Hey all,
I know this is going to sound really stupid to some of you that live in colder climates, but I'll admit I need some guidance.
I've been living in South Florida and am moving to Boston and bringing my E63S with me. The car came with P Zero summer tires which obviously are a death wish in the New England winter and I can't figure out whether to get winter tires or all seasons.
My friends who live in Boston say that the city does a pretty good job of clearing the roads of snow and that I should be fine with all seasons especially given that I have AWD. They also say that on bad snow days everyone will stay in so it's not like I'll need the winter tire grip.At the same time, when I call dealerships and tire shops they all seem to be adamant on having me get winter tires. I strongly prefer to keep the tire sizes the same as factory and also don't have an interest in getting rid of my factory 20" wheels for an aftermarket winter setup. The car is a lease and I'm getting rid of it in a year and it doesn't make much sense for me to buy new wheels for the car. From what I gather there are a lot less options in terms of winter tires than all seasons, which makes me want to go with all seasons and keep it simple, but I also would hate to spend $1500 give or take on all season tires and an installation just for me to have trouble driving the car in the winter and later end up buying winter tires. But I'd also hate to buy winter tires when everyone really is just on all seasons and I'm doing too much.
I know this sounds really dumb but coming from South FL and having barely spent much time in colder climates, this is all so foreign to me and I would really appreciate some advice. Thank you all!

 

If you had experience driving in snow I'd tell you that all seasons would be passable. Due to the fact that you don't, winters are definitely the way to go in my opinion. They don't make you invincible, but man do they help a lot. All seasons are OKAY in snow but not great and nowhere near enough for New England with zero experience.

 

Thank you for the input, this is what I was looking for. Any recommendations on winter tire models? I hear Michelin Alpine and Pirelli Sottozero 3, but that's really all I've been able to gather so far. Thanks again!

 

Forget all-seasons as they're great at nothing. Don't even think about this anymore. Buy yourself a set of new wheels and mount some Michelin Alpins in the 20" or even 19" if you prefer. They make both in stock sizes for our cars.

BTW, it's not simply about the snow. It's more about cold weather performance. My Alpins stick to the road like glue in cold temps, are relatively quite and handle really well for snow tires.

One could make more of a case for all-season tires in moderate climates. However, when it comes to cold climates there's no justification for all-season tires other than convenience.

 

Those are the two models I would consider. Stock summer tires are MEATY on these cars, you can go a little narrower if you're having trouble looking for sizes. I haven't put winters on my E63 yet because I have another vehicle with snows that I would prefer to drive when things are dangerous, but in the past I've put sets of winters on RWD AMG's and been able to get around states like Colorado and Utah with no issues.

 

I'm also from sfla, and had zero experience in snow.

After living in Michigan for a while, I noticed that the all-season tire is the "cheap way out", where people "tell you" that it works, but it really doesn't. It's like putting 87 octane gas in your car when it requires 93. Does it run? Sure. Should you be doing it? No way. Should you be using synthetic 0W-40 in your high performance engine requiring it, or does 5W-30 conventional work just fine?

Winter tires are a must, in my opinion. All-seasons, in the winter, are wrong. What I did is buy a set of cheap wheels and good winter tires from TireRack. They're mounted and balanced and delivered to your door. It's definitely easy to go ahead and swap ready-to-go wheels and tires on your own, rather than having to go to the tire shop and spend an afternoon and have them also scratch up your factory wheels. Then when late spring comes around, you put your summer tires back on (not all seasons, but summers for max grip).

I would purchase a set of wheels and tires that may work on other MB's if you plan on getting rid of it in a year. You'll lose money overall yes, but it's much cheaper than sliding into someone at a stop sign with your all seasons. There's no worse feeling than sliding into someone at a low speed and having zero control as you watch yourself crash your car in slow motion and see the $'s fall to the ground in pieces.

 

We had Sottozero's on our E63s for 2 winters in Minnesota. Great tires, lousy durability (lasted barely 7k miles for $2K set). We swapped to Bridgestone Potenza All-seasons for a couple of winter months before turning the car back in. They performed quite well in snow but a dedicated tire will be better if there is a lot on the ground.
If you think that All-Seasons work for you, I have that set for sale for cheap in the marketplace section. Used 2k miles. (https://mbworld.org/forums/market/831250)

 

Thanks for your input, definitely going to avoid all seasons and going to get winter tires for the car. I'm looking for the Pilot Alpins on Tire Rack - which model is it? The PA5 seems to only have 245/35/20 and 265/40/20 for 20 inch wheels at least according to Tire Rack. PA4 has 245/35/20, 275/30/20, 275/35/20, 305/30/20, 335/25/20. Thanks again.

