Heavy Snow and Wiper/Wheel Issues
12-14-2009, 04:49 PM
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2019 AMG GLE 63S
Heavy Snow and Wiper/Wheel Issues
Just thought I would post this, as I have never encountered anything similar in the past. We are out of town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and we have had well over 30 inches of snow in the past week. The roads are usually very well maintained, but at some point blowing snow and high winds make that near impossible.
We have been driving through high snow drifts and roads that just basically have a lot of snow on them. We got to a clear area and we are able to increase our speed from the 30 mph range to around 50 mph. We had several vibrations, and wobble and I said it felt like every wheel was out of balance and we probably had snow packed in them. I stopped and found our wheels (optional 19" OEM w/ Michelin HP Lat HP) jammed hard with snow/ice and scraped them clean: problem fixed. I don't know what "perfect storm" we have been driving through, but I've never had that happen in many similar situations. Good thing we had a scraper with us that worked inside the wheels!
Next, we arrived at our destination with ice buildup on the wiper blades and extreme cold (-10F wind chill). The driver wiper came apart as 2 clips, one on the end and one middle, both broke trying to clear the ice. I had a suspicion that the Benz was grounded until I could get wipers sent in. The nearest dealer is at least 6 hours away, but I found replacement blades on Napa online store. They ordered them and had them in the store the next morning. To my surprise, they are great blades; even better than the OE at this point. And only $40 for both blades. Just thought I would pass this along so others that have this happen might benefit. I wouldn't have considered Napa for Benz blades.
Happy Holiday driving and I'll let all know if anything else happens on the way home. By the way, if you're wondering, snow tires would be much better of course. But, the R with 4Matic is a tank when driven correctly with even modest tires.
We have been driving through high snow drifts and roads that just basically have a lot of snow on them. We got to a clear area and we are able to increase our speed from the 30 mph range to around 50 mph. We had several vibrations, and wobble and I said it felt like every wheel was out of balance and we probably had snow packed in them. I stopped and found our wheels (optional 19" OEM w/ Michelin HP Lat HP) jammed hard with snow/ice and scraped them clean: problem fixed. I don't know what "perfect storm" we have been driving through, but I've never had that happen in many similar situations. Good thing we had a scraper with us that worked inside the wheels!
Next, we arrived at our destination with ice buildup on the wiper blades and extreme cold (-10F wind chill). The driver wiper came apart as 2 clips, one on the end and one middle, both broke trying to clear the ice. I had a suspicion that the Benz was grounded until I could get wipers sent in. The nearest dealer is at least 6 hours away, but I found replacement blades on Napa online store. They ordered them and had them in the store the next morning. To my surprise, they are great blades; even better than the OE at this point. And only $40 for both blades. Just thought I would pass this along so others that have this happen might benefit. I wouldn't have considered Napa for Benz blades.
Happy Holiday driving and I'll let all know if anything else happens on the way home. By the way, if you're wondering, snow tires would be much better of course. But, the R with 4Matic is a tank when driven correctly with even modest tires.
12-15-2009, 09:17 AM
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2008 VW GTI
Seems every winter there's a big snow storm and people ask me to look at their car because it's shaking all over the road after they dug it out of their driveway. Gotta get the snowballs out of the rims.
Parts stores used to carry wiper blade inserts. For about $5 you could replace just the rubber portion of the blade (the only part that usually needs replacing anyway) regardless of how fancy the factory wiper was (my c-class wipers were curved). It's been 3-5 years since I've been able to find inserts. And my VW uses "aero" blades which doesn't even leave the option to replace just the rubber.
Parts stores used to carry wiper blade inserts. For about $5 you could replace just the rubber portion of the blade (the only part that usually needs replacing anyway) regardless of how fancy the factory wiper was (my c-class wipers were curved). It's been 3-5 years since I've been able to find inserts. And my VW uses "aero" blades which doesn't even leave the option to replace just the rubber.
