Has anyone tried their E55 in the rain or snow?.I live in E. Washington ,and in the winter we get some snow and ice , would love to order the E 55 but worried about massive spin outs, anyone using winter tires?

 

Don't expect to drive your Dunlops in snow and expect to go anywhere straight.

I managed through one winter with them with my 2001 E55, fortunately we didn't get that much snow and I managed to get around. I used the Escalade on really bad days.

I got only got 20,000 miles out of my original Dunlop SP9000's(?) before they had to be replaced.

Based on a recommendation from someone on this board, I replaced them with Michelin Pilot Sport AS (All Season) and the difference is remarkable in snow and even on the highway.

My Dunlops were LOUD. The Michelins are very quiet and handle on the dry 95% as well (I can't really notice a difference, but then I don't normally slide around corners).

I live north of the Detroit area and we got really dumped on for snow this year. Several 8" storms. The Pilot Sports handled extremely well. Never got stuck once. Had a few slides here and there but I was very happy with them.

I got them through Tire Rack $1200 I think. Not cheap tires. A word of caution -- only use the stock tire size! I tried to vary the size just slightly and had them shipped to a tire place. they looked stupid and had virtually no clearance on the wheel well. I ended up sending them back and waiting the extra days for the stock size to be in stock.

 

The Continentals that come on the car are the best sport tires I have driven in the rain. The other day it was pouring so hard you could barely see. The water was a couple inches deep and I was on the freeway. The car never pulled at all like most every other tire does. Can't help you with snow though.

 

Thanks for the replies, i suspect i might put the michelin pilot alpines on in the winter, even in my S4 it is vital to have the right tires on in the snow.I learnt my lesson skidding an audi(AWD) all over the place on the white stuff!!

 

And you all know how much snow we had -- TONS.

I did not change the tires, although I thought I would.

I drive to and around a twisty, hilly area virtually every weekend and while it was white knuckle at times (the little yellow exclaimation point light on the dash was on much of the time) the E55 got me where I needed to be. A true testament to MB traction control.

When it was really fresh snow, I drove my F-150 -- although I did take the 911 out once for fun.

 

Can't say much about snow but on rainy streets, the E55 is no fun at all. I owned a 996 Turbo before and I could do a lot of nasty things during rain which I can't do now in my E55 not even in the most cautious way because the ESP jumps in immediately. If I turn ESP off on rainy streets, you get some very unpleasant surprises...my rear slipped away and I had a lot of difficulties to stabilize it again.
On dry pavement, the ESP already drives me crazy (on reason why I turn if off most of the time but its still working in extreme driving situations ) but on wet pavement, the ESP makes me go nutts. 4WD would be a great idea on the E55.

 

I replaced my 01 E55 tires with the all season Michelin All season pilot sport tires back in Nov. I'm glad I did after the winter we had in Baltimore. With all the torque don't expect to get around in deep snow. If the roads are recently plowed or slush covered the all season pilots did great.

03 BMW M3 cabrio
01 E55
03 Honda element
04 Segway
wait list 04 E55