Given that the stock is 265/35/20 and 295/30/20, how much narrower can I go? I see that the Sottozero 3 has the rear size available but for the fronts I guess I'd have to go with 255/35/20. Do you think that would fit the stock wheels? Thank you!

Thanks for the input, really appreciate knowing that I'm not the only one from SFL that has had to deal with this. I'm looking at the Pilot Alpins if I can find the right size, or the Pirelli Sottozero 3's which seem to be much closer in size for the car. I don't know if I'm going with a MB next year to be honest, so I'd hate to get a set of wheels that wouldn't work for my next car and that I'd sell for dirt cheap. I looked for a 20" wheel alternative for the car on TireRack and there's only one option that is disturbingly ugly in my opinion. I know looks don't really matter and it's just a winter setup but if I can keep my OEM wheels on the car and just get winter tires that will fit it, then I'd rather just do that. Are there any resources online that I can refer to on winter driving tips? I know I need to give myself a lot more space for braking and to be careful taking turns but apart from that I'm not so sure on what else to look out for. Thanks again!

 

Thanks for the input and that's a cool picture. I love the look of the Edition 1. The others on here have been advising against all season tires for me especially given that I have no experience driving in the snow, so I might be sticking with winter tires despite the great offer that you're putting out there. $500 for a full set of lightly used tires is not bad at all, but I'd hate to regret not going for winter tires if my rookie winter driving gets me into an accident. Would you happen to remember what size you went with on the Sottozero 3's? That sucks that they don't last long at all, 7k miles sounds lie nothing. Do winter tires deteriorate faster if there's more snow or is it just based on driving habits like summer tires?

Thanks again.

 

I have been using the Michelin PS4 All-seasons with excellent success. The convenience of not having to change out tires is significant. Unless you are driving in deep snow, these will serve you well. The Alpins would need to be removed from service when the temperature gets above 50 degrees. Of course, if you have the garage space and the money to waste on a duplicate set of wheels, then you can get both sets. However, you'll spend $5-6K on wheels and another $1700 on the extra tires. YMMV

 

You'll be fine with 255's up front. I've gone from 285 rears to 255 rears on my previous CLS with zero issues.

 

We have snow on the ground for 5 months a year so reasonably familiar with cold weather tires. Snow tires beat all seasons in the snow without question but all seasons are not unsafe in any way. When we bought the tires, Pirelli didn't make an exact fit for the car so the front goes to 255 instead of 265. That might damage the rims in a car wash which wasn't an issue with ours as ours was only hand-washed (Magno Paint).
These were the snows we used: 295/30R-20 PIRELLI WINTER SOTTOZERO 3 XL (R) 255/35R-20 PIRELLI WINTER SOTTOZERO 3 XL (F)
As already mentioned, you can't drive snows when it gets warm.


For the fun of it, here are couple of pics with the Pirellis

 

Snow tires will not compensate for experience in snow, period. I'd be more worried about the other drivers om the road with you. I can't imagine driving the E63S in deep snow anyway. With regards to having another set of wheels, unless you have a lift in your garage and can change out the wheels yourself, the inconvenience of transporting a full set to a shop every 6 or 7 months is very significant. Here in Raleigh I could not find a shop that would store my wheels/tires and install them every time. It gets very old fast.

 

I've had tremendous success with Alloy Wheels Direct over the years. Bought my latest set and they delivered them to my door mounted and balanced ready to put on the car. Also, customer service is excellent. They forgot my center caps and literally overnighted them to me from the UK. Great people to do business with IMHO. Also, I've found them to have more stock than even Tire Rack, particularly for hard to find winter tires.

MICHELIN Pilot Alpin PA4
front: 265/35R20 99W XL US$333
rear: 295/30R20 101W XL US$451
Total:US$1569

https://www.alloywheelsdirect.net/me...oke_wheel_5450

 

Awesome pictures Wolfman!

