Gfed87

Has anyone driven there E55 in the winter? And if so how did it handle?

skratch77

like going on a roller coaster at 6 flags with no seat belt.highly recomend you get a beater for the winter.

930chas

Yes and horrible. Agree with skratch get a winter beater.

tgoss

LOL I love the E55 in the snow. Always an adventure. Go pick up a 150-200k 4runner for $5k and thank yourself in January

Gfed87

Was thinking of a late model 4matic for winter

skratch77

I had to drive mine last year in the snow and it took me about 2 hours to drive 30 miles to get home.I remember praying to god the whole way.

The worst part was trying to make it up a little hill and the car started rolling backwards and I had to do a 180 and head down the hill the other way with traffic stopped on both lanes watching me almost rocking my car down a hill.

I drive a 99 jeep in the snow

motorkas

what he said except the part about loving it in the winter (except for the fact that heat soak is non-existent).

tscales

With good snow tires, it is acceptable, but not great. I do it when I need to, but my DD in the winter is my 996TT.

AARONG

Runs better in the winter... seems to like the cooler temps

slownrusty

E55 and winter:

Zax63

I drove my e63 all winter and my buddy drove his e55 all winter with no probs - but you must have good snow tires. I voluntarily took in to NJ in an 18 inch snowfall over my wifes R500 without snows. The 0-15mph is a bit compromised, but once you get over 15 the advantage of snows takes over. At one point, I got stopped on a road that they closed with a bunch of other cars. I was on a hill. I had an empty tank of gas, the road was not salted yet (start of storm) We were stuck for 1 hour before they opened the road, it was my worst nightmare. When traffic got moving, I eased into the throttle, did not spin at all. The guy next to me in a Honda accord couldn't move, and had to get pushed. The guy in a civic was spinning like crazy. If you wear snow tires and drive like a normal human in C mode, you most likely will be fine, but it depends where you live and how much snow you get + how much skiing you do - I live in NH, not Tahoe. Yes, I take the car skiing, too. Steep hills and heavy snow is Audi quattro territory (with snows). The 500hp thing is not relevant unless you cannot control your throttle application; I suspect you can. The problem with a beater car is that you are driving a f-ing beater car and that just sucks. I'd get a set of snows (I posted pics a couple of years ago of the E63 in the snow with a lengthy diatribe about snows) and be done with it.

Faast

Had a little snow that turned into ice the following morning. Had no problem getting out of my driveway (140-160 feet long) but coming back got stuck half way thru,wife couldnt believe it. I had to call a tow truck to get me out
On a side note,didn't have any problem at all with my Camry though

smiley47

If you have kiddies, check out a used R, they're all 4Matics. Just close your eyes and have someone lead you into the car. Once inside open your eyes, you'll love it. LOL

Zax63

no one above using snow tires? Betting.

https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...ws-my-e63.html

post 23 = pics.

tscales

I am. Good Blizzaks. Still not a very good snow car. Can only climb my driveway about 50% of the time.

We have a 98 E320 4Matic for a winter beater. $5900

Kev04C320

I drove the E55 through couple snow storms with the Blizzak LM-25 a couple winters ago in Boston. It wasn't too bad. If you start in C-mode and feather the throttle, you'd be ok. Of course, if you have to get to work regardless of the weather condition, then it's not the best choice.

AWOL

I drove my e55 in these Buffalo winters, lowered, and on Nexen n3000s and I made it out alive.

Im not doing it again though

Eurosport

Nokians are your friend

Alps

as per above, buy some decent winter tyres and a spare set of rims and you will be fine, i drove mine last winter on my summer michelins and it was slipping and sliding everywhere!

i_am_amused

I drove through the Mid-Atlantic's record-setting winter with my 2004 S55 on set of Continental ExtremeContact DWS and was 99% trouble-free. Start in C mode, don't drive like an @ss, and *softly* hit the breaks at about double or triple the normal distance, and you're good to go.

The DWS is a great all-season tire, outstanding in even heavy rain, very good in a few inches of snow (deepest I went through was about 6", and certainly not for very long), and great on dry pavement.

Of course, when it was snowing 2 inches an hour I was either playing with my kids, shoveling (oh my F-ing god...), or racing in Forza II. S55 != 4x4.

saleen01

where did you guys get your winter rims and tires from?
what sizes are they?

Busta Riles

Wow. We've had threads like this before and i liked the responses much better.

I've had my E55 through 2 Canadian Prairie winters so far without issue. There was one storm last year where i couldn't take it out...and nobody was driving on our roads without a 4x4 truck, period.

Blizzak LM-25's staggered on the stock rims, FTW.

AgSilver

Winter is why Tuscaloosa invented ML's

400RWHP

I drove mine all winter with Toyo Proxes 4s on all four corners and had no problems at all. Any rear wheel drive, high torque car is going to be challenging, but I honestly didn't think it was near as bad as my Cobra. The Merc is heavy don't forget, that helps. Like somoene said, start in 'C' mode with a good tire and you will be fine.

i_am_amused

my "winter rims" are the stock staggered 18" AMG rims, and my "winter tires" are my year-round tires. I don't need dedicated snows here in VA.

I ordered my tires from the Mr. Tire down the hill from my work, they matched Tire Rack's price, and I was OTD for $814 (had a coupon for 25 or 50). That's a *great* deal for a *great* set of tires.