
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 358
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From: Vancouver Canada
07 ML63 Silver Dead at 85k, 14 RS5, 05 SL600
Same advice from me masmole. If you are not too cocky you should have no problems in light snow and ice with the stock tires. I live in the Fraser Valley and we had more snow than Vancouver with poor to no snow removal. I was able to get around with the ML cautiously.
That being said, I would highly reccomend not to drive aggressively at speed with them-from personal experience. I wound up sideways at 70km on a straight road with large ditches on either side! I had the traction control off and gave it a little too much gas to see what the traction was like. Instant sideways. It as a little hairy few seconds of see-sawing until I straightened it out. 8 foot ditches seem so much bigger in those conditions!
I watched a few people with large 4X4's loose it this year on the Coquillhalla highway, by driving too fast in new all season radials on the ice and snow.
That being said, I would highly reccomend not to drive aggressively at speed with them-from personal experience. I wound up sideways at 70km on a straight road with large ditches on either side! I had the traction control off and gave it a little too much gas to see what the traction was like. Instant sideways. It as a little hairy few seconds of see-sawing until I straightened it out. 8 foot ditches seem so much bigger in those conditions!
I watched a few people with large 4X4's loose it this year on the Coquillhalla highway, by driving too fast in new all season radials on the ice and snow.
Junior Member
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 34
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Hi all-
Last week, I test drove the ML63 AMG and absolutely fell in love with it. Only thing is, I know it's not an off-road vehicle so I'm not so sure how well it will fare in the snow. I may soon be moving to a city that gets an average of 100 inches/winter. Any thoughts?
Thanks!
Last week, I test drove the ML63 AMG and absolutely fell in love with it. Only thing is, I know it's not an off-road vehicle so I'm not so sure how well it will fare in the snow. I may soon be moving to a city that gets an average of 100 inches/winter. Any thoughts?
Thanks!
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Now just need to find some nice summer rims to put the factory rubber onto...
not much out there other then AMG due to the rotor clearance unfortunately.
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Senior Member
Joined: Jul 2002
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From: .
08 GL450
It's never really about the " go " part in light snow/ice at careful speeds in an AWD vehicle - it's more about the " whoa " part when running summer only compound tires and their solid tread blocks that become " hockey pucks " when frigid. If you had to make a panic stop , that's where in retrospect you may have wished you had "all season" tires with their few biting-edge " sipes " in the tread blocks or true winter tires with full tread siping .
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 259
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From: Vancouver
06 CLS55, 07 997TT, 07 ML63, 10 X6M, 11 Alpina B7, 12 997TTS, 13 G63, 13 MP4-12C
exactly why we said 'driven carefully' when we were on the stock contis, to avoid the 'panic' part in the first place 
TRD is the second member that I know who picked the Dunlop snows, I wonder how would they compare to the Nokians, one of the most praised winter tires.
TRD is the second member that I know who picked the Dunlop snows, I wonder how would they compare to the Nokians, one of the most praised winter tires.
Junior Member
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 34
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Well Whoopsy, I have had Nokians (WR-V and Happakelliitta-T) on other vehicles and thought they were excellent as long as you didn’t drive too fast say 160klm’s and below everything is fine. I will only be driving the summer set of tires for maybe 4 months of the year so wanted the winters to have the highest speed rating I could find to allow for smooth driving in the shoulder seasons. I am very happy with the smoothness of the Dunlops, I live out of the city and travel on the hiway every day.