 

Also check out Discount Tire Direct as they also do mount and balance shipped. At the time, my standard wheel was a 255/18 and I ran 225/17's as my winter setup. Remember it's not just a deeper groove and design of the tread, but the rubber itself is also softer in the cold weather. It's more grippy on the road, whereas many tires in the cold get much harder and slip much more.

In terms of winter driving tips, just check out some of the videos online at the tire websites. In my experience, go out for a drive early in the morning or late at night around your neighborhood when there's not many people out. You'll have to get used to hearing the "crunch" of snow and ice under your tires. You'll be VERY easy on the brake and gas the first time you go out, and then you'll figure out that you're actually being too easy; your car actually performs better than you think with the winter tires. You'll quickly learn that you can actually drive at about 50% of your summer/dry setup, which is much better than the 10% you're probably thinking.

The one big thing to remember is that ice can form anywhere, at any time. Especially over bridges and overpasses, but don't use that as an excuse. So when you're braking, keep in mind that there's a chance you're not going to stop and that you're going to slam into the person in front of you. Always keep that in your mind.....so start braking softly and early, ALWAYS. And when you're approaching a highway overpass that's on a curve, clench yourself a little bit as you never know when you're going to hit that patch of ice and go into the wall. It shouldn't happen, but just be ready, because it can....

Overall, I had pretty much no issues driving my RWD AMG in the snow and winter overall. I did slip on some ice a few times, and one time it was very serious as I was going 75 mph on the highway and I was suddenly pointing 15 degrees to the right. The black ice was unexpected. That scared the hell out of me honestly, but I thanked my lucky stars and just had to keep driving.

 

One other thing - the amount of snow and ice also depends on where you live. If you live just off a lake that gets snow daily, you can expect daily snow and ice then. If not, you may be in an area where it actually doesn't snow that much (maybe once a week?). You may have a lot more dry-road days than snow-covered days. But again, cold dry roads can still make regular tires get very hard and slippery.

 

Grew up in New England and NYC, When I lived in Hartford, CT I drove an 89 Colony Park wagon - rear wheel drive, no weight in the back so I used to put sandbags in the "way back" seats, folding shovel an extra down parka and ran studded snow tires. I am not suggesting any of this for you but if you find yourself 50 miles from home with 12" of snow on the ground - how secure do you want to feel? My wife's car also ran studded tires, front wheel drive Olds wagon. Was it a pain to flip wheels every October and April - kind of, but a whole lot less pain than sliding off the road.
Am total advocate of winter tires.

 

^^^Sadly, CT winters aren't like this anymore, at least in lower Fairfield County. Very little snow and mostly rain. Horrible.

 

I use the same set up here in Chicago and have had no issues driving in the snow.

 

I agree. I don't really see myself driving the E63 when it's snowing heavily, which is why I thought of all seasons, but I can definitely understand why people feel strongly about getting winter tires on their cars.

 

Thank you so much for this link. I might end up going for these PA4's, might be my best bet.

 

Thank you for the driving tips, surprisingly these are things that for me as a South Floridian come to me as totally foreign. So I definitely appreciate knowing what to be on the lookout for. I'd hate to get into an accident just because of winter weather.

Wow that's insane, I can definitely understand the need for winter tires under those conditions. I'll be living in Boston, specifically in the South End. I spent a few months in Boston in early 2020 and I can't recall one instance where I saw snow that wasn't removed from the pavement. I know that Boston definitely snows and has proper winters, I just don't know how much of that to expect if I'm just staying mainly in the city and likely staying in when it's really snowing out.

Chicago has some serious winters - are you ever driving on actual snow or is the snow removed from the paved surface before you get to drive on it?

 

The Michelin all seasons perform well. I had Pirelli all seasons on my last E63S and I never had any issue in the snow here. Dedicated snows will perform better in deep snow, but will you really be driving on unplowed roads? The new tire compounds and other performance enhancements make the Michelin all-seasons, which I have on my current E63S wagon, work very well for both noise and ride comfort. Look at Tire-Rack for reviews. The convenience of not having to change out tires before and after Winter cannot be minimized.

 

This video sold me on winter tires over a decade ago. As Harris says above you need to be very worried about other drivers, so stopping power and handling are important all around.