Cold Weather Tire Flat Spotting
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Newbie
Joined: May 2016
Posts: 5
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2015 S550
Cold Weather Tire Flat Spotting
Got a rude surprise on a trip from South Carolina to Boston. Have a 2020 S63 with Continental ContiSportContacts. Parked the car overnight. Temperature dipped into the 30's. Next morning, the car felt like it had four flat tires. The vibration and loud thunking disappeared with driving. Stopped at Mercedes of Burlington. As soon as the service guys saw the car, the South Carolina plate and the tires, they laughed and said that it was normal. Summer tires in the cold take a set and stiffen up. Is this problem due to the specific tires or common to all brands of summer performance tires? Another question: I was using the Nav System and noticed that the "Live Traffic" feature disappeared. Is this provided by Siris Sat Radio or Mercedes Me Connect? Who do I call?
Thanks,
Jules Lewis
Thanks,
Jules Lewis
Out Of Control!!
Joined: Nov 2018
Posts: 11,430
Likes: 5,336
From: San Francisco Bay Area
2019 C63CS
Yes, summer performance tires are no good below 40-45F. That's pretty common knowledge. The compound gets stiff like a hockey puck and may even start developing microcracks at really cold temperatures. Keeping summer tires exposed to freezing temperatures and then driving them is a pretty bad idea.
Live Traffic with Mercedes Me connect is provided by TomTom or HERE Traffic depending on whether you've been switched or not. Used to be TomTom initially, but TomTom discontinued it, and it can no longer be renewed. Current cars all use HERE Traffic, and MB seems to be switching existing cars over to HERE Traffic. I've had live traffic disappear for several weeks earlier this year and had to open a support ticket. They eventually figured out what's wrong and restored the service. I suspect they migrated me to HERE Traffic, but something went wrong. Never got an answer as to what the issue was.
Live Traffic with Mercedes Me connect is provided by TomTom or HERE Traffic depending on whether you've been switched or not. Used to be TomTom initially, but TomTom discontinued it, and it can no longer be renewed. Current cars all use HERE Traffic, and MB seems to be switching existing cars over to HERE Traffic. I've had live traffic disappear for several weeks earlier this year and had to open a support ticket. They eventually figured out what's wrong and restored the service. I suspect they migrated me to HERE Traffic, but something went wrong. Never got an answer as to what the issue was.
